History of Arkansas

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History of Arkansas
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Important dates in the History of Arkansas
1541 Hernando de Soto explores Arkansas 1686 Henri de Tonti founds the Arkansas Post April 30, 1803 Louisiana Purchase Treaty signed December 16, 1811 New Madrid earthquake July 4, 1819 Arkansas Territory organized June 15, 1836 Arkansas becomes 25th U.S. state May 6, 1861 Arkansas secedes from the Union May 18, 1861 Arkansas becomes 9th Confederate state June 22, 1868 Arkansas is restored to the Union Spring 1874 Brooks–Baxter War January 10, 1921 Oil discovered around Smackover March 4, 1921 Hot Springs National Park established Spring 1927 The Mississippi floods and ravages the Delta September 4, 1957 Arkansas National Guard deployed to protect Little Rock Nine January 20, 1993 Bill Clinton inaugurated as president of the United States 2002 Walmart identified as world's largest corporation More...

The history of Arkansas began millennia ago when humans first crossed into North America. Many tribes used Arkansas as their hunting lands but the main tribe was the Quapaw, who settled in the Arkansas River delta upon moving south from Illinois. Early French explorers gave the territory its name, a corruption of Akansea, which is a phonetic spelling from the Illinois language word for the Quapaw.^[1] This phonetic heritage explains why "Arkansas" is pronounced so differently than the U.S. state of "Kansas" even though they share the same spelling.^[2]

What began as a rough wilderness inhabited by trappers and hunters became incorporated into the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and later became the Arkansas Territory from 1819 to 1836. Upon gaining statehood on June 15, 1836, Arkansas had begun to prosper under a plantation economy that was heavily reliant on slave labor. After the American Civil War (1861–1865), Arkansas was a poor rural state, whose main economic base revolved around agriculture based chiefly on cotton production. In the late 19th century, the state instituted various Jim Crow laws to disenfranchise and segregate the African American population. This would last until federal legislation was passed in the 1960s. During the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, Arkansas and particularly Little Rock, were major battlegrounds for efforts to integrate schools.

The state started to see some economic prosperity during and after World War II in the 1940s. Arkansas became the base for retail corporation Walmart during the 1960s, which is headquartered in Bentonville. Walmart would later become the world's largest company by revenue. During the 20th century, different Arkansas political leaders would become nationally prominent, including the 42nd U.S. President Bill Clinton, who was Governor of Arkansas, 1979–1981 and 1983–1992.