Bayou Manchac
| Bayou Manchac | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Louisiana |
| Parishes | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | Near theMississippi Riversouth ofBaton Rouge |
| • coordinates | 30°19′01″N91°08′16″W/ 30.3169°N 91.1379°W |
| Mouth | Amite River |
• coordinates | 30°20′44″N90°53′31″W/ 30.34556°N 90.89194°W |
| Length | 18 miles (29 km) |
Bayou Manchacis an 18-mile-long (29 km)[1]bayouin southeastLouisiana,USA. First called the Iberville River ( "rivière d'Iberville" ) by its French discoverers,[2][3]the bayou was once a very important waterway linking theMississippi River(west end) to theAmite River(east end).[4][3]East Baton Rouge Parishlies on its northern side, while its southern side is divided betweenAscension Parish(to the east) andIberville Parish(to the west). The large unincorporated community ofPrairievilleand the city ofSt. Gabrielboth lie on its southern side.
Etymology
[edit]DrJohn R. Swanton,a linguist who worked with Native American languages, suggested that the name Manchac is derived fromImashaka,which is a Choctaw word meaning "the rear entrance."[5][6]An early Choctaw language dictionary written byCyrus Byingtondefines the wordimas a preposition meaning "place" andashakameaning "the back side or rear".[7]
Exploration
[edit]In March 1699,Pierre Le Moyne d'Ibervillemade his way up the Mississippi and came to the area that is now the city ofBaton Rouge.He wished to find a quick way back to theGulf of Mexico,where his ships weremooredatShip Island.On March 26, 1699, thechiefof theBayogoulatribe, who had accompanied him to the future site ofBaton Rouge,showed him the bayou that the Bayogoula used to travel between the present-day Mississippi Gulf Coast and their village.[8]
Fort Bute
[edit]In 1764, the British established atrading poston the Iberville River and called itFort Buteat Manchac.[9]The British traded with boats traveling down the Mississippi and encouraged trading at Manchac rather than with the Spanish farther down at New Orleans. The fort at Bayou Manchac was a strategic position for the British and was positioned to compete with Spain for the fur trade, valued at that time at 100,000pounds sterlingannually.[10]
San Gabriel de Manchac
[edit]Soon after the British built Fort Bute, the Spanish responded by building atrading poston the opposite side of the river.[11]On September 28, 1766, an English ship arrived in New Orleans from Maryland carrying 224 exiledAcadians.The Spanish GovernorAntonio de Ulloaat the Isle of Orleans gave them supplies, and they settled around San Gabriel de Manchac.[12]
For about three months, from April 30 to August 4, 1812, Bayou Manchac was the northern border of easternLouisiana,until the addition of theFlorida Parisheswas approved by the state legislature.[13]
Industrial use and today
[edit]Bayou Manchac became one of the most important waterways of southeastern Louisiana. It served the vital role of linkingBaton RougetoLake Pontchartrainvia theAmite RiverandLake Maurepas.Through time, as ships became larger and faster, Bayou Manchac was too small to support modern traffic. In the 20th century, when the Mississippi Riverleveeswere built, Bayou Manchac was cut off from the river, and later the upper sections dried out or were cut off by roads. Now the bayou is only useful for drainage and recreation, but the area is still regarded by those who live in the vicinity as one of Louisiana's most beautiful examples of nature.[4]
See also
[edit]Sources
[edit]Sternberg, Mary Ann (2007).Winding Through Time: The Forgotten History and Present-Day Peril of Bayou Manchac.Louisiana State University Press.ISBN978-0-8071-3253-1.
References
[edit]- ^U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data.The National MapArchived2012-03-29 at theWayback Machine,accessed June 20, 2011
- ^A Map of part of West Florida: from Pensacola to the mouth of the Iberville River, with a view to shew the proper spot for a settlement on the Mississippi,[London]: [Publisher not identified], [1772],https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3860.ar165000/?r=-0.063,0.075,0.335,0.151,0,last accessed 10 Feb 2019.
- ^abSuite du cours du fleuve St. Louis depuis la rivière d'Iberville jusq'à celle des Yasous, et les parties connues de la Rivière Rouge et la Rivière Noire,https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4042m.ar077900/?r=0.549,0.465,0.411,0.185,0,last accessed 10 Feb 2019.
- ^ab"Archived copy".Archived fromthe originalon 2009-10-22.Retrieved2009-10-26.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^William A. Read (12 October 2008).Louisiana Place Names of Indian Origin: A Collection of Words.University of Alabama Press. p. 40.ISBN978-0-8173-5505-0.
- ^Clare D’Artois Leeper (October 19, 2012).Louisiana Place Names: Popular, Unusual, and Forgotten Stories of Towns, Cities, Plantations, Bayous, and Even Some Cemeteries.LSU Press. pp. 156–.ISBN978-0-8071-4738-2.
- ^Cyrus Byington (1915),A Dictionary of the Choctaw Language,Native American Book Publishers, p. 59,ISBN9781878592071
- ^"Pierre LeMoyne d' Iberville: Discoverer of the Mississippi Gulf Coast".Archived fromthe originalon 2007-09-27.Retrieved2007-08-22.
- ^James Dunwoody Brownson De Bow (1854).Encyclopaedia of the Trade and Commerce of the United States: More Particularly of the Southern and Western States: Giving a View of the Commerce, Agriculture, Manufactures, Internal Improvements, Slave and Free Labour, Slavery Institutions, Products, Etc., of the South...Trübner & Company. pp. 1–.
- ^Mary Ann Sternberg (April 2007).Winding Through Time: The Forgotten History and Present-Day Peril of Bayou Manchac.LSU Press. pp. 47–.ISBN978-0-8071-3577-8.
- ^James Dunwoody Brownson De Bow (1852).The Industrial Resources, Etc., of the Southern and Western States: Embracing a View of Their Commerce, Agriculture, Manufactures, Internal Improvements, Slave and Free Labor, Slavery Institutions, Products, Etc., of the South: Together with Historical and Statistical Sketches of the Different States and Cities of the Union: Statistics of the United States Commerce and Manufactures, from the Earliest Periods, Compared with Other Leading Powers: the Results of the Different Census Returns Since 1790, and Returns of the Census of 1850, on Population, Agriculture and General Industry, Etc.: with an Appendix.Office of De Bow's review. pp.29–.
- ^Barry Jean Ancelet; Jay Edwards; Glen Pitre (20 January 2012).Cajun Country.Univ. Press of Mississippi. pp. 15–.ISBN978-1-60473-617-5.
- ^"Giving the Assent of the Legislature to an Enlargement of the Limits of the State of Louisiana".en.wikisource.org.August 4, 1812.Retrieved21 October2021.
