Attakapas County, Orleans Territory

Attakapas Parish was a former parish (county) in southern Louisiana and was one of twelve parishes in the Territory of Orleans, newly defined by the United States federal government following the Louisiana Purchase. At its core was the Poste des Attakapas trading post, now St. Martinville.

Attakapas Parish was formally created from the Attakapas and Opelousas Districts in 1805 by Governor William C. C. Claiborne. It occupied the triangle between the Mermentau River on the west, the Atchafalaya River on the east, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south.

In 1811, the parish was divided into St. Martin Parish and St. Mary Parish. The region was further subdivided in 1823, 1844, and 1868 to create Lafayette, Vermillion, and Iberia parishes, respectively.

Prior to European colonization, the area was primarily home to the Atakapa tribe.

The first Europeans arrived in the 1730s, and they were predominantly French or of French descent.

In the 1760s and 1780s, the area received a sizable influx of Acadian immigrants, who had been deported from their homes in Nova Scotia and scattered among various French and (other) British domains: the thirteen British Atlantic coast colonies, England, France, Saint-Dominigue (Haiti), Cayenne (French Guiana), and the Falkland Islands.

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