Those portions of Southeast Louisiana north of the Bayou Manchac-Amite River-Lakes
Maurepas-Pontchartrain and -Borgne confluences, south of the Thirty-first degree North
latitude, east of the Mississippi and west of the Pearl River are historically identified
the Florida Parishes.

Experiencing overlordship by French, British, Spanish and American military occupiers
respectively, the eight modern parishes of East Baton Rouge, West Feliciana, East
Feliciana, St. Helena, Livingston, Tangipahoa, Washington and St. Tammany maintain
a distinct regional identity linked by geography and a peculiar common history.

 

Only the Florida Parishes

• boasts association with every major colonial power occupying Louisiana.

• remained separate and distinct from the original Louisiana Purchase.

• shaped its own destiny through an armed insurrection successfully overthrowing the
  existing government and leading to the establishment of an independent nation, the
  original “Lone Star Republic” of West Florida.

• witnessed fierce feud-related violence earning the ominous distinction as home to
  some of the highest rural homicide rates ever recorded in American history.

 

Flags which have flown over the Florida Parishes:

 

Royal Spanish flag of Castile and Leon

 

French Fleur de Lis Royal Flag

 

British Union Jack (late 1700s)

 

Spanish national Flag

 

U.S. flag (1795-1818)

 

Flag of the West Florida Republic, 1810

 

Louisiana Secession flag, 1861

 

First Confederate national flag

 

Louisiana state flag