Iberia Parish: Images of America (Arcadia Publishing)

With its multitude of diverse heritage and various successful industries, Iberia Parish of Louisiana is the true American melting pot.

In the mid-1700s, the French explored the area that is now Iberia Parish, and by 1765, many Acadians had arrived, and the Spanish settled along the Bayou Teche in 1779. They named the area Neuva Iberia after the Iberian Peninsula in Spain. Though sugarcane plantations along Bayou Teche attracted English and American settlers, along with their enslaved laborers, by the mid-19th century, French had become the dominant language of the area. By the end of Reconstruction, distinctions between Acadians and neighboring groups had blurred, giving rise to a new people--the Cajuns. Today, Iberians stay true to the agrarian roots, and Iberia Parish is known as the hottest (tabasco), sweetest (sugarcane), oiliest (oil drilling), and saltiest (salt mines) place on Earth.