Arkansas Information
Arkansas is located in the southeastern United States of America and is nicknamed The Natural State. The capital is Little Rock and the main river is the Mississippi. See all cities in Arkansas. The state is hilly and wooded. Arkansas also has many fertile agricultural areas, especially in the Mississippi River Delta. To the north and west are the Ouachita and the Ozark Mountains.
Geography
Arkansas borders Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma. Although the state is more centrally located, it is still considered a southern state. Arkansas is 390 kilometers from north to south and 445 kilometers from east to west. The state has numerous major rivers, such as the Mississippi River in the east, the Kansas River in the center, and the Red River in the southwest. The state is moderately forested and hilly, but in the east it is flat with meadows and rice fields. Arkansas’s highest point is the 839-foot-tall Mount Magazine in the Ouachita Mountains.
History
Arkansas was first in the hands of the French and later of the Spaniards. Finally, the French sold it to the United States in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Arkansas Territory was established in 1819 with its capital at Arkansas Post, two years later the capital became Little Rock. Arkansas officially joined the United States as the 25th state on June 15, 1836.
Arkansas sided with the Confederacy until 1874 during the Civil War. In 1863, seventeen-year-old David Owen Dodd was arrested by Union soldiers for working on a book of Morse codes. This book described the strategic positions of the Union soldiers around Little Rock. He never told how he got this book and was hanged for it two weeks later. This has gone down in the history books as The Boy Martyr of Arkansas.
In 1957, tensions over racial segregation rose in Arkansas. It was eventually decided that the southern states should ban racial segregation in education. A school in Little Rock decided to admit nine black students, much to the anger of the white students. The students went down in the history books as the nine of Little Rock. Because the Governor of Arkansas refused to protect the nine black students, President Dwight Eisenhower decided to deploy federal troops. Throughout the year, the black students attended school under the supervision of federal troops.
Economy
Akansas is one of the least prosperous states in America. The economy in Arkansas is largely agricultural, but defense in Pine Bluff and the Walmart headquarters also provide many jobs. Tourism plays a small role in Arkansas. The state has numerous State Parks and the Hot Springs National Park.
| Abbreviation: | AR |
| Nickname: | The Natural State |
| Joined the US as the 25th state on: | June 15, 1836 |
| Capital city: | Little Rock |
| Census: | 3,066,369 |
| Surface: | 137,732 km² |
| Geography: | Bordering Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana. |
| Governor: | Asa Hutchinson |
| State motto: | Regnat populus (The people rule) |
| Arkansas Official Website: | arkansas.gov |
