Arkansas, indigenous people of North America
Arkansas, Native North Americans: see Quapaw Quapaw , Native North Americans, also called the Arkansas, whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages)...... Click the link for more information. .
Arkansas, river, United States
Arkansas (ärkăn`zəs, är`kənsô'), river, c.1,450 mi (2,330 km) long, rising in the Rocky Mts., central Colo., and flowing generally SE across the plains to the Mississippi River, SE Ark.; drains 160,500 sq mi (415,700 sq km). The Canadian and Cimarron rivers are its main tributaries. It is the chief waterway for the state of Arkansas, where it drains a broad valley. The upper course of the Arkansas River has many rapids and flows through Royal Gorge, one of the deepest canyons in the United States. More than 25 dams on the river provide flood control, power, and irrigation. During the warm months, because of its extensive use for irrigation, the middle course of the Arkansas is reduced to a trickle. The John Martin dam and reservoir in Colorado is one of the largest water-storage and flood-control units in the river basin. The Arkansas River Navigation System, opened in 1971, makes the river navigable to Tulsa, Okla., 440 mi (708 km) upstream. The Spanish explorers Coronado and De Soto probably traveled along portions of the river in the 1540s. In 1806, Zebulon Pike Pike, Zebulon Montgomery, 1779–1813, American explorer, an army officer, b. Lamberton (now part of Trenton), N.J. He joined the army (c.1793) and was commissioned second lieutenant in 1799...... Click the link for more information. , an American army officer, explored the river's upper reaches in Colorado. The Arkansas River was an important trade and travel route in the 19th cent.
Arkansas, state, United States
Arkansas (är`kənsô', ärkăn`zŭs), state in the south-central United States. It is bordered by Tennessee and Mississippi, across the Mississippi R. (E), Louisiana (S), Texas and Oklahoma (W), and Missouri (N).Facts and Figures
Area, 53,104 sq mi (137,539 sq km). Pop. (2000) 2,673,400, a 13.7% increase since the 1990 census. Capital and largest city, Little Rock. Statehood, June 15, 1836 (25th state). Highest pt., Magazine Mt., 2,753 ft (840 m); lowest pt., Ouachita River, 55 ft (17 m). Nickname, Land of Opportunity. Motto, Regnat Populus [The People Rule]. State bird, mockingbird. State flower, apple blossom. State tree, pine. Abbr., Ark.; AK
Geography
The Arkansas Arkansas , river, c.1,450 mi (2,330 km) long, rising in the Rocky Mts., central Colo., and flowing generally SE across the plains to the Mississippi River, SE Ark.; drains 160,500 sq mi (415,700 sq km). The Canadian and Cimarron rivers are its main tributaries.
..... Click the link for more information. River flows southeast across the state between the Ozark Ozarks, the, or Ozark Plateau, upland region, actually a dissected plateau, c.50,000 sq mi (129,500 sq km), chiefly in S Mo. and N Ark., but partly in Oklahoma and Kansas, between the Arkansas and Missouri rivers.
..... Click the link for more information. plateau and the Ouachita Mountains Ouachita Mountains, range of east-west ridges between the Arkansas and Red rivers, extending c.200 mi (320 km) from central Ark. into SE Okla. Magazine Mt. (c.2,800 ft/850 m high) is the tallest peak. The Ouachita Mts.
..... Click the link for more information. and runs down to the southern and eastern plains to empty into the Mississippi Mississippi, river, principal river of the United States, c.2,350 mi (3,780 km) long, exceeded in length only by the Missouri River, the chief of its numerous tributaries. The combined Missouri-Mississippi system (from the Missouri's headwaters in the Rocky Mts.
..... Click the link for more information. River. The other rivers of the state also flow generally SE or S to the Mississippi; these include the Saint Francis Saint Francis, river, c.470 mi (760 km) long, rising in the hills of SE Missouri and flowing S through NE Arkansas to join the Mississippi River near Helena, Ark. The river forms part of the Arkansas–Missouri border.
..... Click the link for more information. (which forms part of the E Missouri line), the White River White River.
