Tuesday, July 12, 2016

History Of Louisiana Flag

By Albert Gregory


Louisiana has a long and varied history. The region was possibly visited by Cabeza de Vaca and his fellow survivors of a Spanish expedition of 1528, and it was certainly seen by some of De Soto's men (1541â€"42). In 1682, La Salle reached the mouth of the Mississippi and claimed for France all of the land drained by that river and its tributaries, naming it Louisiana after Louis XIV. Europeans did not permanently settle there until 1699, when Pierre le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville, founded a settlement near Biloxi. This settlement became the seat of government for Louisiana, an enormous territory embracing the entire Mississippi drainage basin.

Earlier, in 1803, Louisiana had become a part of the United States because of the region's importance to the trade and security of the American mid-west. New Orleans and the surrounding territory controlled the mouth of the Mississippi River down which much of the produce of the mid-west traveled to reach a market. To get the vital region in American hands, President Thomas Jefferson negotiated the Louisiana Purchase with Napoleon.

During the years 1861 and 1865, Louisiana used the Confederate National Flags as it was a member of the Confederate States. The present Louisiana Flag was adopted in 1912 by the Louisiana State Legislature as the official flag.

However, this flag did not last forever. When Louis XV gave Louisiana to the Spanish in 1764, two new flags were introduced to New Orleans. Then in the early 1800’s the stars and stripes finally flew over New Orleans when it became part of the United States.

The mother brown pelican is seen tearing at her breast with her beak. It is believed that when food was scarce a mother Pelican would tear off her own flesh to feed her babies rather than have them starve. The scene represents self-sacrifice.

There is a barrage of cheap and inferior Louisiana flags being imported and sold, that do not comply with the flag statute. This is bad for a number of reasons. Imported flags are cheaply made and more importantly, the designs, materials, colors, and methods of printing do not compare well with the better quality, longer-lasting, and correctly designed flags made by American manufacturers. The Flag Company Inc specialized in flag designs offered a special edition of decals and flags to memorize the history of Louisiana flag for the future.




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