Parish (Louisiana)
| Parishes of Louisiana | |
|---|---|
| Category | Second-level administrative division |
| Location | State of Louisiana |
| Number | 64 Parishes |
| Populations | 4,908 (Tensas Parish) – 440,171 (East Baton Rouge Parish) |
| Areas | 203 square miles (530 km2) (West Baton Rouge Parish) – 2,429 square miles (6,290 km2) (Plaquemines Parish) |
| Government | Parish government |
| Subdivisions | Cities, Towns, Census designated place, Unincorporated area |
The U.S. state of Louisiana is divided into 64 parishes (French: paroisses) in the same way that 48 other states of the United States are divided into counties. Alaska, the other exception, is divided into boroughs and census areas instead.
Forty-one parishes are governed by a council called the Police Jury. The other 23 have various other forms of government, including: president-council, council-manager, parish commission, and consolidated parish/city.
Louisiana was formed from French and Spanish colonies, which were both officially Roman Catholic. Local colonial government was based upon parishes, as the local ecclesiastical division (French: paroisse; Spanish: parroquia).
Following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the territorial legislative council divided the Territory of Orleans (the predecessor of Louisiana state) into 12 counties. The borders of these counties were poorly defined, but they roughly coincided with the colonial parishes, and hence used the same names.
On March 31, 1807, the territorial legislature created 19 parishes without abolishing the old counties (which term continued to exist until 1845). In 1811, a constitutional convention was held to prepare for Louisiana's admission into the Union. This organized the state into seven judicial districts, each consisting of groups of parishes. In 1816, the first official map of the state used the term parish, as did the 1845 constitution. Since then, the official term for Louisiana's primary civil divisions has been parishes.
The 19 original parishes were joined by Catahoula Parish in 1808, and four additional parishes were created by the new West Florida territory.
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