1 River, c.690 mi (1,110 km) long, rising in the Boston Mts., NW Ark., and flowing first N into SW Missouri, then generally SE through NE Arkansas to the Mississippi River. Its chief tributaries are the Black and Little Red rivers.
..... Click the link for more information. , the Ouachita Ouachita , river, c.600 mi (970 km) long, rising in the Ouachita Mts., W Ark. It flows east, southeast, and south through a cotton-producing region of S Arkansas and NE Louisiana and into the Red River system. It is joined by the Tensas River at Jonesville, La.
..... Click the link for more information. , and the Red River Red River.
1 River, 1,222 mi (1,967 km) long, southernmost of the large tributaries of the Mississippi River. It rises in two branches in the Texas Panhandle and flows SE between Texas and Oklahoma and between Texas and Arkansas to Fulton, Ark.
..... Click the link for more information. (which forms part of the Texas line). The state's transportation network is based on rivers as well as roads, railroads, and air travel. The 440 mi (708 km) Arkansas River Navigation System links Oklahoma and Arkansas to the Mississippi River.
The capital and largest city is Little Rock Little Rock, city (1990 pop. 175,795), state capital and seat of Pulaski co., central Ark., on the Arkansas River; inc. 1831. It is a river port and the administrative, commercial, transportation, and cultural center of the state.
..... Click the link for more information. ; other important cities are Fort Smith Fort Smith, city (1990 pop. 72,798), seat of Sebastian co., NW Ark., at the Okla. line where the Arkansas and Poteau rivers join; inc. 1842. It is the rail, trade, and industrial center of a farm and livestock area.
..... Click the link for more information. , North Little Rock North Little Rock, city (1990 pop. 61,741), Pulaski co., central Ark., on the Arkansas River opposite Little Rock; settled c.1856, inc. as a city 1903. North Little Rock lies in a cotton, rice, soybean, dairy-cattle, and truck-farm area.
..... Click the link for more information. , Pine Bluff Pine Bluff, city (1990 pop. 57,140), seat of Jefferson co., S central Ark., on the Arkansas River; inc. 1839. It is a port and trade center for an agricultural area and has industries producing metal, wood, and paper products; machinery; electrical equipment; and
..... Click the link for more information. , Hot Springs Hot Springs, city (1990 pop. 32,462), seat of Garland co., W central Ark.; settled 1807, inc. 1876. The city nearly surrounds Hot Springs National Park, whose hot mineral springs made the city a famous health resort.
..... Click the link for more information. , and West Memphis West Memphis , city (1990 pop. 28,259), Crittenden co., NE Ark., next to the Mississippi River (there bridged to Memphis, Tenn.); founded c.1910 as Bragg's Spur, inc. as a city under its present name 1927. It is a timber and cotton center with diverse industries.
..... Click the link for more information. .
The climate of Arkansas is marked by long, hot summers and mild winters. The state's many lakes and streams and its abundant wildlife provide excellent hunting and fishing. The mineral springs at Hot Springs also attract many visitors to Arkansas, where tourism is an important industry.
Economy
A major cotton-producing state in the 19th cent., Arkansas has since diversified its agricultural production and overall economy. Cotton is still an important crop, but ranks below soybeans and rice. Arkansas has become a leading producer of poultry, raising over one billion broiler chickens a year; turkeys, dairy goods, and catfish are also important. The state's most important mineral products are petroleum, bromine and bromine compounds, and natural gas, and it is the nation's leading bauxite producer. Principal manufactures are food products, chemicals, lumber and paper goods, electrical equipment, furniture, automobile and airplane parts, and machinery. The Pine Bluff Arsenal is among military installations contributing to the Arkansas economy.
Government and Higher Education
The state constitution (1874) provides for an elected governor and bicameral legislature, with a 35-member senate and a 100-member house of representatives. Arkansas sends two senators and four representatives to the U.S. Congress and has six electoral votes.
