Arkansas - People of the South Wind (From the United States Series)

Organized on July 4, 1819, and admitted to the Union on June 15, 1836 as the 25th State, and the 13th Slave State, where most slaves in the United States were held on the Delta plantations, numbering about 111,115, just over 25 percent of the State's population on the evening of the Civil War in 1860, Arkansas assisted Texas in winning its independence from Mexico by helping them fight the war, and seceded from the Union on May 6, 1861.

Restored back to the Union in June 1868, and becoming the home of several small-scale Civil War battles, Arkansas did not join the Confederate States of America until after Union troops responded, under orders of President Abraham Lincoln, to the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, South Carolina on April 12-13, 1861, that started the Civil War.

Name:

Believed to have migrated from the Ohio River Valley, the Quapaw Indians gave the State it's Algonquin name of Arkansea, or Arkansa, meaning "the land of the the downriver people," or "people of the south wind". In 1881, after two US Senators disputed between "Arkanzes," and "Arkansaw," the Arkansas State Legislature officially made the pronounciation of the State's name "Arkansas".

Geography:

With an eastern border defined by the Mississippi River and it's 2320-mile long system, the largest in the United States and the North American continent, and located in the southern region of the Country, Arkansas's geography includes the Ozark Mountains, the Ouachita Mountains, and part of the US Interior Highlands that span from Oklahoma, through southern Missouri, and southeastern Kansas, to western and northern Arkansas, and is occupied by parts of the Ouachita National Forest, the Mark Twain National Forest, the Ozark-Saint Francois National Forest, and the Ozark Mountain forests.

Ozarks:

Covering about 47,000 square miles, and consisting of the Salem Plateau, the Saint Francois Mountains, the Springfield Plateau, and the Boston Mountains, the Ozarks are a vast part of northwest and north central Arkansas.

Borders:

Containing the Arkansas Delta, the Great Prairie Lowlands, the Blanchard Springs Caverns, the only diamond mine in the United States, many caves, and separated from the western boundary of the Missouri Bootheel by the Saint Francois River, Arkansas is bordered by Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.

National Park Sites:

Many areas protected by the National Park System are located in Arkansas including the Buffalo National River,established on March 1, 1972 as the first US-designated National River, the Arkansas Post National Memorial at Gillette that commemorates European-American historical events such as the 1686 first successful French settlement in the Lower Mississippi River Valley, the 1783 American Revolutionary War battle, Arkansas Post being the first Territorial capital of Arkansas from 1819 to 1821, and the 1863 Battle of Fort Hindman during the Civil War.

Other National Park System Protected Areas found in the State include the March 4, 1921-designated Hot Springs National Park, the smallest National Park by area in the United States, the Fort Smith National Historic Site that protects the remains of two 19th Century US military forts, and a major stop along the Trail of Tears, the Pea Ridge National Military Park that protects the March 7 and 8, 1862 Civil War Battle of Pea Ridge site that helped the Union gain control of Missouri and was important to them winning the War, and the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, and its rememberences, during the Little Rock Integration Crisis, and the Little Rock Nine in 1957, considered one of the most important events of the Civil Rights Movement.

The Delta:

With one of the lowest populations in the southern United States, and formed by repeated flooding of the Mississippi River, the Delta is the anchor of Arkansas's history, and contains mound buildings of the Native Americans who originally settled there, lands bought during the Louisiana Purchase, plantation economies during Civil War times, and a sharecropping and tenant farming past where cotton, rice, and soybeans remain major crops.

Crowley's Ridge:

Famous for the May 1863 Battle of Chalk Bluff that forced the abandonment of the 2nd Division of the Union Army of the Frontier's second Missouri Expedition, Crowley's Ridge, a narrow band of rolling hills that dissects the Delta, underlying many of the State's eastern major towns, with the Mississippi Alluvial Plain the most prominent feature, is the sixth and smallest natural division found in Arkansas.

Climate:

Arkansas has a subtropical climate, hot humid Summers, mild dry Winters, limited snowfall, and about two months of thunderstorms each year. Part of Tornado Alley, some of the most destructive tornadoes in American history have struck the State, as do commonly occurring tropical system remnants resulting from hurricanes entering the Gulf of Mexico, and recurring floodings from the 722-mile long White River.

Little Rock:

Settling Fabre's Bluff, one of the first towns in southern Arkansas, French colonists had influence in founding Little Rock, who's name comes from a small rock formation located on the south bank of the Arkansas River, that they called "la Petite Roche," meaning "the little rock".

Consisting of about 116 square miles, and affectionately known by its citizens as "Rock Town," Arkansas's largest and most heavily populated city became the capital in 1821.

Located near the geographical center of the State, the area that became known as Little Rock, was the home of several Indian Tribes including the Caddo, the Osage, the Folsom, the Quapaw, the Choctaw, the Cherokee, and Prehistoric Mound Builders of the Mississippi Period Pre-Columbian Cultures.

The Arkansas Art Center, the State's largest museum, the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, which includes the remains of the original Little Rock Arsenal, the Arkansas Museum of Discovery For Sciences, Histories, and Technologies, the Old State House Museum and Former State Capital Building, the Historic Arkansas Museum of Regional History, and the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Library are found in Little Rock.

