At the
2000 U.S. census the total population of Acadiana was 1,352,646 residents. At the 2019
American Community Survey, the tabulated population of Acadiana was an estimated 1,490,449. In 2020, the tabulated population of Acadiana's parishes was 1,486,345.
Cajun-Creole ethnicity Cajuns are the descendants of 18th-century
Acadian exiles from what are now Canada's
Maritime Provinces, expelled by the British and New Englanders during and after the
French and Indian War (see
Expulsion of the Acadians). Being a French, and later Spanish colony, Louisiana maintained a
three-tiered society that was very similar to other Latin American and Caribbean countries. In the colonial period of French and Spanish rule, men tended to marry later after becoming financially established. Men frequently took Native American women as their wives (see
Marriage), and as slaves were imported into the colony, settlers also took African wives. Intermarriage between the different groups of Louisiana created a large
multiracial Creole population. As more families settled Louisiana, young Frenchmen or French Creoles coming from wealthy backgrounds courted mixed-race women as their mistresses, known as , before they officially married. The developed formal arrangements for , which the young women's mothers negotiated. Under the system of , the suitor had to be wealthy and prove that he could support the daughter, and take care of their children. Often the mothers arranged a kind of
dowry or property transfer to their daughters; if the daughter was a slave, she and their children would gain freedom. The fathers often paid for the education of their mixed-race children from relationships, especially if they were sons, generally sending them to France to be educated. The term is not synonymous with "free people of color" or , but many members of LA have traced their genealogies through those lines. Today, the multiracial descendants of the French and Spanish colonists, Africans, and other ethnicities are widely known as Louisiana Creoles. Louisiana's Governor
Bobby Jindal signed Act 276 on 14 June 2013, creating the license plate "I'm Creole", honoring Louisiana Creoles' contributions and heritage. Similarly, the Acadiana region is home to many African Americans, who have contributed greatly to the region over the centuries. Many primarily descend from those persons brought to the State of Louisiana in various waves during the colonial period to work the area's sugarcane and rice plantations in the southern part of the state and the cotton plantations in the northern part of the state. Between 1723 and 1769, most slaves imported to Louisiana were from modern day
Senegal,
Mali and
Congo, many thousands being imported to Louisiana from there. A large number of the imported slaves from the Senegambia region were members of the
Wolof and
Bambara ethnic groups.
Saint-Louis and
Goree Island were sites where a great number of slaves destined for Louisiana departed from Africa. During the
Spanish control of Louisiana, between 1770 and 1803, most of the slaves still came from the Congo and the Senegambia region, but others were imported from modern-day
Benin. Many slaves imported during this period were members of the
Nago people, a
Yoruba subgroup. The slaves brought with them their cultural practices, languages, and religious beliefs rooted in spirit and
ancestor worship, as well as Roman Catholic Christianity—all of which were key elements of
Louisiana Voodoo. Before the American Civil War (1861–1865), African Americans comprised a significant portion of the state's population, with most being employed on sugar cane and cotton plantations (see
history of slavery in Louisiana and
Louisiana African American Heritage Trail).
Religion in
Lafayette, Louisiana Religiously, Acadiana differs from much of the
American South because a majority of its people are Christians of the
Roman Catholic tradition in contrast to the surrounding regions (e.g.,
Central and
Northern Louisiana), which are part of the largely Protestant
Bible Belt. This is largely attributed to the region's French, Spanish, and Caribbean influences. Among the Catholic population of Acadiana, the majority are served by the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana, though some areas in western and eastern Acadiana belong to the
Diocese of Lake Charles, and the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge in the
Florida Parishes. ==Transportation==