Bayou

Game Information

A vast swamp where dry land is at a premium. You can only build on solid ground, but armies can travel across the wetlands, so beware of unexpected ambushes. Cherokee and Seminole villages occupy islands through the middle of the map.

History

Bayous stretch the southern shores of North America from Texas to Mississippi. They are home to hosts of wildlife and plants, all living in or near the sluggishly moving waters of bayou streams. They are often formed when a tributary of a river gets cut off from the main flow of fresh water. Crawfish, nutria, and alligators are just a few famous bayou animals. Marsh-loving trees include willows, cypress, and tupelo.

The Bayou's best-known inhabitants are the Cajuns. Formerly French settlers who were exiled over several decades from their lands in Canada, the Cajuns (originally Acadians) settled in what is now southern Louisana. They were driven away from a time by Charles Lawrence, who in 1753 became the governor of Acadia, recently claimed by the British. Over the next several decades they were captured, fled and resettled in areas all over Canada, the West Indies, and what would become North America.