State of Arkansas Flag Seal Nickname(s): The Natural State (current) The Land of Opportunity (former) Motto(s): Regnat populus (Latin) Official language(s) English Demonym Arkansan; Arkansawyer;Arkansawian[1] Capital (and largest city) Little Rock Largest metro area Little Rock Metropolitan Area Area  Ranked 29th in the U.S.  - Total 53,179 sq mi (137,733 km2)  - Width 239 miles (385 km)  - Length 261 miles (420 km)  - % water 2.09  - Latitude 33° 00′ N to 36° 30′ N  - Longitude 89° 39′ W to 94° 37′ W Population  Ranked 32nd in the U.S.  - Total 2,937,979 (2011 est)[2]  - Density 56.4/sq mi  (21.8/km2) Ranked 34th in the U.S. Elevation    - Highest point Magazine Mountain[3][4][5] 2,753 ft (839 m)  - Mean 650 ft  (200 m)  - Lowest point Ouachita River at Louisiana border[4][5] 55 ft (17 m) Before statehood Arkansas Territory Admission to Union  June 15, 1836 (25th) Governor Mike Beebe (D) Lieutenant Governor Mark Darr (R) Legislature General Assembly  - Upper house Senate  - Lower house House of Representatives U.S. Senators Mark Pryor (D) John Boozman (R) U.S. House delegation 3 Republicans, 1 Democrat (list) Time zone Central: UTC-6/-5 Abbreviations AR Ark. US-AR Website www.arkansas.gov Arkansas State symbols The Flag of Arkansas. Animate insignia Bird(s) Mockingbird Butterfly Diana Fritillary Flower(s) Apple blossom Insect European honey bee Mammal(s) White-tailed deer Tree Loblolly Pine Inanimate insignia Beverage Milk Dance Square Dance Food South Arkansas Vine Ripe Pink Tomato Gemstone Diamond Instrument Fiddle Mineral Quartz Rock Bauxite Soil Stuttgart Song(s) Arkansas (song), Arkansas (You Run Deep In Me), Oh, Arkansas, The Arkansas Traveler Tartan Arkansas Traveler Tartan Route marker(s) State Quarter Released in 2003 Lists of United States state insignia

Arkansas (ⁱ/ˈɑrkənsɔː/ AR-kən-saw)^[6] is a state located in the Southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states (N: Missouri; E: Tennessee, Mississippi; S: Louisiana; SW: Texas; W: Oklahoma), and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River. Its diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U.S. Interior Highlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River. Arkansas is the 29th most extensive and the 32nd most populous of the 50 United States. The capital and most populous city is Little Rock, located in the central portion of the state.

Etymology[link]

The name “Arkansas” derives from the same root as the name for the state of Kansas. The Kansa tribe of Native Americans are closely associated with the Sioux tribes of the Great Plains. The word “Arkansas” itself is a French pronunciation (“Arcansas”) of a Quapaw (a related “Kaw” tribe) word, akakaze, meaning “land of downriver people” or the Sioux word akakaze meaning “people of the south wind”. The pronunciation of Arkansas was made official by an act of the state legislature in 1881, after a dispute between two U.S. Senators from Arkansas. One wanted to pronounce the name /ɑrˈkænzəs/ ar-KAN-zəs and the other wanted /ˈɑrkənsɔː/ AR-kən-saw.^[7]

In 2007, the state legislature passed a non-binding resolution declaring the possessive form of the state's name to be Arkansas's, which has been followed increasingly by the state government.^[8]

Geography[link]

View from the summit of Petit Jean Mountain, nestled in the Arkansas River Valley, from Mather Lodge in Petit Jean State Park.

The Mississippi River forms most of Arkansas's eastern border, except in Clay and Greene counties where the St. Francis River forms the western boundary of the Missouri Bootheel, and in dozens of places where the current channel of the Mississippi has meandered from where it had last been legally specified.^[9] Arkansas shares its southern border with Louisiana, its northern border with Missouri, its eastern border with Tennessee and Mississippi, and its western border with Texas and Oklahoma.