Little Rock cultural centers include the Arkansas Arboretum on Pinnacle Mountain, the Arkansas Repertory Theater, the Quapaw Quarter with Antebellum and Victorian houses, three National Register Historic Districts, and more than one hundred National Register of Historic Places, Wildwood, home of the South's largest Performing Arts Park, River Market, Little Rock's most prominent entertainment district, the 1928-built Willow Springs Water Park, one of the oldest water themed parks in the United States, and the Little Rock Zoo.

Fort Smith:

Located in an area known as Belle Point, Arkansas's second largest city lays between the State and Oklahoma, on the banks of the Arkansas and Porteau River junction.

Beginning as a Western Frontier Military Post in 1817 to keep the peace between the Osage and Cherokee Tribes in the Indian Territory, Fort Smith had a well known law enforcement heritage in the Wild West, and was a strong military presence during the Indian Removal and the Mexican War.

Popular Attractions in Fort Smith include the US Marshal Service National Museum, the Judge Isaac Parker Courthouse, a National Historic Site with the claim to fame as being the location where "more men were put to death by the United States government than any other place in American history," the Fort Smith Riverfront Blues Festival, the 1857-built Fort Smith Arts Center, the Riverfront Amphitheater, the Fort Smith Museum of Heritage, the Belle Grove Historic District, Fort Chaffee, the Old Fort Days Rodeo, the Arkansas-Oklahoma State Fair, one of the Country's largest Bi-State Fairs, and the Fort Smith Airshow.

Fayetteville:

The third most heavily populated city in Arkansas, and known as the "Track Capital of the World," temperature-wise, Fayetteville, is often one of the coldest at night places in the State.

Located in the Ozark Mountains Fayetteville has been ranked Number Eight on Forbes Magazine's Top Ten Best Places In America For Businesses And Careers, Number Seven on Kiplinger's 2008 Best Cities To Work, Live, and Play, and one of Money Magazine's Best Places To Live In America.

Incorporated on November 3, 1836, and chartered as a city in 1859, Fayetteville Attractions include the Walton Arts Center, the annual Bikes, Blues, and BBQ, the third largest Bike Rally in the United States, the Botannical Gardens of the Ozarks, the Dickson Street Entertainment District, Walker Park Trail, Mud Creek Trail, Frisco Trail, Scull Creek Trail, Wilson Park Trail, and the Lake Fayetteville Park Trail.

Springdale:

Located on the westernmost portion of the Ozarks Plateau, and the central city in northwest Arkansas, Springdale is the home of the world's largest meat producing company, Tyson Foods Incorporated.

The "Chicken Capital of the World" is also the home of the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History.

Named after the numerous springs found in the area, and originally known as Shiloh until 1872, Springdale has been named by the Milken Institute as the Number Eight Best Performing Metro Area In The Country, Forbes Magazine's Ninth Best Place For Businesses And Careers, and Sperling's 27th Best Place To Live In The Country.

Jonesboro:

Located among Crowley's Ridge in northeast Arkansas, and first inhabited by Osage, Quapaw, and Caddo Indian Tribes, Jonesboro is one of the three County Seats of Craighead County.

Originally settled in 1815, and formed from land taken in 1859 from Greene, Mississippi, most of downtown Jonesboro was destroyed by a fire in 1878, however, the city was a major railroad hub for the Cotton Belt Railroad, the Burlington Northern Railroad, the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and the Saint Louis-San Fransisco Railroad.

Manufacturing, medicine, agriculture, education, and trade make Jonesboro a Regional Center.

Series:

The United States Series I am writing here on associatedcontent.com provides an indepth look at all fifty States that make up this GREAT Country of ours and their five largest cities.

The current list of Articles for the United States Series I have published to date includes:

So This Is Sweet Home Alabama
Alaska - The Land of the Midnight Sun
Arizona - The Valley of the Sun
California - The Golden Gate, Earthquakes and Grizzly Bears
Colorful Colorado - The Rocky Mountains, Skiing, and High Technology
Connecticut - The Land of Steady Habits
Delaware - The Small Wonder
Florida - the Snowbirds R Us State
Georgia - Goobers, Peaches, and Buzzards
Hawaii - Luaus, Pineapples, and Beaches
Idaho - The Gem of the Mountains and Potatoes State
Illinois - Mining, Factories, and Labor Unions
Indiana - Land of Steel and Ducks
Iowa - The Ethanol and Food Capital of the World
Bleeding Kansas America's Flattest State
Kentucky - the Land of Tomorrow
Louisiana - The Child of the Mississippi
Maine - Lobsters, Lighthouses, and Black Bears
Maryland - The "Oh Say Can You See" State
Massachusetts - The Cradle of Liberty
Michigan - The Automotive State
Minnesota - The Bread and Butter State
Mississippi - Where Cotton Was King

Comments from readers are always welcome so let me know what you think about these Articles.

Sources:

This article was compiled from websites that provide much more information on Arkansas including:

arkansas.com, arkansas.gov, arkansasstateparks.com, littlerock.com, and dallasnews.com.