Baton Rouge

Located on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, the Baton Rouge area owes its historical importance to its strategic site upon the Istrouma Bluff, the first natural bluff upriver from the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. This allowed the development of a business quarter safe from seasonal flooding. In addition, it built a levee system stretching from the bluff southward to protect the riverfront and low-lying agricultural areas.

Baton Rouge has developed as a culturally rich center, settled by immigrants from European nations and African peoples brought to North America as slaves or indentured servants. It was ruled by six different nations: the French, Spanish and British in the colonial era; briefly the Republic of West Florida; the United States as a territory and a state; the Confederate States of America; and the United States again since the end of the American Civil War.