KnowLA is a comprehensive, dynamic online reference guide to the history and culture of Louisiana. The encyclopedia is accessible to anyone with a web-enabled device, free of charge.
Charles Aubry was the last French governor of Louisiana before it reverted to Spanish control. Read »
Audubon, John James
Artist John James Audubon completed some of his most notable paintings for “The Birds of America” while in Louisiana. Read »
Bastrop, Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de
Felipe Enrique Neri, although deceptive about his own lineage, nevertheless played an important role in the settlement of the Ouachita Valley in northeast Louisiana. Read »
Batz, Alexandre de
Alexandre de Batz created the earliest known images of Native Americans in the lower Mississippi valley from sketches he rendered while surveying Louisiana in the eighteenth century. Read »
Bousillage
Bousillage, a mixture of clay and straw or Spanish moss used for insulation, is a distinguishing feature of Louisiana’s architectural past. Read »
Brewster, Edmund
Edmund Brewster arrived in New Orleans from Philadelphia in 1819 and was recognized immediately as a talented young artist. Read »
Buisson, Pierre Benjamin
Pierre Benjamin Buisson was a talented architect, engineer, surveyor, and publisher, was born in Paris, France, and migrated to New Orleans while in his early twenties where he advanced his career with work on major public buildings. Read »
Cabildo
The Cabildo, one of three eighteenth-century structures that anchor New Orleans' Jackson Square, stands as a visual monument to Spanish rule in New Orleans, as well as one of the nation’s most significant historical landmarks. Read »
Caddo Nation
Caddo people began to inhabit the Red River valley approximately 2,500 years ago. Around that time, the ancestors of the southern Caddo began to settle in permanent villages, build the first mounds, cultivate plants, and develop the use of ceramics. Read »
Cajun Folklife
Cajun folklife is a field of study that describes, catalogs, and deciphers meaning within the vernacular culture of Acadian refugees who settled in Louisiana. Read »
Cajuns
Cajuns are the descendants of Acadian exiles from the Maritime provinces of Canada—Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island—who migrated to southern Louisiana. Read »
Cajuns in Literature
Acadians, Cajuns, and their history became part of American literature, often represented through romantic myth. Read »
Canova, Dominico
Born in Italy, Dominico Canova spent many years painting frescoes in banks, churches, and private homes in New Orleans and southern Louisiana. Read »
Carondelet, Francisco Luis Héctor, baron de
Luis Francisco Héctor de Carondelet served as governor of the Spanish colonies of Louisiana and West Florida between 1791 and 1797. Read »
Casa Calvo, Sebastián Calvo de la Puerta y O'Farrill, marqués de
After the death of Governor Manuel Gayoso de Lemos in July 1799, Casa Calvo was sent to Louisiana to serve as interim governor of the Spanish colony. Read »
Claiborne, William Charles Cole
William Charles Cole Claiborne was governor of Louisiana during the Louisiana Purchase and the slave rebellion of 1811. Read »
Classical Music
Louisiana has boasted a rich classical music traditional since early European exploration and settlement. Read »
Code Noir of Louisiana
The 1724 Code Noir of Louisiana was a means to control the behaviors of Africans, Native Americans, and free people of color. Read »
Collas, Louis Antoine
Louis Antoine Collas was an adept and very popular miniature portrait painter who regularly traveled to Louisiana to paint plantation owners and merchants. Read »
Cookbooks
Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, several Louisiana cookbooks collected the diverse cooking styles of Creole New Orleans. Crescent city cookbooks continued to represent Louisiana throughout the next century Read »
