In America, architecture found primarily in Louisiana and in many early settlements along the Mississippi River; it exhibits the influences of two major French-speaking immigrant populations. The first group, from Canada, the
Acadians, whose descendants are now known as
Cajuns, settled in the bayou districts of Louisiana during the last half of the 18th century in modest houses known as
Cajun cottages. The second major ethnic group consisted of the
Creoles, persons of European ancestry born in the Mississippi Valley, the Gulf Coast, or the West Indies, who usually spoke a French patois; their dwellings are known as
Creole houses. For specific aspects of this architecture see
abat-vent, banquette cottage, barreaux, bluffland house, bonnet roof, bousillage, briquette-entre-poteaux, cabanne, columbage, faux bois, faux marbre, pièce sur pièce construction, pierrotage, pilier, plaunch debout en terre construction, poteaux-en-terre house, poteauxsur-solle house, raised house.