Hernando de soto 38469 1 402

Arkansas's History

By hannah.murphy
  • Jun 18, 1541

    1541

    1541
    Hernando de Soto of Spain was the first European to explore Arkansas.

  • 1682

    1682
    Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, reaches the Arkansas on his way to the mouth of the Mississippi. He visits a Quapaw village and claims the land in the name of King Louis XIV.

  • 1721

    1721
    A group of 1,300 half-starved colonists - whites and black slaves - abandons Arkansas Post after John Law's scheme to develop the Mississippi Valley collapses.

  • 1762

    1762
    France cedes the Louisiana Territory, including Arkansas, to Spain, but French soldiers continue to man Arkansas Post.

  • 1819

    1819
    Arkansas, which has been part of Missouri Territory since 1812, is detached and made a territory.

  • 1859

    1859
    Signing of legislation ordering all free Negroes out of Arkansas by the end of the year.

  • 1872

    1872
    University of Arkansas opens in Fayetteville.

  • 1906

    1906
    Diamonds found near Murfreesboro, which becomes the site of the only diamond mine in the United States.

  • 1957

    1957
    President Eisenhower had to send US troops to help African Americans attend Central High School in Little Rock.

  • 1992

    1992
    Bill Clinton is elected the 42nd President of the United States. Lieutenant Governor Jim Guy Tucker becomes governor.