Ouachita Parish /

Ouachita Parish (French: Paroisse d'Ouachita) is a parish (population 147,250 as of the 2000 census) located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Monroe. Ouachita Parish is part of the Monroe Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the Monroe–Bastrop Combined Statistical Area. The parish bears the same name as the Ouachita River, which flows through southern Arkansas and northeastern Louisiana. In 1541, the first Europeans to set foot on the territory that is now Ouachita parish was the expedition of Spanish explorer and conquistador Hernando de Soto. After crossing over onto the west bank of the Mississippi River near the White River, the expedition descended into Louisiana near the junction of the Ouachita and Tensas Rivers to avoid the muddy western banks of the Mississippi River. French settlers arrived in Ouachita Parish around 1720. In 1769, Alejandro O'Reilly claimed Ouachita Parish for Spain. A census of the parish was taken and the result was 110 people. In 1785, Juan Filhiol established the first European outpost in Louisiana, called Fort Miro, which became a city in 1805. Fort Miro was renamed the Ouachita Post in 1819, sixteen years after the Louisiana