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Arkansas's Native American population was peaking when the Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto reached the state in 1541. There were tens of thousands of people in villages near the Mississippi River and other groups located across the state.
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The Arkansas Post was founded in the summer of 1686 by Henri de Tonti, Jacques Cardinal, Jean Couture, and four other Frenchmen.
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The first clear record of African-Americans in Arkansas is from 1721, more than a hundred years before statehood. In the decades that followed, Black men and women maintained an important presence in the state.
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Little Rock became the capital city in 1821.
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The territory of Arkansas was admitted to the union as the 25th state on June 15.
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After a divided Arkansas seceded from the Union in 1861, it became a strategic target for both North and South because of its location on the Mississippi River and its role as a gateway to the Southwest.
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In 1901, the state flower became the apple blossom because Arkansas was a huge producer of apples.
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The Arkansas state flag was the result of a contest. Willie Kravanaugh Hocker was the winner. The flag was adopted in 1913.
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The Mississippi River flooded one-fifth of the entire state.
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President Eisenhower had to send US troops to help African Americans attend Central High School in Little Rock.
