The area was initially developed by Europeans for agriculture, primarily sugar plantations, which depended on the labor of numerous enslaved Africans and African Americans. They made up a large percentage of the antebellum population. According to U.S. Census data in 1830, some 41% of the population of Lafayette Parish was enslaved. By 1860, the enslaved population had increased to 49.6%. Some free people of color lived in Lafayette Parish, as well; they made up 3%, to a low of 2.4% between 1830 and 1860.