Arkansas
State in South Central USA; nicknamed Land of Opportunity
Area:
137,800 sq km/53,191 sq mi
Capital:
Little Rock
Towns and cities:
Fort Smith, Pine Bluff, Fayetteville
Physical:
Ozark Mountains with Ozark national forest and plateau in the W, lowlands
in the E; Arkansas, Mississippi, and Buffalo rivers; Felsenthal national
wildlife refuge; Ouachita national forest; many lakes
Features:
Hot Springs, a spa town with renovated Art Deco hotels, including the
Arlington, with Hot Springs National Park, and the boyhood home of President
Bill Clinton; Hope, the birthplace of President Clinton, with Old Washington
historic state park (the state capital during the Civil War), and Hope
Watermelon Festival; Arkansas Post, the first European settlement in
French Louisiana; Fort Smith national historic site; Prairie Grove Battlefield
Park; Shiloh historic district and museum; Eureka Springs, a 19th century
spa town in the Ozark Mountains; Little Rock, with the Old State House
(1830s), the Quapaw Quarter (a restored 19th-century neighbourhood,
with the Villa Marre 1881), Arkansas Territorial Reservation (a group
of 14 buildings from the early 1800s), and the Arkansas Arts Center
Industries:
Cotton, soya beans, rice, oil, natural gas, timber, processed foods
Population:
(1996 est) 2,510,000
Famous people:
Johnny Cash, Bill Clinton, J William Fulbright, Douglas MacArthur,
Winthrop Rockefeller
History:
Explored by Hernando de Soto 1541; European settlers 1648, who traded
with local Native Americans; first European settlement was Arkansas
Post, founded 1686 by companions of the French explorer Robert
de la Salle. Part of Louisiana Purchase 1803; statehood achieved
1836; seceded from the Union 1861, readmitted 1868.
|