Arkansas is a land of lakes and rivers, thick forests and fertile soil. The Arkansas Delta is a flat landscape of rich alluvial soils formed by repeated flooding of the adjacent Mississippi. Farther away from the river, in the southeast portion of the state, the Grand Prairie consists of a more undulating landscape. Both are fertile agricultural areas.

The Delta region is bisected by an unusual geological formation known as Crowley's Ridge. A narrow band of rolling hills, Crowley's Ridge rises from 250 to 500 feet (150 m) above the surrounding alluvial plain and underlies many of the major towns of eastern Arkansas.

Northwest Arkansas is part of the Ozark Plateau including the Ozark Mountains, to the south are the Ouachita Mountains, and these regions are divided by the Arkansas River; the southern and eastern parts of Arkansas are called the Lowlands. These mountain ranges are part of the U.S. Interior Highlands region, the only major mountainous region between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains.^[10][11] The highest point in the state is Mount Magazine in the Ouachita Mountains; it rises to 2,753 feet (839 m) above sea level.

Buffalo National River, one of many attractions that give the state's nickname The Natural State.

Arkansas is home to many caves, such as Blanchard Springs Caverns. More than 43,000 Native American living, hunting and tool making sites, many of them Pre-Columbian burial mounds and rock shelters, have been catalogued by the State Archeologist. Arkansas is currently the only U.S. state in which diamonds are mined—although by members of the public with primitive digging tools for a small daily fee, not by commercial interests.^[12][13] (near Murfreesboro).

Arkansas is home to many areas protected by the National Park System. These include:^[14]

• Arkansas Post National Memorial at Gillett
• Buffalo National River
• Fort Smith National Historic Site
• Hot Springs National Park
• Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
• Pea Ridge National Military Park
• President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site

The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail also runs through Arkansas.^[14]

Arkansas is home to a dozen Wilderness Areas totaling around 150,000 acres (610 km²). These areas are set aside for outdoor recreation and are open to hunting, fishing, hiking, and primitive camping. No mechanized vehicles are allowed in these areas, some of which are rarely visited and can provide a good experience of feeling as if you are the only person to have ever stepped foot there.

Climate[link]

Arkansas generally has humid subtropical climate, which borders on humid continental in some northern highland areas. While not bordering the Gulf of Mexico, Arkansas is still close enough to this warm, large body of water for it to influence the weather in the state. Generally, Arkansas has hot, humid summers and cold, slightly drier winters. In Little Rock, the daily high temperatures average around 93 °F (34 °C) with lows around 73 °F (23 °C) in the month of July. In January highs average around 51 °F (11 °C) and lows around 32 °F (0 °C). In Siloam Springs in the northwest part of the state, the average high and low temperatures in July are 89 °F (32 °C) and 67 °F (19 °C) and in January the average high and lows are 44 °F (7 °C) and 23 °F (−5 °C). Annual precipitation throughout the state averages between about 40 and 60 inches (1,000 and 1,500 mm); somewhat wetter in the south and drier in the northern part of the state.^[15] Snowfall is common, more so in the north half of the state, which usually gets several snowfalls each winter. This is not only due to its closer proximity to the plains states, but also to the higher elevations found throughout the Ozark and Ouachita mountains. The half of the state south of Little Rock gets less snow, and is more apt to see ice storms, however, sleet and freezing rain are expected throughout the state during the winter months, and can significantly impact travel and day to day life. Arkansas' all time record high is 120 °F (49 °C) at Ozark on August 10, 1936; the all time record low is −29 °F (−34 °C) at Pond on February 13, 1905.

Arkansas is known for extreme weather. A typical year will see thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail, snow and ice storms. Between both the Great Plains and the Gulf States, Arkansas receives around 60 days of thunderstorms. A few of the most destructive tornadoes in U.S. history have struck the state. While being sufficiently away from the coast to be safe from a direct hit from a hurricane, Arkansas can often get the remnants of a tropical system which dumps tremendous amounts of rain in a short time and often spawns smaller tornadoes.

History[link]

Flatside Wilderness Area, Ouachita Mountains, Arkansas

The first European to reach Arkansas was the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto, a veteran of Pizarro's conquest of Peru who died near Lake Village on the Mississippi River in 1542 after almost a year traversing the southern part of the state in search of gold and a passage to China. Arkansas is one of several U.S. states formed from the territory purchased from Napoleon Bonaparte in the Louisiana Purchase. The early Spanish or French explorers of the state gave it its name, which is probably a phonetic spelling of the Illinois tribe's name for the Quapaw people, who lived downriver from them.^[16] Other Native American tribes who lived in Arkansas before moving west were the Quapaw, Caddo, and Osage nations. In their forced move westward (under U.S. Indian removal policies), the Five Civilized Tribes inhabited Arkansas during its territorial period.

The Territory of Arkansas^[7] was organized on July 4, 1819. On June 15, 1836, the state of Arkansas was admitted to the Union as the 25th state and the 13th slave state. Planters settled in the Delta to cultivate cotton; this was the area of the state where most enslaved African Americans were held. Other areas had more subsistence farmers and mixed farming.

Arkansas played a key role in aiding Texas in its war for independence from Mexico; it sent troops and materials to Texas to help fight the war. The proximity of the city of Washington to the Texas border involved the town in the Texas Revolution of 1835–36. Some evidence suggests Sam Houston and his compatriots planned the revolt in a tavern at Washington in 1834.^[17] When the fighting began, a stream of volunteers from Arkansas and the southeastern states flowed through the town toward the Texas battle fields.

When the Mexican-American War began in 1846, Washington became a rendezvous for volunteer troops. Governor Thomas S. Drew issued a proclamation calling on the state to furnish one regiment of cavalry and one battalion of infantry to join the United States Army. Ten companies of men assembled here, where they were formed into the first Regiment of Arkansas Cavalry.

The state developed a cotton culture in the east in lands of the Mississippi Delta. This was where enslaved labor was used most extensively, as planters brought with them or imported slaves from the Upper South. On the eve of the Civil War in 1860, enslaved African Americans numbered 111,115 people, just over 25% of the state's population.^[18]

Arkansas refused to join the Confederate States of America until after United States President Abraham Lincoln called for troops to respond to the Confederate attack upon Fort Sumter, South Carolina. The state of Arkansas declared its secession from the Union on May 6, 1861. While not often cited in historical accounts, the state was the scene of numerous small-scale battles during the American Civil War. Arkansans of note who contributed to the Civil War included Confederate Major General Patrick Cleburne. Considered by many to be one of the most brilliant Confederate division commanders of the war, Cleburne was often referred to as "The Stonewall of the West." Also of note was Major General Thomas C. Hindman. A former United States Representative, Hindman commanded Confederate forces at the Battle of Cane Hill and Battle of Prairie Grove.

Under the Military Reconstruction Act, Congress restored Arkansas to the Union in June 1868. The Reconstruction legislature established universal male suffrage while disenfranchising former Confederates (mostly Democrats), a public education system, and other general issues to improve the state and help more of the population. The state came under almost exclusive control of Radical Republicans, (those who emigrated from the North being derided as "carpetbaggers" by ex-Confederates based on allegations of corruption), led by newly elected Governor Powell Clayton, marking a time of great upheaval and racial violence in the state between state militia and the Ku Klux Klan.

In 1874, the Brooks-Baxter War, a political struggle between factions of the Republican Party shook Little Rock and the state governorship. It was settled only when President Ulysses S. Grant ordered Joseph Brooks to disperse his militant supporters.^[19]

Following the Brooks-Baxter War, a new state constitution was ratified re-enfranchising former Confederates.

