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Hernando de Soto of Spain was the first European to explore Arkansas.
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The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France, which had retaken it from Spain as part of the Treaty of San Ildefonso.
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Arkansas, which has been part of Missouri Territory since 1812, is detached and made a territory.
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Arkansas became the 25th state
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Battle of Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas. A Confederate advance north is rebuffed.
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A unionist convention abolishes slavery in Arkansas and adopts a new constitution for the state.
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Month-long "Brooks-Baxter War" between rival claimants to the governorship ends when President Ulysses S Grant orders the forces of the former to disperse.
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Diamonds found near Murfreesboro, which becomes the site of the only diamond mine in the United States.
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The Mississippi River floods one-fifth of the state.
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The University of Arkansas establishes a multi-campus system.