Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. It is the fourth largest city in the state. The city's economy was primarily based on agriculture until the 1940s, when the petroleum and natural gas industry became dominant. Lafayette is the center of the Cajun culture in Louisiana and the US. Lafayette has a strong tourism industry because of the Cajun and Creole cultures of the surrounding region. The Cajun cuisine is one of the most unique cuisines in the US, and perhaps because of the Cajun reputation for good food, it has one of the highest numbers of restaurants per capita of any U.S. city.