Baton Rouge, LA Summer Camps

About Baton Rouge, LA

Baton Rouge ; Choctaw: Itta Homma ; "red stick") is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana . It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state. Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South . The Port of Baton Rouge is the ninth largest in the United States in terms of tonnage shipped, and is the farthest upstream Mississippi River port capable of handling Panamax ships. The Baton Rouge area, also known as the "Capital Area", is located in the southeast portion of the state along the Mississippi River . It owes its historical importance to its site upon Istrouma Bluff , the first bluff upriver from the Mississippi River Delta , which protects the city’s residents from flooding, hurricanes, and other natural disasters. In addition to this natural barrier, the city has built a levee system stretching from the bluff southward to protect the riverfront and low-lying agricultural areas. The city of Baton Rouge has a population of 229,553 as of the 2010 census. The metropolitan area, known as Greater Baton Rouge , has a population of 802,484 people as of 2010.

History of Baton Rouge, LA

History Baton Rouge History Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville provided Baton Rouge as well as Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas their current names Beginnings The European-American history of Baton Rouge dates from 1699, when French explorer Sieur d'Iberville leading an exploration party up the Mississippi River saw a reddish cypress pole festooned with bloody animals that marked the boundary between the Houma and Bayou Goula tribal hunting grounds. They called the pole and its location le bâton rouge , or the red stick. The local Native American name for the site had been Istrouma . From evidence found along the Mississippi, Comite, and Amite rivers, and in three Native American mounds remaining in the city, archaeologists have been able to date indigenous habitation of the Baton Rouge area to 8000 BC. The mounds were built by hunter-gatherer societies in the Middle Archaic period , perhaps as early as 4500 BC, long before the pyramids of Egypt. During the early nineteenth century, Americans in the Southeast referred to the Upper Creek Nation as "Red Sticks" for their warfare against European-American settlers encroaching on their traditional territories in present-day Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. It was also part of a revival of traditional culture against efforts to assimilate. The Lower Creek towns were more closely tied to European-American trading, and had become more assimilated. They were called the "White Sticks" in the Creek War , in which American soldiers became involved during the War of 1812 . Some Lower Creek supported American forces in the Battle of New Orleans .

Baton Rouge, LA City Statistics: