1541: Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto visits Arkansas
in his explorations of the American southeast.
1673: French missionaries Father Jacques Marquette
and Louis Joliet explore the central United States
along the Mississippi River south to the Arkansas
1682: Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, reaches
Arkansas on his way to the mouth of the Mississippi.
He visits a Quapaw village and claims the land in
the name of King Louis XIV.
1763: Most of Louisiana Territory, including Arkansas
becomes a Spanish possession as a result of the defeat
of the French by the British in the French and Indian
War. Nevertheless, French forces continue to man
the Arkansas Post.
1800: French ruler Napoleon I re-acquires the Louisiana
Territory from the Spanish in the Treaty of San Ildefonso.
1803: Napoleon I offers to sell New Orleans and
the entire Louisiana Territory (which included Arkansas)
to the U.S. Government for $15,000,000. The United
States agrees and America doubles in size.
1819: The Arkansas Territory is created from the
1821: Little Rock becomes capital of the Arkansas
- 1839: Tens of thousands of Indians
are forcibly transported through Arkansas on
their way to "reservations" in Oklahoma.
1861: Arkansas secedes from the United States and joins
the Confederate States of America during the Civil
1862: Confederate forces are defeated by Union troops
at the Battle of Pea Ridge. Confederates suffer more
than 4,600 casualties.
1868: Arkansas is re-admitted to the Union.
1872: The University of Arkansas is established in Fayetteville.
1906: Diamonds are discovered near Murfreesboro,
which becomes the site of the nation's only diamond
mine. Today, visitors can search for diamonds at
Crater of Diamonds State Park.
1921: Oil is discovered near El Dorado, leading
to an oil drilling boom.
1950: Sam Walton opens his first "Walton" store
in Bentonville, which would later become Wal-Mart
1957: President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends National
Guard troops to Little Rock's Central High School
to protect newly integrated African-American students
attending the school.