-
Hernando de Soto of Spain was the first European to explore Arkansas.
-
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.
-
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.
-
France cedes the Louisiana Territory, including Arkansas, to Spain, but French soldiers continue to man Arkansas Post.
-
Arkansas, which has been part of Missouri Territory since 1812, is detached and made a territory.
-
Signing of legislation ordering all free Negroes out of Arkansas by the end of the year.
-
University of Arkansas opens in Fayetteville.
-
Diamonds found near Murfreesboro, which becomes the site of the only diamond mine in the United States.
-
President Eisenhower had to send US troops to help African Americans attend Central High School in Little Rock.
-
Bill Clinton is elected the 42nd President of the United States. Lieutenant Governor Jim Guy Tucker becomes governor.
