USA Arkansas - The People : USA  

USA Arkansas - The People - Travel guide

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USA Arkansas - The People

The People

Arkansas's Native American population was peaking when the Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto reached the state in 1541. There were tens of thousands of people in villages near the Mississippi River and other groups located across the state.

Frenchmen established the first European settlement on the Lower Mississippi near the Arkansas River. The area became American soil in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase.

The first clear record of African-Americans in Arkansas is from 1721, more than a hundred years before statehood. In the decades that followed, Black men and women maintained an important presence in the state.

The State Capital is Little Rock, other major cities or towns include El Dorado, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Hot Springs, Jonesboro, Magnolia, Pine Bluff.