Did You Know Why Louisiana Uses Parishes Instead Of Counties?

It dates back to before Louisiana was a part of the United States and was controlled by both France and Spain.

Pictured above is a map of Louisiana in 1750, before the French and Indian War.

Now, Louisiana parishes like St. John the Baptist, St. Mary, and St. Martin are making more sense, right?

They roughly matched the parishes the area was already using, so they kept using the term parish instead of counties...and it stuck.

Acadia Parish
Attakapas Parish
Concordia Parish
German Coast Parish
Iberville Parish
Lafourche Parish
Natchitoches Parish
Opelousas Parish
Orleans Parish
Ouachita Parish
Pointe Coupée Parish
Rapides Parish

Here’s some fun trivia for you:
Attakapas Parish existed from 1805 to 1811 and is Lafayette, Vermillion, and Iberia parishes today.
Biloxi Parish was only around for about a year (1811-1812) before it became a part of the Mississippi Territory.
Carrol Parish was divided in 1877 to form East and West Carroll Parish. Similarly, Feliciana Parish was divided into East Feliciana Parish and West Feliciana Parish in 1824.
Opelousas Parish was renamed St. Landry Parish in 1805.

There were some minor boundary adjustments in 1979 to the Louisiana parishes that surround Lake Pontchartrain, but no new parishes were created. The last parishes to join the squad were Evangeline Parish, Allen Parish, Beauregard Parish, and Jefferson Davis Parish, which were all added between 1910-1912.