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.
Arkansas Timeline History