Acadiana

Acadiana (French and Louisiana French: L'Acadiane), also known as the Cajun Country (Louisiana French: Le Pays Cadjin, País Cajún), is the official name given to the French Louisiana region that has historically contained much of the state's Francophone population. Many inhabitants of the Cajun Country have Acadian ancestry and identify as Cajuns or Creoles. Of the 64 parishes that make up the U.S. state of Louisiana, 22 named parishes and other parishes of similar cultural environment make up this intrastate region. The word "Acadiana" reputedly has two origins. Its first recorded appearance dates to the mid-1950s, when a Crowley, Louisiana, newspaper, the Crowley Daily Signal, coined the term in reference to Acadia Parish, Louisiana. However, KATC television in Lafayette independently coined "Acadiana" in the early 1960s, giving it a new, broader meaning, and popularized it throughout southern Louisiana. Founded in 1962, KATC was owned by the Acadian Television Corporation. In early 1963, the ABC affiliate received an invoice erroneously addressed to the "Acadiana" Television Corp. Someone had typed an extra "a" at the end of the word "Acadian". The station started using it to describe the region covered by its broadcast signal. Today, numerous business, governmental, and nonprofit organizations incorporate Acadiana in their names, e.g., Mall of Acadiana and Acadiana High School. Notably, KLFY-TV, the regional CBS affiliate, used the term in its very successful "Hello News" branding campaign as "Hello Acadiana". KATC hosts a morning television show, "Good Morning Acadiana". Historically part of French Louisiana, present-day Acadiana was inhabited by Attakapa Native Americans at the time of European encounter. After the expulsion of French-speaking Acadian refugees from Canada by the victorious British at the end of the Seven Years' War, many Acadians settled in this region. The Acadians intermarried with other settlers, forming what became known as Cajun culture.