Bill Clinton Clinton, Bill (William Jefferson Clinton), 1946–, 42d President of the United States (1993–2001), b. Hope, Ark. His father died before he was born, and he was originally named William Jefferson Blythe 4th, but after his mother remarried, he assumed the
..... Click the link for more information. was elected governor five times between 1978 and 1990. Jim Guy Tucker, a Democrat, succeeded Clinton but resigned in 1996 when he was convicted of fraud in a Whitewater Whitewater, popular name for a failed 1970s Arkansas real estate venture by the Whitewater Development Corp., in which Governor (later President) Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, were partners; the name is also used for the political ramifications
..... Click the link for more information. -related scheme; Republican Mike Huckabee, the lieutenant governor, became governor, and was reelected in 1998 and 2002. In 2006, Mike Beebe, a Democrat, was elected to the post. The state legislature has long been heavily Democratic, but Arkansas's congressional delegation is more bipartisan.
Among the institutions of higher education in the state are the Univ. of Arkansas Arkansas, University of, mainly at Fayetteville; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1871, opened 1872; called Arkansas Industrial Univ. until 1899. The Univ. of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is at Little Rock.
..... Click the link for more information. , at Fayetteville; Arkansas State Univ. Arkansas State University, at Jonesboro; coeducational; chartered 1909; named State Agricultural and Mechanical College, 1925–33. In 1933 the school became Arkansas State College, and in 1967 it achieved university status and adopted its present name.
..... Click the link for more information. , at Jonesboro; Hendrix College and the State College of Arkansas, at Conway; Ouachita Baptist College and Henderson State College, at Arkadelphia; the College of the Ozarks, at Clarksville; Arkansas College, at Batesville; and Harding College, at Searcy.
History
Early History to Statehood
A people known as the Bluff Dwellers, who inhabited caves, probably lived in the Arkansas area before 500. They were followed by the Mound Builders Mound Builders, in North American archaeology, name given to those people who built mounds in a large area from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Mississippi River to the Appalachian Mts.
..... Click the link for more information. , who received their name from the mounds they constructed, apparently for ceremonial purposes. The first Europeans to arrive in Arkansas (1541–42) were probably members of the Spanish expedition under Hernando De Soto De Soto, Hernando , c.1500–1542, Spanish explorer. After serving under Pedrarias in Central America and under Francisco Pizarro in Peru, the dashing young conquistador was made governor of Cuba by Emperor Charles V, with the right to conquer Florida (meaning
..... Click the link for more information. . Later the French explorers Jacques Marquette Marquette, Jacques , 1637–75, French missionary and explorer in North America, a Jesuit priest. He was sent to New France in 1666 and studied Native American languages under a missionary at Trois Rivières.
..... Click the link for more information. and Louis Jolliet Jolliet or Joliet, Louis , 1645–1700, French explorer, joint discoverer with Jacques Marquette of the upper Mississippi River, b. Quebec prov., Canada.
..... Click the link for more information. came S along the Mississippi to the mouth of the Arkansas River. A number of Native American groups, such as the Osage Osage , indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In prehistoric times they lived with the Kansa, the Ponca, the Omaha, and the Quapaw in the Ohio valley, but
..... Click the link for more information. , Quapaw, and Caddo Caddo , Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Caddoan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). These people gave their name not only to the linguistic branch but also to the Caddo confederacy, a loose federation of
..... Click the link for more information. , lived in the vicinity.
In 1682, Robert La Salle's lieutenant, Henri de Tonti Tonti or Tonty, Henri de , c.1650–1704, French explorer in North America, b. Italy. Serving in the French army, he lost a hand in battle; his skillful use of the appliance with which the hand was
..... Click the link for more information. , established Arkansas Post Arkansas Post , community on the Arkansas River, SE Ark. Founded by the French in 1686 as a trading post, it is the oldest white settlement in the state; it became the capital of the Arkansas territory in 1819.
..... Click the link for more information. , the first white settlement in the Arkansas area. La Salle claimed the Mississippi valley for France, and the region became part of the French territory of Louisiana. The French ceded the Louisiana territory to Spain in 1762 but regained it before it passed to the United States under the Louisiana Purchase Louisiana Purchase, 1803, American acquisition from France of the formerly Spanish region of Louisiana.
Reasons for the Purchase
The revelation in 1801 of the secret agreement of 1800, whereby Spain retroceded Louisiana to France, aroused
..... Click the link for more information. (1803).
Arkansas became part of the Territory of Missouri in 1812. The cotton boom of 1818 brought the first large wave of settlers, and the Southern plantation system, moving west, fixed itself in the alluvial plains of S and E Arkansas. In 1819 the area was made a separate entity, and the first territorial legislature met at Arkansas Post. The capital was moved to Little Rock in 1821. Arkansas achieved statehood in 1836.
The Civil War
As the Civil War began, poorer farmers were generally indifferent to questions of slavery and states' rights. The slaveholding planters held the most political power, however, and after some hesitation, Arkansas seceded (1861) from the Union. In the Civil War, Confederate defeats at Pea Ridge Pea Ridge, chain of hills, NW Ark., where the Civil War battle of Pea Ridge (or Elkhorn Tavern) was fought Mar. 6–8, 1862. Earl Van Dorn, leading a large Confederate command, which included Sterling Price's retreating Missouri forces and Ben McCulloch's army,
..... Click the link for more information. (Mar., 1862), Prairie Grove (Dec., 1862), and Arkansas Post (Jan., 1863) led to Union occupation of N Arkansas, and General Grant's Vicksburg campaign Vicksburg campaign, in the American Civil War, the fighting (Nov., 1862–July, 1863) for control of the Mississippi River. The Union wanted such control in order to split the Confederacy and to restore free commerce to the politically important Northwest.
..... Click the link for more information. separated states W of the Mississippi from the rest of the Confederacy. In Sept., 1863, federal troops entered Little Rock, where a Unionist convention in Jan., 1864, set up a government that repudiated secession and abolished slavery. Because the state refused at first to enfranchise former slaves, Arkansas was not readmitted to the Union until 1868, when a new constitution gave African Americans the right to vote and hold office.
Reconstruction
Reconstruction in Arkansas reached a turbulent climax in the struggle (1874) of two Republican claimants to the governorship, Elisha Baxter and Joseph Brooks. Baxter's apparent success in the election was not accepted by Brooks, and followers of the two men resorted to violence in what became known as the Brooks-Baxter War. After President Ulysses S. Grant declared Baxter to be governor, Baxter called a constituent assembly dominated by Democrats to frame a new state constitution. The convention adopted (1874) the constitution that, in amended form, still remains in force.
During Reconstruction the so-called carpetbaggers carpetbaggers, epithet used in the South after the Civil War to describe Northerners who went to the South during Reconstruction to make money. Although regarded as transients because of the carpetbags in which they carried their possessions (hence the name
..... Click the link for more information. and scalawags scalawags , derogatory term used in the South after the Civil War to describe native white Southerners who joined the Republican party and aided in carrying out the congressional Reconstruction program. A Republican who came from the north was called a carpetbagger.
..... Click the link for more information. were detested by most Arkansas whites, but their administrations brought advances in education and (at exorbitant costs caused by corruption) railroad construction. Because of high cotton prices and the failure to give the freed slaves any economic status, the broken plantation system was replaced by sharecropping and farm tenancy. The lives of the people of the Ozarks remained largely unchanged; they retained the customs, skills, and superstitions that have given the hill folk their distinctive regional characteristics. In the late 19th cent., as railroad construction proceeded, Arkansas's population grew substantially, and bauxite and lumbering industries developed. Oil was discovered in Arkansas, near El Dorado El Dorado , city (1990 pop. 23,146), seat of Union co., S central Ark; inc. 1845. The discovery of oil in 1921 made it the oil center of the state. The city has oil refineries, chemical plants, and poultry-packing houses, as well as diverse manufactures.
..... Click the link for more information. , in 1921.
Hard Times
Disaster struck in 1927 when the Mississippi River overflowed, flooding one fifth of the state. With the fortunes of the state pegged to the price of cotton, the depression of the early 1930s (see Great Depression Great Depression, in U.S. history, the severe economic crisis supposedly precipitated by the U.S. stock-market crash of 1929. Although it shared the basic characteristics of other such crises (see depression), the Great Depression was unprecedented in its length and
..... Click the link for more information. ) struck hard. Dispossessed tenants, black and white, formed (1939) the Southern Tenant Farmers Union; after trouble with the authorities, it moved its headquarters to Memphis, Tenn. A strike called in 1936 spread to other regions before its strength waned. Other impoverished farmers migrated west to California as "Arkies"—like the "Okies" from neighboring Oklahoma. After World War I, African Americans left the state in a steady stream to the industrial North. World War II brought further loss of population as workers left Arkansas for war factories elsewhere. The war, however, created a boom for new industries in the state, notably the processing of bauxite into aluminum.
