a Company of the Indies official counted only three hundred thirty settlers because many of them perished due to the harsh conditions of their long journey to Louisiana. Besides "les Allemands", the collective name that the German settlements were sometimes referred to was Karlstein, but the area eventually became known as the "German Coast" and these settlements opened the present-day River Parishes to European settlement. In addition to the area sometimes being referred to as Karlstein after Charles Frederick d'Arensbourg or Karl Friedrich d’Arensbourg, who for more than 55 years, was the acknowledged leader of the German Coast; the name of the tract of land given to him was also named Karlstein. The German Coast was located along the west bank of the Mississippi River extending roughly from Taft north to Lucy in present-day Louisiana. By 1723, the area included several dozen homes, contained in the settlement of Hoffen (later built Glendale, Hymelia, Trinity, and Killona Plantations), Karlstein (later built Waterford Plantation), Augsberg (to the rear of Killona and Waterford Plantations), and Mariental (behind the present site of Agrico and OxyChem industrial plants at Taft). When the Company of the Indies folded in 1731, the settlers became independent land owners. Despite periodic flooding, hurricanes, and the rigors of frontier life, the German pioneers made a success of their settlements. Their farming endeavors provided food not only for themselves but also for New Orleans' residents. The German settlers continuously supplied the markets of the city using the Mississippi River to transport their surplus produce in small boats or canoes, known as pirogues, returning home through Lake Pontchartrain into Bayous Trepagnier and Sieur, and other tributaries to the Mississippi River. Some historians credit these German farmers with the survival of early New Orleans. By the end of the Spanish era, the German Coast had become so well known for its abundance that it acquired the designation of Gold Coast. At the time of the Louisiana Purchase, the German Coast was renowned as the best cultivated part of Louisiana. Culture Most of the German Coast settlers came from the Rhineland region of Germany, the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland, and other areas. Many came from the German-speaking region of Alsace–Lorraine in France, and some from Belgium. From the time of their arrival, the German immigrants began speaking French and intermarried with the early French settlers. Over the subsequent decades they intermarried with the descendants