Baton Rouge

City (pop., 2000: 227,818), capital of Louisiana, U.S. Located on the Mississippi River, it is the state's second-largest city. Settled by the French in 1719, it was named for a red cypress pole that marked a boundary between Indian tribes. The area was ceded to Britain in 1763, then taken by the Spanish in the American Revolution. Spain ceded Louisiana to France in 1800 but tried to retain Baton Rouge at the time of the Louisiana Purchase (1803). In 1810 the city was annexed to the U.S., and it became the state capital in 1849. The capital was transferred to other towns when Baton Rouge was occupied by Federal troops during the American Civil War; in 1882 it regained its capital status. It has deepwater port facilities and is an important petroleum refining centre.

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Baton may refer to:

In stick-like objects:

• Baton (conducting), a short thin stick used for directing a musical performance
• Baton (running), an object transferred by runners in a relay race
• Baton (symbol), a symbolic attribute of military or other office
• Baton (twirling), a light metal rod used for keeping time, twirling, and juggling in marching band and parade performances
• Baton (law enforcement), a club used for law enforcement
• Baton sinister, a mark of cadency in heraldry

In other uses:

• BATON, a Type 1 block cipher, used by the United States government to secure all types of classified information
• Baton Bob, a costumed street performer currently based in Atlanta, Georgia
• Baton Bunny, a Bugs Bunny cartoon of the Looney Tunes series produced in 1958
• Baton Broadcasting, a Canadian broadcaster, now owned by CTVglobemedia
• Baton Broadcasting System, a defunct television system owned by Baton Broadcasting Inc.
• BATON Overlay or BAlanced Tree Over-lay Network, a distributed tree structure for Peer-to-Peer (P2P) systems
• Baton Rouge, the capital city of Louisiana, USA
• Baton Records, a record label

See also

• Baton charge
• Batten (disambiguation)