Home USA States Arkansas Timeline History

1541: Spanish conqueror Hernando De Soto led first European expedition into Arkansas 1673: Jesuit Father Jacques Marquette, trader Louis Jolliet reached Quapaw villages of "Akansae" and "Kappa" 1682: Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle claimed Mississippi valley for King Louis XIV of France; La Salle's party built Fort Prud'homme 1686: Arkansas Post founded as first settlement on Mississippi River 1700: French Catholic missionaries arrived to convert local Natives 1721: Colonists abandoned Arkansas Post 1738: French began two year war against Chickasaw Indians 1762: France ceded Louisiana Territory to Spain 1803: U.S. purchased Louisiana Territory 1806: Louisiana Territory split, District of Arkansaw formed 1811: New Madrid earthquake struck, many left homeless 1812: Missouri Territory, including Arkansas, created by Congress 1817: First post office established at Davidsonville; Cherokee given land in northwest Arkansas; Fort Smith established 1818: Quapaw Indians ceded land between Red and Arkansas Rivers 1819: Territory of Arkansas created 1821: Territory capital moved from Arkansas Post to Little Rock 1822: First steamboat on Arkansas River reached Little Rock 1824: Quapaw Indians forced to cede lands south of Arkansas River 1826: Smallpox epidemic reached Arkansas 1836: Arkansas became twenty-fifth state 1859: Legislation signed freeing all slaves 1861: Arkansas seceded from Union; admitted to Confederate States of America 1862: Battles of Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove; Union victorious 1864: Teenaged Confederate soldier executed for spying; unionist convention abolished slavery, adopted new constitution 1866: Ex-Confederates gained control of legislature; laws passed denying blacks right to sit on juries, serve in militia or attend white public schools 1867: Congress passed Reconstruction Act, voided government of Arkansas and nine other southern states 1868: Arkansas re-admitted to Union; Ku Klux Klan violence led to martial law in most of state 1877: Hot Springs Reservation established 1887: Bauxite discovered southwest of Little Rock 1891: First "Jim Crow" law passed segregating blacks and whites on trains and trams 1904: First crop of rice grown 1906: Diamonds discovered near Murfreesboro 1915: General Assembly passed statewide prohibition of liquor sales; capitol building completed 1919: Race riot in Elaine 1920: Oil discovered near Smackover 1927: Over one-fifth of state flooded by Mississippi River 1932: Hattie Caraway became first woman elected to U. S. Senate 1942: Internment camps established for west coast Japanese-Americans 1957: School desegregation in Little Rock brought national attention to civil rights movement 1958: Little Rock high schools closed for academic year due to political and social controversy over desegregation 1967: Winthrop Rockefeller elected as first Republic governor since Reconstruction 1992: Bill Clinton elected 42nd President of U. S. 1996: Bill Clinton re-elected President of U. S. 2002: Bentonville-based Wal-Mart identified as world's largest corporation.