Louisiana!

I was doing some research on Louisiana, because I was watching a show called "X-Men: Evolution." There's a character called Gambit and he's from Louisiana. I realised he had a French-like accent. What I found out on Louisiana was quite interesting to me. As we know, it's not exactly every day we meet someone who's French-American or French-Canadian. Most of French-Americans live in Louisiana, and I also found out that a certain amount of French-Canadian immigrants are settled in Louisiana. Not only that but there are many people from the Caribbean there who speak French as well. Louisiana is one of the few states that has French as a second language, so to speak. I'm really quite surprised by all this because I've never really given thought as to why the French even had control of Louisiana. Of course other cultures have mixed with the French, but I still find it amazing.