A bayou ( or ) is a body of water typically found in flat, low-lying areas, and can either refer to an extremely slow-moving stream or river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), or to a marshy lake or wetland. Bayous are commonly found in the Gulf Coast region of the southern United States, particularly the Mississippi River region, with the state of Louisiana being famous for them. A bayou is frequently an anabranch or minor braid of a braided channel that is moving much more slowly than the mainstem, often becoming boggy and stagnant, though the vegetation varies by region. Many bayous are home to crawfish, certain species of shrimp, other shellfish, catfish, alligators, and myriad other species.

The word was first used by the English in Louisiana and is thought to originate from the Choctaw word bayuk, which means "small stream." Another theory on the origin of bayou is from the French words bas lieu (pronounced phonetically as ba-li-you) meaning "low place". The first settlements of Acadians in southern Louisiana were near Bayou Lafourche and Bayou des Ecores, which led to a close association of the bayou with Cajun culture.

Bayou Country is most closely associated with Cajun and Creole cultural groups native to the Gulf Coast region generally stretching from Houston, Texas, to Mobile, Alabama, with its center in New Orleans, Louisiana.

An alternate spelling "buyou" has also been used, as in the "Pine Buyou" used in a description by Congress in 1833 of Arkansas Territory.

In Fiction

Bayous are often the setting of horror stories as they are popularly perceived as eerie and mysterious.

Films

• Southern Comfort

• Eve's Bayou

• The Skeleton Key

• Hatchet

• The Reaping

• Swamp Thing

• The Rescuers (animated)

• The Haunted Mansion

• Schultze Gets the Blues

Video Games

• Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

• Rayman 2: The Great Escape

• The House of the Dead: Overkill

• Left 4 Dead 2

Literature

thumb|250px|Bayou Navigation in Dixie, 1863

• the novels of Anne Rice

• The Southern Vampire Mysteries

• V.C. Andrews "Landry" series, most notably Tarnished Gold and Ruby

• The Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole

• Midnight Bayou by Nora Roberts

Television

• True Blood

• Viva La Bam - Episode 29

Music

• Bayou Country (album)--Creedence Clearwater Revival

• Blue Bayou--Roy Orbison

• Jambalaya (On the Bayou)

• Louisiana Bayou—Dave Matthews Band

• Born on the Bayou - Creedence Clearwater Revival

• Evangeline—The Icicle Works (mentioned in lyrics)

• Devils Queen - Black Stone Cherry (mentioned in lyrics)

• Amos Moses - Jerry Reed

• Deadly Avenger - The Bayou

• Blues On The Bayou - B.B. King Album

• The Adventures of Bayou Billy - The Unicorns

• Mississippi Mud - Hank Williams III

• Fire on the Bayou - The Meters

See also

• Wetland

• Slough

• Swamp

• Hurricane on the Bayou

• New Orleans

• Louisiana

• Bayou City (a nickname for Houston)

Notable bayous

• Bayou Bartholomew

• Bayou Lafourche

• Cypress Bayou

• Bayou St. John

• Big Bayou Canot

• Buffalo Bayou

Category:Fluvial landforms Category:Landforms of TexasCategory:Articles lacking sources (Erik9bot)
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