In 1881, the Arkansas state legislature enacted a bill that adopted an official pronunciation of the state's name, to combat a controversy then simmering. (See Law and Government below.)

After Reconstruction, the state began to receive more immigrants and migrants. Chinese, Italian, and Syrian men were recruited for farm labor in the developing Delta region. None of these nationalities stayed long at farm labor; the Chinese especially quickly became small merchants in towns around the Delta. Some early 20th century immigration included people from eastern Europe. Together, these immigrants made the Delta more diverse than the rest of the state. In the same years, some black migrants moved into the area because of opportunities to develop the bottomlands and own their own property. Many Chinese became such successful merchants in small towns that they were able to educate their children at college.^[20]

Wife and children of a sharecropper in Washington County, Arkansas, c. 1935

Construction of railroads enabled more farmers to get their products to market. It also brought new development into different parts of the state, including the Ozarks, where some areas were developed as resorts. In a few years at the end of the 19th century, for instance, Eureka Springs in Carroll County grew to 10,000 people, rapidly becoming a tourist destination and the fourth largest city of the state. It featured newly constructed, elegant resort hotels and spas planned around its natural springs, considered to have healthful properties. The town's attractions included horse racing and other entertainment. It appealed to a wide variety of classes, becoming almost as popular as Hot Springs.

In the late 1880s, the worsening agricultural depression catalyzed Populist and third party movements, leading to interracial coalitions. Struggling to stay in power, in the 1890s the Democrats in Arkansas followed other Southern states in passing legislation and constitutional amendments that disfranchised blacks and poor whites. Democrats wanted to prevent their alliance. In 1891 state legislators passed a requirement for a literacy test, knowing that many blacks and whites would be excluded, at a time when more than 25% of the population could neither read nor write. In 1892 they amended the state constitution to include a poll tax and more complex residency requirements, both of which adversely affected poor people and sharecroppers, and forced them from electoral rolls.

By 1900 the Democratic Party expanded use of the white primary in county and state elections, further denying blacks a part in the political process. Only in the primary was there any competition among candidates, as Democrats held all the power. The state was a Democratic one-party state for decades, until after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed.^[21]

Between 1905 and 1911, Arkansas began to receive a small migration of German, Slovak, and Irish immigrants. The German and Slovak peoples settled in the eastern part of the state known as the Prairie, and the Irish founded small communities in the southeast part of the state. The Germans were mostly Catholic and the Slovaks were Lutheran. The Irish were mostly Protestant from Ulster.

After the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas in 1954, the Little Rock Nine brought Arkansas to national attention when the Federal government intervened to protect African-American students trying to integrate a high school in the Arkansas capital. Governor Orval Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to aid segregationists in preventing nine African-American students from enrolling at Little Rock's Central High School. After attempting three times to contact Faubus, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent 1000 troops from the active-duty 101st Airborne Division to escort and protect the African-American students as they entered school on September 25, 1957. In defiance of federal court orders to integrate, the governor and city of Little Rock decided to close the high schools for the remainder of the school year. By the fall of 1959, the Little Rock high schools were completely integrated.^[22]

Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, was born in Hope, Arkansas. Before his presidency, Clinton served as the 40th and 42nd Governor of Arkansas, a total of nearly 12 years.

Demographics[link]

The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Arkansas was 2,937,979 on July 1, 2011, a 0.76% increase since the 2010 United States Census.^[2]

As of 2006, Arkansas has an estimated population of 2,810,872,^[24] which is an increase of 29,154, or 1.1%, from the prior year and an increase of 105,756, or 4.0%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 52,214 people (that is 198,800 births minus 146,586 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 57,611 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 21,947 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 35,664 people. It is estimated that about 48.8% is male, and 51.2% is female. From 2000 through 2006 Arkansas has had a population growth of 5.1% or 137,472.^[25] The population density of the state is 51.3 people per square mile.