The Postwar Era
The decline of industrial output after the war was offset by the vigorous efforts of a state development commission formed in 1955 to attract new industry to Arkansas. Governor Orval Faubus Faubus, Orval , 1910–94, governor of Arkansas (1955–67), b. Combs, Ark. A schoolteacher, he served in World War II and after the war became Arkansas's state highway commissioner.
..... Click the link for more information. of Arkansas became a center of national and world attention in 1957 when he resisted the desegregation of public schools in Little Rock (see integration integration, in U.S. history, the goal of an organized movement to break down the barriers of discrimination and segregation separating African Americans from the rest of American society.
..... Click the link for more information. ). Arkansas has long been dominated by the Democratic party, but in 1966 Winthrop Rockefeller (see under Rockefeller, John Davison Rockefeller, John Davison, 1839–1937, American industrialist and philanthropist, b. Richford, N.Y. He moved (1853) with his family to a farm near Cleveland and at age 16 went to work as a bookkeeper.
..... Click the link for more information. was elected the state's first Republican governor since Reconstruction. Although reelected in 1968, Rockefeller lost the governorship to a Democrat, Dale Bumpers, in 1970.
In 1971, Arkansas and Oklahoma joined in the Arkansas River Navigation System, a project that developed the Arkansas River basin to provide water transportation to the Mississippi. In the early 1990s, the Arkansas-based Wal-Mart merchandise chain, founded by Arkansan Sam Walton in 1962 as a small-town discount store, became the largest retailer in the United States. Bill Clinton, the governor of Arkansas (1979–81, 1983–92), was elected president of the United States in 1992. In the mid- to late 1990s national attention focused on Arkansas as Clinton associates, including Jim Guy Tucker, his successor as governor, were embroiled in Whitewater and other scandals.
Bibliography
See L. J. White, Politics on the Southwestern Frontier: Arkansas Territory, 1819–1836 (1964); H. S. Ashmore, Arkansas (1984); I. J. Spitzberg, Racial Politics in Little Rock, 1954–1964 (1987); G. T. Hanson and C. H. Moneyhon, Historical Atlas of Arkansas (1989).
Arkansas
State (pop., 2000: 2,673,400), south-central U.S. Bordered by Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma, it covers 53,178 sq mi (137,730 sq km). Its capital is Little Rock, and its highest point is Mount Magazine, at 2,753 ft (839 m). The earliest inhabitants were Indian bluff dwellers along the Mississippi River c. AD 500. Mound-building cultures later left burial mounds along the river. Spanish and French explorers traversed the region in the 16th–17th centuries; the first permanent European settlement was founded at Arkansas Post in 1686. Acquired by the U.S. as part of the Louisiana Purchase, Arkansas Territory was established in 1819; the state's current boundaries were fixed in 1828. Arkansas became the 25th state in 1836. It seceded in 1861 to join the Confederacy in the American Civil War; it was readmitted to the Union in 1868. Following Reconstruction, a rigid policy of segregation lasted until 1957, when court-ordered desegregation of the schools was implemented. Once dominated by agriculture, the state's economy now also includes mining and manufacturing. Tourism is promoted, especially by the mineral springs at Hot Springs National Park and resorts in the Ozark Mountains.
Arkansas
www.arkansas.gov
Area (sq mi): 53178.62 (land 52068.17; water 1110.45). Pop per sq mi: 53.40.
Pop 2005: 2,779,154. State rank: 0. Pop change: 2000-20005 4.00%; 1990-2000 13.70%. Pop 2000: 2,673,400 (White 78.60%; Black or African American 15.70%; Hispanic or Latino 3.20%; Asian 0.80%; Other 3.60%). Foreign born: 2.80%. Median age: 36.00.
