Houma, Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, USA

Houma is the seat of Terrebonne Parish in southeastern Louisiana, where several bayous converge in the coastal plain southwest of New Orleans. Established as the parish seat in the 1830s, it developed as a center for trade, agriculture and later the seafood and energy industries of the Gulf Coast. Houma remains the parish’s principal urban center, with civic, commercial and cultural institutions serving surrounding bayou communities.