Baton Rouge is in the part of Louisiana settled by the English--The Florida Parishes. Culturally it is similar to north Louisiana which was settled by Anglo-Americans from the eastern states. It is the capital and French and Spanish flags have flown here, but the settlers were mostly English and American. Spanish colonial settlers were mostly located in New Orleans and immediately adjacent to Spanish Texas. The French colonial settlers were mainly in the bayous and southwest prairie country. Africans settled all over the state, mostly in the agricutural river valley plantations where slaves had been employed and rarely in the hill country dominated by small family farms. New Orleans is the only real cultural mixing pot since Spanish, Caribbean, French, English, American, and African influences have all been combined. It has always been the most international and European of American cities. Before the Civil War there were 15,000 free negroes in New Orleans, which has always been a friendly city to blacks as well as German and Irish immigrants.