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Arkansas had a population of 2,915,918. In terms of race and ethnicity, the state was 79.5% White (77.5% non-Hispanic White), 14.3% Black or African American, 0.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2% Asian, 0.2% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, 2.8% from Some Other Race, and 1.3% from Two or More Races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race made up 5% of the population.^[26]

According to the 2006–2008 American Community Survey,^[27] the ten largest ancestry groups in the state are African American (15.5%), Irish (13.6%), German (12.5%), American (11.1%), English (10.3%), French (2.4%), Scotch-Irish (2.1%), Dutch (1.9%), Scottish (1.9%) and Italian (1.7%).

European Americans have a strong presence in the northwestern Ozarks and the central part of the state. African Americans live mainly in the southern and eastern parts of the state. Arkansans of Irish, English and German ancestry are mostly found in the far northwestern Ozarks near the Missouri border. Ancestors of the Irish in the Ozarks were chiefly Scotch-Irish, Protestants from Northern Ireland, the Scottish lowlands and northern England part of the largest group of immigrants from Great Britain and Ireland before the American Revolution. English and Scotch-Irish immigrants settled throughout the backcountry of the South and in the more mountainous areas. Americans of English stock are found throughout the state.^[28]

According to the 2006–2008 American Community Survey, 93.8% of Arkansas' population (over the age of five) spoke only English at home. About 4.5% of the state's population spoke Spanish at home. About 0.7% of the state's population spoke any other Indo-European language. About 0.8% of the state's population spoke an Asian language, and 0.2% spoke other languages.

In 2006, Arkansas has a larger percentage of tobacco smokers than the national average, with 24.0% of adults smoking.^[29]

Religion[link]

Arkansas, like most other Southern states, is part of the Bible Belt and is predominantly Protestant. The religious affiliations of the people are as follows:^[30]

Arkansas Population Density Map

• Christian: 86.0%
  • Protestant: 78.0%
    • Baptist: 39.0%
    • Methodist: 9.0%
    • Pentecostal: 6.0%
    • Church of Christ: 6.0%
    • Assemblies of God: 3.0%
    • Other Protestant: 15.0%
  • Roman Catholic: 7.0%
  • Eastern Orthodox: <1.0%
  • Other Christian: <1.0%
• Non-religious: 14.0%
• Other religions: <1.0%
• Jewish: <1.0%
• Muslim: <1.0%

The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2000 were the Southern Baptist Convention with 665,307; the United Methodist Church with 179,383; the Roman Catholic Church with 115,967; and the American Baptist Association with 115,916.^[31]

Economy[link]

The quarter for Arkansas, released October 20, 2003

The state's gross domestic product for 2010 was $103 billion.^[32] Its per capita household median income (in current dollars) for 2004 was $35,295, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.^[33] The state's agriculture outputs are poultry and eggs, soybeans, sorghum, cattle, cotton, rice, hogs, and milk. Its industrial outputs are food processing, electric equipment, fabricated metal products, machinery, paper products, bromine, and vanadium.

As of August 2011, the state's unemployment rate is 8.3%.^[34]

Several global companies are headquartered in the northwest corner of Arkansas, including Wal-Mart (the world's largest public corporation by revenue in 2007),^[35] J.B. Hunt and Tyson Foods. This area of the state has experienced an economic boom since the 1970s as a result.

In recent years, automobile parts manufacturers have opened factories in eastern Arkansas to support auto plants in other states.

Tourism is also very important to the Arkansas economy; the official state nickname "The Natural State" was originally created (as "Arkansas Is A Natural") for state tourism advertising in the 1970s, and is still regularly used to this day.

According to Forbes.com^[36] Arkansas currently ranks 21st for The Best States for Business, 9th for Business Cost, 40th for Labor, 22nd for Regulatory Environment, 17th for Economic Climate, 9th for Growth Prospects, 34th in Gross Domestic Product, and positive economic change of 3.8% or ranked 22nd.

Largest employers[link]

According to the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, the following are the largest employers in Arkansas by number of in-state employees as of 2010:^[37]