The name of the state is taken from the Arkansas River,which was named for
In 1812 Arkansas was made a county of the newly established Missouri
Despite the numerical strength and political influence of the slave owners,
The period of Reconstruction in Arkansas was marked by acute economic
After Reconstruction, Arkansas tended to favor the Democratic party in
In 1957 Governor Orval Faubus called out the Arkansas National Guard to
In 1970 the Arkansas River navigation system was completed; it opened up a
Many of Arkansas's historical sites commemorate the early days of the U.S.
the Native Americans of the Arkansa, or Quapaw tribe, (the "s" was added
as a plural, though it remains silent in pronunciation) who were numerous
in the region before the coming of white settlers. Other Native American
peoples in the area included the Osage, Caddo, Cherokee, and Choctaw. A
Spanish expedition under Hernando de Soto explored the area in 1541. The
French followed in the 17th century, and in 1686 Henri de Tonty founded a
trading station at Arkansas Post, near the confluence of the Arkansas
and Mississippi rivers. The region formed part of the area that the French
explorer Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle, named Louisiana in 1682.
Americans began to settle in what is now Arkansas during the late 18th
century; the United States acquired the area from France as part of the
Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
Statehood and the Antebellum Period
Territory. Many veterans of the War of 1812 (1812-1815) settled in the
region during the next decade. In 1819 the United States Congress
granted Arkansas territorial status. The next year, when Little Rock was
founded, the population of the territory was 14,273. Increasing numbers of
cotton farmers migrated to the territory, bringing slaves with them, and by
1830 the population was 30,388. Arkansas entered the Union as the 25th state
on June 15,1836. Exploitation of forest resources and the introduction of
steamboat transportation further added to the growth, and by 1860, the
population was 435,450, including 111,307 slaves.
considerable antisecessionist sentiment developed in Arkansas during the
critical period preceding the outbreak of the Civil War. The advocates of
secession prevailed, however, after the rebellion began, and Arkansas
was part of the Confederacy from 1861 to 1865.
The Post-Civil War Period and the 20th Century
distress, fierce political rivalries, graft, corruption, and mounting debt.
Between 1868 and 1874, however, a railroad was begun, public schools were
founded, and the University of Arkansas was established.
both state and national politics, despite the development during the 1880s
and 1890s of a strong third-party movement based on general agrarian
discontent. Important economic events in the state's history include the
discovery of bauxite near Little Rock in 1887; the development of oil fields
in southern Arkansas, beginning with a well dug near El Dorado in 1921; and
the establishment of the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission in 1955.
prevent court-ordered integration at Little Rock Central High School.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent federal troops to enforce the law, and
the black students were admitted to Central.
water route between the Mississippi River and Oklahoma, promoting
industrial expansion in several Arkansas River ports along the waterway. In
the 1970s and 1980s the state promoted development of the cattle and poultry
industries, bringing prosperity to some areas but also generating
controversy over increased pollution. Voters in 1980 rejected a proposed new
state constitution, but in 1984 they extended the terms of the governor and
other state officials from two years to four. That extension was limited by
voters in 1992, who imposed a two-term (eight-year) cap as part of a
term-limits measure.
Historical Sites
expansion, such as Mountain Village 1890, a restoration of an early Ozark
town, in Bull Shoals; Fort Smith National Historic Site, which includes a
United States military installation built in 1817, in Fort Smith; and
Arkansas Post National Memorial, which marks the first permanent French
settlement in the lower Mississippi Valley, near Gillett. Also of note are
the Old State House, in Little Rock, and Pea Ridge National Military Park,
the site of a Union victory in the American Civil War, near Rogers.
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