Income 2000: per capita $16,904; median household $32,182; Pop below poverty level: 15.80%. *Personal per capita income 2000-2003: $21,925-$24,384.
Unemployment 2004: 5.60%. Change from 2000: 0.70%. Median travel time to work: 21.90 minutes. Working outside county of residence: 23.40%.
List of Arkansas counties:
- US National Parks
- State Parks
- Parks and Conservation-Related Organizations - US
- National Wildlife Refuges
- National Trails
- National Scenic Byways
- National Forests
Twenty-fifth state; admitted on June 15, 1836 (seceded from the Union on May 6, 1861, and was readmitted in June 1868)
The state was named for Ohio Valley Indians’ name for the Quapaw Indians who lived in northern Arkansas.
State capital: Little Rock
Nickname: The Natural State
State motto: Regnat populus (Latin “The people rule”)
State beverage: Milk
State bird: Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
State flower: Apple blossom (Malus sylvestris)
State folk dance: Square dance
State fruit and vegetable: South Arkansas vine-ripe pink tomato
State gem: Diamond
State insect: Honeybee (Apis mellifera)
State mammal: White-tail deer
State mineral: Quartz crystal
State musical instrument: Fiddle
State rock: Bauxite
State songs: “Arkansas,” “Arkansas (You Run Deep in Me),” “Oh Arkansas,” and “The Arkansas Traveler”
State tree: Pine (Pinus palustris)
More about state symbols at:
www.soskids.arkansas.gov/k-4-history-state-symbols.html
SOURCES:
AmerBkDays-2000, p. 448 AnnivHol-2000, p. 101
STATE OFFICES:
State web site: www.arkansas.gov
Office of the Governor State Capitol Bldg Little Rock, AR 72201 501-682-2345 fax: 501-682-1382 www.arkansas.gov/governor
Secretary of State State Capitol Bldg Rm 256 Little Rock, AR 72201 501-682-1010 fax: 501-682-3510 www.sosweb.state.ar.us
Arkansas State Library 1 Capitol Mall 5th Fl Little Rock, AR 72201 501-682-1527 fax: 501-682-1529 www.asl.lib.ar.us
Legal Holidays:
| Christmas Eve | Dec 24 |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday and Robert E. Lee's Birthday | Jan 17, 2011; Jan 16, 2012; Jan 21, 2013; Jan 20, 2014; Jan 19, 2015 |
| Washington's Birthday and Daisy Gatson Bates Day | Feb 21, 2011; Feb 20, 2012; Feb 18, 2013; Feb 17, 2014; Feb 16, 2015 |
Arkansas
a state in the south of the USA. Area, 137,500 sq km. Population in 1967, 1,969,000; 43 percent urban (1960). Capital, Little Rock. In the east, Arkansas occupies the lowlands cut out by the Arkansas River on the right bank of the Mississippi; to the northwest are the Ouachita (about 863 m) and Boston (about 823 m) mountains. The climate is subtropical and humid (more than 1,000 mm of rain yearly). Yellow, red, and alluvial soils predominate. Subtropical forests (cypress, gum trees, and so on) grow in the valleys and floodlands; pine and oak, in elevated regions. The area of cultivated forests is 8.6 million hectares (ha). Arkansas has the South’s second largest reserves of hardwood. The value of agricultural commodity production and the relative net production of manufactured goods are approximately equal. Agriculture is highly developed. The main crops are cotton (area 286,000 ha, 118,000 tons in 1967, mainly in the Mississippi Valley), soybeans, and rice; Arkansas is fourth nationally in the production of cotton. Broilers (365 million in 1967) are the principal commodity in animal breeding.
Other industries are petroleum (slightly over 4 million tons in 1965), building materials, and bauxite (1,618,000 tons in 1965, more than nine-tenths of the US output). Among the manufacturing industries (129,000 employees) the food industry (packaging, preserving, and freezing chickens, fruits, berries, and so on), lumbering, and woodworking are most important. There are also radio and electronics and chemical industries (including production related to chemical warfare). There are aluminum factories in Jones Mill and Arkadelphia. Electric power plants provided 2.47 million kilowatts in 1966.
M. E. POLOVITSKAIA
Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content.
| ?Page tools | ||
|---|---|---|
|