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With a rich and colorful past, Louisiana has always been a center of European influence since the early days of exploration, when it was first visited by the likes of Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto in the 16th century.

100 years later, France became a major influence when Sieur de la Salle reached the mouth of the Mississippi and laid claim to the region for Louis XIV.

A French crown colony by the early 1700's, the area was traded back and forth in the ensuing century between Spain and France - when Napoleon finally sold it off to the U.S. in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.

Today, Cajun or "French with a Southern drawl" can still be heard in Louisiana most heavily throughout the Mississippi Delta region and in Lafayette Cajun country.

New Orleans continues to battle back, following Hurricane Katrina, as one of Louisiana's biggest tourist draws - with still-rollicking Basin Street jazz clubs, the charm of the French Quarter, and the annual Fat Tuesday Mardi Gras celebration.

Other major tourist attractions include Chalmette Battlefield (marking America's victory over the British at the Battle of New Orleans in 1812), historic plantations near Natchitoches, the Old State Capitol at Baton Rouge and a network of very popular state parks.

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