Stretching eastward from Lake Charles through Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Biloxi, and Mobile, the Gulf Coast subregion is characterized by a level to gently rolling plain. The area west of the Mississippi deltaic plain is generally covered by prairie and marshland dissected by bayous and meandering rivers. While rice and crawfish cultivation predominate on the prairies of southwestern Louisiana, sugarcane is a common crop along the waterways of south central and southeastern Louisiana. East of the Mississippi deltaic plain is generally forested with longleaf pine; relatively few farms are found here. The plain varies from cultivated land (mostly planted in sugarcane) to cypress swamp. The Louisiana portion of the subregion is punctuated with large tidal bays and freshwater lakes. As in the entire region, agriculture is the heart of the economy. Other important industries include the oil-gas and petrochemical industries, shipbuilding, and, especially in New Orleans and along the Mississippi Gulf coast, tourism. New Orleans, the principal city, has a rich Creole culture reflecting its French, Spanish, African, and Caribbean roots. Substantial communities of Hondurans and Vietnamese may also be found. Centered around Lafayette is the French Acadian (Cajun) culture, while east of New Orleans, in St. Bernard Parish, the Isleņo community (descendants of Canary Island immigrants of the 1780s) thrives. The Gulf South, with it s large Catholic population and wide ethnic range, is a unique cultural region in the South and in the nation.