Baton Rouge, Louisiana

==History==
{{main|History of Baton Rouge, Louisiana}}
{{For timeline}}

=== Pre-history ===
Human habitation in the Baton Rouge area has been dated to [[Paleo-Indians|12000–6500 BC]], based on evidence found along the Mississippi, [[Comite River|Comite]], and [[Amite River|Amite]] rivers.<ref name="corps">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2uE0AQAAMAAJ&q=baton+rouge+paleo+indians&pg=PA341|title=Comite River Basin, Amite River and Tributaries Flood Protection, Baton Rouge/Livingston Parishes: Environmental Impact Statement, Volume 2|publisher=Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development|year=1991|pages=B–7–5}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Baton Rouge Historical Marker|url=http://www.stoppingpoints.com/louisiana/East-Baton-Rouge/Baton+Rouge/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090802034500/http://www.stoppingpoints.com/louisiana/East-Baton-Rouge/Baton+Rouge/|archive-date=August 2, 2009|access-date=August 1, 2009|website=Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism}}</ref> [[Mound Builders|Earthwork mounds]] were built by hunter-gatherer societies in the [[Archaic period in North America|Middle Archaic period]], from roughly the fourth millennium BC.<ref name="RSaunders">{{cite journal |last=Saunders |first=Rebecca |title=The Case for Archaic Period Mounds in Southeastern Louisiana |journal=Southeastern Archaeology |volume=13 |number=2 |pages=118–134 |date=Winter 1994 |jstor=40656501}}</ref> The speakers of the Proto-[[Muskogean]] language divided into its descendant languages by about 1000 BC; and a cultural boundary between either side of [[Mobile Bay]] and the [[Black Warrior River]] began to appear between about 1200 BC and 500 BC—a period called the Middle "Gulf Formational Stage". The Eastern Muskogean language began to diversify internally in the first half of the first millennium AD.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hopkins |first=Nicholas A. |url=http://www.famsi.org/research/hopkins/SouthEastUSLanguages.pdf |url-status=live |title=The Native Languages of the Southeastern United States |publisher=FAMSI |year=2007 |access-date=October 22, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924024153/http://www.famsi.org/research/hopkins/SouthEastUSLanguages.pdf |archive-date=September 24, 2015}}</ref>

The early Muskogean societies were the bearers of the [[Mississippian culture]], which formed around 800 AD and extended in a vast network across the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, with numerous [[chiefdom]]s in the Southeast, as well. By the time the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] made their first forays inland from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico in the early 16th century, by some evidence many political centers of the Mississippians were already in decline, or abandoned. At the time, this region appeared to have been occupied by a collection of moderately sized native chiefdoms, interspersed with autonomous villages and tribal groups.<ref name=north_ga>{{cite web
 | url = http://ngeorgia.com/history/early.html
 | title = Moundbuilders, North Georgia's early inhabitants
 | access-date = May 2, 2008
 | author = About North Georgia
 | date = 1994–2006
 | publisher = Golden Ink
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080509164702/http://ngeorgia.com/history/early.html
 | archive-date = May 9, 2008
 | url-status = live
 }}</ref> Other evidence indicates these Mississippian settlements were thriving at the time of the first Spanish contact. Later Spanish expeditions encountered the remains of groups who had lost many people and been disrupted in the aftermath of infectious diseases, chronic among Europeans, unknowingly introduced by the first expedition.

===Colonial period===
{{further|Louisiana (New France)|West Florida|Red Sticks}}
[[File:Pierre Le Moyne Iberville.jpg|thumb|Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville, named Baton Rouge and lakes [[Lake Pontchartrain|Pontchartrain]] and [[Lake Maurepas|Maurepas]] in the early French colonial era.|left|192x192px]]
French explorer [[Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville]] led an exploration party up the Mississippi River in 1698. The explorers saw a red pole marking the boundary between the [[Houma people|Houma]] and [[Bayagoula]] tribal hunting grounds. The French name ''le bâton rouge'' ("the red stick") is the translation of a native term rendered as ''Istrouma'', possibly a corruption of the [[Choctaw language|Choctaw]] ''iti humma'' ("red pole");<ref>Rose Meyers, ''A History of Baton Rouge 1699–1812'' (1976),  [https://books.google.com/books?id=rvt8XrCzlwQC&pg=PA4 4] ff.</ref> André-Joseph Pénicaut—a carpenter traveling with d'Iberville—published the first full-length account of the expedition in 1723. According to Pénicaut:
<blockquote>From there &#91;[[Bayou Manchac|Manchacq]]&#93; we went five leagues higher and found very high banks called ''écorts'' in that region, and in savage called ''Istrouma'' which means red stick [''bâton rouge''], as at this place there is a post painted red that the savages have sunk there to mark the land line between the two nations, namely: the land of the Bayagoulas which they were leaving and the land of another nation—thirty leagues upstream from the ''baton rouge''—named the Oumas.</blockquote>The red pole was presumably at Scott's Bluff, on what is now the campus of Southern University.<ref name="Stocksieker_307">{{cite book| editor1-first=Irene Stocksieker| editor1-last=Di Maio| title=Gerstäcker's Louisiana: Fiction and Travel Sketches from Antebellum Times Through Reconstruction| publisher=[[Louisiana State University Press]]| year=2006| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vN2-0lQpZHkC&pg=PA307| page=307| isbn=9780807131466}}</ref> It was reportedly a {{convert|30|ft|m|adj=mid|-high}} painted pole adorned with fish bones.<ref>{{cite journal| first=Andrew C.| last=Albrecht| title=The Origin and Early Settlement of Baton Rouge, Louisiana| journal=Louisiana Historical Quarterly| volume=28| number=1| year=1945| pages=5–68}}</ref>

