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Location:
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State of Louisiana, United States of America
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Status:
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Admission to Statehood: April 30, 1812
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Capital City:
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Baton Rouge
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Main Cities:
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New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, LaFayette, Lake Charles
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Population:
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4,468,976; 22nd, 12/00
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Area:
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51,843 sq.mi, 31st largest
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Currency:
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1 US dollar = 100 cents
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Languages:
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English, Spanish, and over 30 others
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Religions:
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Protestant, Roman Catholic, Judaism
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The flag of Louisiana: The flag of Louisiana consists of a heraldic charge called a "pelican in her piety," representing a mother pelican wounding her breast to feed her young from the blood. This symbol, emblematic of Christian charity (and also the Official State Bird, the Brown pelican), is also found on the Louisiana state seal. On the flag it is depicted above a ribbon with the state motto: "Union, Justice, and Confidence." The current flag was adopted in 1912.
During the 19th century it was traditional in Louisiana flags for the "pelican in her piety" to have three drops of blood on her chest[1] . An eighth-grader at Vandebilt Catholic High School in Houma realized that the tradition had been haphazardly followed in more recent years, and brought this to the attention of his state legislator[1]. In April 2006, the Louisiana State Legislature passed a bill (House Bill 833/Act 92[2]) which requires three drops of blood to be depicted on the pelican used in the state's flag and seal.
Historical: Prior to 1861, the State of Louisiana had no official flag, though a flag similar to the modern one was often used. In January 1861, after seceding from the United States, Louisiana unofficially used a flag based on the flag of France. In February 1861, Louisiana officially adopted a flag with a single yellow star in a red canton, with thirteen red, white and blue stripes. This was used throughout the U.S. Civil War, though the Pelican flag and Flag of January 1861 remained in use unofficially.
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The flag is a piece of cloth, often flown from a pole or mast, generally used for signalling or identification. The design of a flag displayed in another form is also referred to as a flag. The first flags were used to assist military coordination on battlefields, and flags have evolved into a general tool for rudimentary signalling and identification, especially in environments where communication is similarly challenging (such as the maritime environment where semaphore is used).
National flags are potent patriotic symbols with varied wide-ranging interpretations, often including strong military associations due to their original and ongoing military uses. Flags are used in messaging or advertising, or for decorative purposes, though at this less formal end the distinction between a flag and a simple cloth banner is blurred. The study of flags is known as vexillology, from the Latin vexillum meaning flag or banner.
Although flag-like symbols have been used by ancient cultures for thousands of years, the origin of flags in the modern sense is a matter of dispute. Some believe flags originated in China, while others hold that the Roman Empire's vexillum was the first true flag. Originally, the standards of the Roman legions were not flags, but symbols like the eagle of Augustus Caesar's Xth legion; this eagle would be placed on a staff for the standard-bearer to hold up during battle. But a military unit from Scythia had for a standard a dragon with a flexible tail which would move in the wind; the legions copied this; eventually all the legions had flexible standards our modern-day flag.
During the Middle Ages, flags were used mainly during battles to identify individual leaders: in Europe the knights, in Japan the samurai, and in China the generals under the imperial army.
From the time of Christopher Columbus onwards, it has been customary (and later a legal requirement) for ships to carry flags designating their nationality; these flags eventually evolved into the national flags and maritime flags of today. Flags also became the preferred means of communications at sea, resulting in various systems of flag signals; see International maritime signal flags.
Beginning in the 17th century, European knights were replaced by centralized armies, and flags became the means to identify not just nationalities but also individual military units. Flags became much more elaborate, and were seen as objects to be captured or defended. Eventually these flags posed too much danger to those carrying them, and by World War I these were withdrawn from the battlefields, and have since been used only at ceremonial occasions.
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