Islenos of South Louisiana

This photo shows some of the Islenos of St. Bernard Parish trapping muskrats (ca. 1941).

Library of Congress

Spanish for "Islander," the word "isleño" was originally used to describe the native peoples of the Canary Islands. Los Islaños now refers to an ethnic group descended from the original Canary Islanders who settled in different Spanish colonies throughout the "New World." A group of Isleños began setting in Louisiana in 1778. The Spanish governor at the time, Benardo de Galvez, found populating the province of Louisiana with new immigrants a difficult task.

Original Isleños settlers became a part of militia regiments organized and prepared to defend the colony. When not "soldiering" for the governor, Isleños families built houses, established small farms, and constructed churches. The Spanish crown intended the settlers to maintain an agricultural livelihood and become self-sufficient. Spain issued a four-year supply of rations, including livestock and farming equipment, to each family.

Escaping period epidemics, the Isleños settlers moved deeper into the Delta. Their way of life altered as they settled on new terrain. Soil and climatic conditions were unsuitable for farming, so the colonists began hunting, trapping, and fishing. The marshes, swamps, and shallow warers of lower St. Bernard Parish were rich in muskrat, deer, shrimp, fish, crab, and oysters. By the mid-1800s, the Islenos were settled permanently in lower St. Bernard Parish.

Isleños communities still exist in south Louisiana today. Retention of the Spanish language is the most significant element of contemporary Isleños identity. Their dialect comes from 17^th century Spanish, but the language spoken today incorporates elements of other languages mixed with this dialect.

Learn more about the cultural heritage by visiting the Los Isleños Heritage and Cultural Society museum's website (the museum is not managed by the National Park Service).