European settlement of Baton Rouge began in 1721 when French colonists established a military and trading post. Since then, Baton Rouge has been governed by France, Britain, Spain, Louisiana, the [[Republic of West Florida]], the United States, the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate States]], and the United States again. In 1755, when French-speaking settlers of [[Acadia]] in Canada's [[The Maritimes|Maritime provinces]] were [[Expulsion of the Acadians|expelled]] by British forces, many took up residence in rural Louisiana. Popularly known as [[Cajuns]], the descendants of the Acadians maintained a separate culture. During the first half of the 19th century, Baton Rouge grew steadily as the result of [[Riverboat|steamboat]] trade and transportation.

===Incorporation and growth===
[[File:Old baton rouge.jpg|thumb|Baton Rouge in 1863|left]]
Baton Rouge was [[Incorporated town|incorporated]] in 1817. In 1822, the [[Pentagon Barracks]] complex of buildings was completed. The site has been used by the Spanish, French, British, [[Confederate States Army]], and [[United States Army]] and was part of the short-lived Republic of West Florida.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/louisiana/pen.htm |title=Pentagon Barracks |access-date=August 12, 2008 |work=National Register of Historic Places |publisher=National Park Service |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615203032/http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/louisiana/pen.htm |archive-date=June 15, 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1951, ownership of the barracks was transferred to the state of Louisiana. In 1976, the complex was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name=lahouse>{{cite web| url=http://house.louisiana.gov/pubinfo/virtual%20tour/pentagon_barracks.htm| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419134518/http://house.louisiana.gov/pubinfo/virtual%20tour/pentagon_barracks.htm| archive-date=April 19, 2009 |title=Pentagon Barracks |access-date=August 12, 2008 |work=Louisiana Capitol History and Tour }}</ref>

Acquisition of Louisiana by the United States in 1803 was a catalyst for increased [[Anglo-Americans|Anglo-American]] settlement, especially in the northern part of the state. In 1846, the state legislature designated Baton Rouge as Louisiana's new capital to replace "sinful" [[New Orleans]]. The architect [[James Dakin]] was hired to design the [[old Louisiana State Capitol]], with construction beginning in late 1847.<ref name="Stocksieker_307"/>

Rather than mimic the [[United States Capitol]], as many other states had done, he designed a capitol in [[Neo-Gothic]] style, complete with turrets and crenellations, and stained glass; it overlooks the Mississippi. It has been described as the "most distinguished example of Gothic Revival" architecture in the state and has been designated as a [[National Historic Landmark]].<ref>[http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/louisiana/ocap.htm "Old Louisiana State Capitol"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120102100106/http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/louisiana/ocap.htm |date=January 2, 2012 }}, National Park Service</ref>

By the outbreak of the [[American Civil War]], the population of Baton Rouge was nearly 5,500. The war nearly halted economic progress, except for businesses associated with supplying the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] Army occupation of the city, which began in the spring of 1862 and lasted for the duration of the war. The Confederates at first consolidated their forces elsewhere, during which time the state government moved to [[Opelousas, Louisiana|Opelousas]] and later [[Shreveport, Louisiana|Shreveport]].<ref name="Stocksieker_307"/> In the summer of 1862, about 2,600 Confederate troops under generals [[John C. Breckinridge]] (the former [[Vice President of the United States]]) and [[Daniel Ruggles]] attempted to recapture Baton Rouge.

After the war, New Orleans temporarily served as the seat of the [[Reconstruction era]] state government. When the [[Bourbon Democrat]]s regained power in 1882, after considerable intimidation and voter suppression of black Republicans, they returned the state government to Baton Rouge, where it has since remained. In his 1893 guidebook, [[Karl Baedeker]] described Baton Rouge as "the Capital of Louisiana, a quaint old place with 10,378 inhabitants, on a bluff above the Mississippi".<ref>Baedeker, Karl, ed. ''The United States with an Excursion into Mexico: A Handbook for Travelers'', 1893: p. 321 (Reprint by Da Capo Press, New York, 1971)</ref>

In the 1950s and 1960s, the petrochemical industry boomed in Baton Rouge, stimulating the city's expansion beyond its original center. The changing market in the oil business has produced fluctuations in the industry, affecting employment in the city and area.

