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Are the 1766 Spanish census numbers and race counts in an 1885 newspaper correct?

Research question: How do the 1766 Spanish census of Louisiana and the 1885 newspaper's account of it compare with original Spanish census documents, and do the racial and population figures hold up?

The verified facts do not include the 1885 newspaper account, so it cannot be checked against the originals; the newspaper facts come from an 1849 issue 23. The 1766 figure of 409 inhabitants is a regional count for the Attakapas area, not a statewide total 1. The records are said to be held in Seville's General Archives of the Indies, but no fact shows that any figure was compared with those originals 46. Racial figures are not addressed by any fact, and the one historian error listed concerns German settlers rather than census counts, so the figures cannot be said to hold up 5. The newest fact is a 1981 book, about 45 years old as of October 2026 5.

Checked 2026-10-22. Only documented and supported facts are used.
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Sources

[1] supported
The 1766 census recorded a population of 409 inhabitants in the Attakapas region following the arrival of the first Acadians.
"On April 25, 1766, after the arrival of the first Acadians, the census showed a population of 409 inhabitants for the Attakapas region."
St. Martinville, Louisiana
[2] documented
The 1849 newspaper says a census of the Louisiana province was taken in 1788, about ninety years after the first settlement.
"A census of the province, taken in 1788, just ninety years from the date of the first"
Image 1 of Southern sentinel (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]), May 16, 1849
[3] supported
The newspaper says that at the time of the 1803 purchase, Louisiana's population did not exceed fifty thousand, not counting Indians.
"The population of Louisiana, at the time of the purchase, did not exceed fifty thousand, exclusive of the Indians"
Image 1 of Southern sentinel (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]), May 16, 1849
[4] supported
The library list says its Spanish-era census records were acquired from the Papeles Procedentes de Cuba, which are held at the General Archives of the Indies in Seville, Spain.
""Census records acquired from the Papeles Procedentes de Cuba deposited in the General Archives de Indies in Seville, Spain.""
Louisiana Census Records, pre-1810
[5] supported
Historian J. Hanno Deiler overstated the German population of colonial Louisiana, believing many thousands of German settlers arrived when only hundreds did.
"he came to believe that many thousands of his countrymen settled on Louisiana soil, when only hundreds did"
Germans in Louisiana: The Colonial Experience, 1720-1803 (1981)
[6] supported
The library list describes its collection as compiling the twenty-eight earliest census records of Louisiana, covering locations such as Fort Maurepas, Biloxi, Mobile, Natchez, and New Orleans.
""This is a compilation of the twenty-eight earliest census records of Louisiana...These particular census records cover, at one period or another, Fort Maurepas, Biloxi, Mobile, Natchez, New Orleans, and other locations."
Louisiana Census Records, pre-1810