ARKANSAS

Land of Opportunity

Origin of State Name: French interpretation of a Sioux word "acansa," meaning "downstream place."

A diamond on a red field represents the only place in North America where diamonds have been discovered and mined. The twenty-five white stars around the diamond mean that Arkansas was the twenty-fifth state to join the Union. The top of four stars in the center represents that Arkansas was a member of the Confederate States during the Civil War. The other three stars represent Spain, France and the United States, countries that had earlier ruled the land that includes Arkansas.

Entered Union: June 15, 1836; 25th state
Captial: Little Rock
Motto: Regnat Populus (The people rule)
Flower: Apple blossom
Bird: Mockingbird
Tree: Pine
Song: Arkansas

A LITTLE HISTORY
First European explorers were de Soto in 1541; Jolliet in 1673; and La Salle in 1682. First settlement was by the French under Henri de Tonty in 1686 at Arkansas Post. In 1762, the area was ceded by France to Spain, then back again in 1800, and was part of the Louisiana Purchase by the U.S. in 1803. Arkansas seceded from the Union in 1861, only after the Civil War began, and more than 10,000 Arkansans fought on the Union side.

FACTS AND TRIVIA ABOUT ARKANSAS
The United States' only active diamond mine is located near Murfreesboro. It is operated as a tourist attraction. Diamonds are also Arkansas' state gem.

Arkansas has experienced only one major earthquake. The New Madrid earthquake of 1811-1812 affected the northeastern part of the state.

Little Rock got its name from a natural stone landmark on the bank of the Arkansas River. There was also a "Big Rock" located further upstream.

President Bill Clinton was born in Hope, but he grew up in Hot Springs, site of Arkansas' most popular national park.

Some of the earliest Indians in Arkansas were the Bluff Dwellers and Mound Builders.

Among the earliest inhabitants of Arkansas were the Folsom people who lived here when the last of the great glacier ice sheets was melting off the northern part of what is now the United States.

Arkansas Post, established by the French under Henri De Tonti in 1686, was the first permanent white settlement in Arkansas. Arkansas was ruled first by France, then by Spain, and again by France before the territory was purchased by the United States in 1803.

A French explorer named La Harpe discovered the sites of Little Rock and North Little Rock in 1722.

The first Arkansas newspaper was the "Arkansas Gazette", founded by William E. Woodruff at Arkansas Post in 1819.

Arkansas, under American control, was first a part of the Louisiana Territory and then of the Missouri Territory before it became a separate territory in 1819.

The capital of the Arkansas Territory was at Arkansas Post until 1821, when it was moved to the new town of Little Rock.

The original Bowie knife was made by James Black, a blacksmith of Washington, Arkansas, for Colonel James Bowie about 1830.

The first state Capitol (now known as the Old State House) in Little Rock was begun by Governor John Pope in 1833.

Nine out of ten early Arkansans were farmers, growing mostly cotton and corn.

Horse racing and bear hunting were popular sports in pioneer Arkansas.

Davy Crockett passed through Arkansas on his way to Texas in the fall of 1835 and spoke at a dinner given in his honor in Little Rock.

The Texas Revolution of 1836 was planned by Sam Houston and his friends at the Old Tavern in Washington, Arkansas.

James S. Conway was the first governor of the state of Arkansas.

The "Trail of Tears" was the route across northern Arkansas taken by the Eastern Cherokees on their way to Indian Territory in 1838-1839.

An immense logjam called the "Great Raft" impeded navigation on the Red River until 1838.

In 1861, Arkansas joined an attempt by 11 southern states to form an independent republic called the Confederate States of America. During the last year of the Civil War Arkansas had a Union state government in Little Rock and a Confederate state government at Washington in Hempstead County.

Bauxite, the ore used to make aluminum, was discovered in Arkansas in 1887 by State Geologist John C. Branner. Mining began in 1899 and Arkansas soon led all other states in production. Arkansas supplies 96 percent of the nation's domestic bauxite and has the only diamond mine in the United States.

Orval E. Faubus was the first Arkansas governor to be elected to six terms (1955-67).

In 1967, Winthrop Rockefeller became the first Republican governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction.

Mt. Sequoyah was previously called East Mountain but was changed to Sequoyah in keeping with the policy of naming the assembly places for Indian leaders. Sequoyah was the Cherokee educator credited with inventing the alphabet for the Cherokee and white man to communicate.

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