Nickname: Pelican State Date Ratified: April 30, 1812 (18th) Capital: Baton Rouge [caption id="attachment_1883" align="aligncenter" width="210" caption="Map of Louisiana"] [/caption]

• Caddo Lake was the first site of petroleum drilling over water in the world.
• At 450 feet tall, Louisiana has the tallest state capitol building in the United States.
• Louisiana is the only state that does not have counties. Instead, its political subdivisions are called parishes.
• Louisiana is the only state with a large population of Cajuns, descendants of the Acadians who were driven out of Canada in the 18th century because they wouldn't pledge allegiance to the King of England.
• The Superdome is the worlds largest steel-constructed room that is unobstructed by posts.
• At 24 miles long, the Lake Pontchartrain causeway is the world's longest bridge over water in the world.
• Louisiana is the only state that still refers to the Napoleonic Code in its state law.
• The first American army to have African-American officers was the confederate Louisiana Native Guards. The Corps d'Afrique at Port Hudson was sworn into service on September 27, 1862.
• The state flag of Louisiana, adopted in 2006, depicts a heraldic charge called a mother pelican wounding her breast to feed her young from the blood.

[caption id="attachment_1884" align="aligncenter" width="210" caption="Flag of Louisiana"] [/caption] Be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed, or follow EiH on Twitter or you could miss out on your chance to win Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States by George R. Stewart