Bayou

In usage in the Southern United States, a bayou (/ˈbaɪ.uː, ˈbaɪ.oʊ/)[1] is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area. It may refer to an extremely slow-moving stream, river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), marshy lake, wetland, or creek. They typically contain brackish water highly conducive to fish life and plankton. Bayous are commonly found in the Gulf Coast region of the southern United States, especially in the Mississippi River Delta, though they also exist elsewhere.

For other uses, see Bayou (disambiguation).
Bayou Corne in Louisiana, October 2010

A bayou is often an anabranch or minor braid of a braided channel that is slower than the mainstem, often becoming boggy and stagnant. Though fauna varies by region, many bayous are home to crawfish, certain species of shrimp, other shellfish, catfish, frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, American alligators, American crocodiles, herons, lizards, turtles, tortoises, spoonbills, snakes, and leeches, as well as many other species.

Etymology

The word entered American English via Louisiana French in Louisiana and is thought to originate from the Choctaw word bayuk, which means "small stream".[2] After first appearing in the 17th century, the term is found in 18th century accounts and maps, often as bayouc or bayouque, where it was eventually shortened to its current form.[3] The first settlements of the Bayou Têche and other bayous were founded by the Louisiana Creoles, and the bayous are commonly associated with Creole and Cajun culture.

An alternative spelling, "buyou", is also known to have been in use, as in "Pine Buyou", used in a description by Congress in 1833 of Arkansas Territory. As of 2016 "bye-you" US: /ˈbaɪ.u/ is the most common pronunciation, while a few use "bye-oh" US: /ˈbaɪ.oʊ/, although that pronunciation is declining.[4]

Geography

The term Bayou Country is most closely associated with Cajun and Creole cultural groups derived from French settlers and stretching along the Gulf Coast from Houston, Texas, to Mobile, Alabama, and picking back up in South Florida around the Everglades, with its center in New Orleans, Louisiana.[5] The term may also be associated with the homelands of certain Choctaw tribal groups.[5][6][7]

Houston has the nickname "Bayou City".[4]

Environmental Risks

Bayous are susceptible to pollution such as runoff[8] from nearby urban communities (which can result in eutrophication) and oil spills.[9] Many bayous have been cleared away by human activity as well (with those in Louisiana having shrunk by 4,900 square kilometers since the 1930s[5]).

Notable examples

See also

References
  1. "bayou". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d. Retrieved 2016-08-20.
  2. Online Etymology Dictionary Archived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine, Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th edition Archived 2012-02-25 at the Wayback Machine
  3. West, Robert C. (1954). "The Term "Bayou" in the United States: A Study in the Geography of Place Names". Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 44 (1): 68. doi:10.2307/2561116. JSTOR 2561116.
  4. Shilcutt, Katharine (2016-10-24). "What's a Bayou Anyway?". Houstonia. Archived from the original on 2019-01-02. Retrieved 2019-01-01.
  5. "Bayou".
  6. "Bvlbancha Public Access - Scierra LaGarde - Bayou Lacombe Choctaw".
  7. "Choctaw Heritage of Louisiana and Mississippi".
  8. Moshiri, Gerald A.; Crumpton, William G.; Blaylock, Dewey A. (1978). "Algal Metabolites and Fish Kills in a Bayou Estuary: An Alternative Explanation to the Low Dissolved Oxygen Controversy". Journal (Water Pollution Control Federation). 50 (8): 2043–2046. ISSN 0043-1303. JSTOR 25040383.
  9. Ashraf., Eargle, Lisa A. Esmail (2012). Black beaches and bayous : the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster. ISBN 978-0-7618-5978-9. OCLC 823195464.
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