A building boom began in the city in the 1990s and continued into the 2000s, during which Baton Rouge was one of the fastest-growing cities in the Southern United States in terms of technology.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.businessreport.com/article/business-report-companies-along-airline-migrate-south-mean-left-behind|title=As companies along Airline migrate south, what does it mean for those left behind?|journal=Baton Rouge Business Report|date=2015-02-10|language=en-US|access-date=2016-09-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161002083524/https://www.businessreport.com/article/business-report-companies-along-airline-migrate-south-mean-left-behind|archive-date=October 2, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Metropolitan Baton Rouge was ranked as one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the U.S. (with a population under 1 million), with 602,894 in 2000 and 802,484 people as of the 2010 U.S. census.<ref>Metropolitan Areas Ranked by Population 1990–2000{{clarify|date=October 2015}}<!--how does that include the population for 2010?--> [[United States Census Bureau]], Population Division</ref> After the extensive damage in New Orleans and along the coast from [[Hurricane Katrina]] on August 29, 2005, the city took in as many as 200,000 displaced residents.

In 2010, Baton Rouge started a market push to become a test city for [[Google]]'s new super high speed [[fiber optic]] line known as GeauxFiBR.<ref>[http://www.wafb.com/story/12261173/groups-plan-to-make-push-for-google-fiber-experiment "Groups plan to make push for Google Fiber experiment"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140725061154/http://www.wafb.com/story/12261173/groups-plan-to-make-push-for-google-fiber-experiment |date=July 25, 2014 }}, [[WAFB]], April 5, 2010.</ref>

In July 2016, the Greater Baton Rouge metropolitan area was heavily affected by the shooting of [[Killing of Alton Sterling|Alton Sterling]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Who was Alton Sterling? What we know so far about the man killed by Baton Rouge police |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/alton-sterling-article-1.2700893 |access-date=2022-12-12 |website=New York Daily News|date=July 6, 2016 }}</ref> His death led to multiple protests and the [[2016 shooting of Baton Rouge police officers|shooting of police officers]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dupuy |first=Kevin |title=TIMELINE: Alton Sterling shooting and protests |url=https://www.wbrz.com/news/timeline-alton-sterling-shooting-and-protests/ |access-date=2022-12-12 |website=WBRZ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Mustian |first=Jim |title=Alton Sterling protesters treated 'like animals' in Baton Rouge prison, advocacy group claims |url=https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/crime_police/article_83d4ec44-626c-11e7-86ae-dbcc39e06536.html |access-date=2022-12-12 |website=The Advocate |date=July 8, 2017 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Visser |first=Steve |date=2016-07-17 |title=Baton Rouge shooting: 3 officers dead; shooter was Missouri man, sources say |url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/17/us/baton-route-police-shooting/index.html |access-date=2022-12-12 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2016-07-17 |title=Baton Rouge shooter was ex-Marine who denied ties to any group |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-police-shooter-idUSKCN0ZX0WC |access-date=2022-12-12}}</ref> President [[Barack Obama]] also made remarks on the shooting of Alton Sterling.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-07-07 |title=President Obama on the Fatal Shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2016/07/07/president-obama-fatal-shootings-alton-sterling-and-philando-castile |access-date=2022-12-12 |website=The Obama White House |language=en}}</ref> By February 2021, Sterling's family was given a $4.5 million settlement to settle a wrongful death lawsuit.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-02-11 |title=Officials offer $4.5M settlement over Alton Sterling's death |url=https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-police-alton-sterling-lawsuits-louisiana-a746a96ce79431c2721d45a783ebe4f5 |access-date=2022-12-12 |website=The Associated Press |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Metro council approves $4.5 million settlement offer for Alton Sterling's family |url=https://www.wbrz.com/news/metro-council-passes-4-5-million-settlement-for-alton-sterling-s-family/ |access-date=2022-12-12 |website=WBRZ |language=en}}</ref> In August 2016, the city and metropolitan area were [[2016 Louisiana floods|severely flooded]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=2016 Floods - 2016 Floods |url=https://64parishes.org/entry/2016-floods |access-date=2022-12-12 |website=64 Parishes |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Samuels |first=Diana |title=Looking back at the Louisiana Flood of 2016: From 2 feet of rain to sodden drywall |url=https://www.nola.com/news/weather/looking-back-at-the-louisiana-flood-of-2016-from-2-feet-of-rain-to-sodden/article_843a2f36-b5ff-5f06-b361-0c328b09c9e9.html |access-date=2022-12-12 |website=NOLA.com |date=August 12, 2017 |language=en}}</ref>

During the runoff for District 3 of the [[Louisiana Public Service Commission]] in December 2022, many Baton Rougeans helped elect [[Davante Lewis]]—the first openly LGBT politician to the state government.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-12-10 |title=Newcomer wins seat on Louisiana Public Service Commission |url=https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-politics-louisiana-baton-rouge-utilities-62ce147befa39e377cd9a48716590d90 |access-date=2022-12-12 |website=The Associated Press |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":9" />