Comprehensive information and links about Arkansas

Arkansas Arkansas is a southern state in the United States. The population according to the 2000 census was 2,673,400. It was admitted as the 25th state of the United States in 1836.

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History

The early French explorers of the state gave it its name, which is probably a phonetic spelling for the French word for "downriver" people, a reference to the Quapaw people and the river along which they settled. Other Native American nations living in present-day Arkansas were Caddo, Cherokee and Osage Nations.

On June 15, 1836, Arkansas became the 25th state of the United States as a slave state. Arkansas refused to join the Confederate States of America until after Abraham Lincoln called for troops to invade South Carolina. It seceded from the Union on May 6, 1861. The state was the scene of numerous small-scale battles during the American Civil War. Under the Military Reconstruction Act, Congress, in June 1868, readmitted Arkansas.

The current governor of Arkansas is Mike Huckabee, a Republican. Huckabee, who had been elected lieutenant governor in a 1993 special election, became governor in 1996 when Governor Jim Guy Tucker, a Democrat, was convicted as part of the Whitewater Scandal. This led to a state "Constitutional crisis" when Tucker refused to give up the governor's office for a short period of time, because the Arkansas Constitution does not allow a convicted felon to be governor of the state. Tucker had been lieutenant governor under Bill Clinton and had become governor as a result of Clinton's election to the presidency.

Arkansas' two U.S. Senators are Democrats Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor. The state has four seats in House of Representatives. Three seats are held by Democrats—Marion Berry (map), Vic Snyder (map), and Mike Ross (map). One seat is held by the state's lone Republican Congressman, John Boozman (map). The Democratic Party holds super-majority status in the Arkansas General Assembly. Republicans actually lost seats in the State House in 2004. A majority of local and statewide offices are also held by Democrats. This arrangement is extremely rare in the modern South, where a majority of statewide offices are held by Republicans.

Most Republican strength lies mainly in northwest Arkansas in the area around Fort Smith, while the rest of the state is strongly Democratic. Arkansas has only elected one Republican to the United States Senate since Reconstruction and the Arkansas General Assembly has not been controlled by the Republican Party since Reconstruction, and is the fourth most Democratic Legislature in the country, after Massachusetts, Hawaii, and Connecticut. Arkansas is also the only state among the states of the former Confederacy that sends two Democrats to the U.S. Senate.

In Arkansas, the lieutenant governor is elected separately from the governor and thus can be from a different political party.

Each office's term is four years long. Office holders are term-limited to two full terms plus any partial terms prior to the first full term.

Some of Arkansas' counties have two county seats, as opposed to the usual one seat. The arrangement dates back to when travel was extremely difficult in the states. The seats are usually on opposite sides of the county. Though travel is no longer the difficulty it once was, there are few efforts to eliminate the two seat arrangement where it exists, since the county seat is a source of pride (and jobs) to the city involved.

Pronunciation and symbols

The state is the only one with a pronunciation specified by law. Section 105 of Chapter 4 of Title 1 of the Arkansas codesup determined in 1881 the official, codified pronunciation of Arkansas: "It should be pronounced in three (3) syllables, with the final "s" silent, the "a" in each syllable with the Italian sound, and the accent on the first and last syllables." The same section states that the variation State Songs: "Arkansas (You Run Deep in Me)" by Wayland Holyfield and "Oh, Arkansas" by Terry Rose and Gary KlassMatt Jones, NFL football star and 2005 1st round NFL draft pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Born April 22nd 1983 in Fort Smith, Arkansas.Paul "Bear" Bryant, legendary University of Alabama football coach. Born in Moro Bottom, Arkansas on September 11, 1913.Billy Bob Thornton, Hollywood film star and famous personality. August 4th 1955, in Hot Springs, Arkansas.Jimmy Driftwood, famous Folk Music and Country Music personality. Born June 20th 1907, in Mountain View, Arkansas.Sam Walton, creator of Wal Mart stores, and one of the worlds wealthiest men. Born in Oklahoma, but created Wal Mart in 1962, in Rogers, Arkansas.Glen Campbell, Country Music star most famous for his songs "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "Wichita Lineman". Born in Delight, Arkansas in 1936.Floyd Cramer, famous musician most known for his piano instrumental "Last Date". Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, and raised in Huttig, Arkansas in 1933.Gail Davis, Hollywood film actress, best know as Annie Oakley from the 1950's television series. Born in Little Rock on October 5th 1925, and raised in McGehee, Arkansas.Freeman Owens, former World War I combat camera operator, who later perfected the art of putting sound on film as a pioneer in cinematography. Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas in 1890.Collin Raye, Country Music star best known for his songs "Little Rock", and "Love Me". Born in De Queen, Arkansas in 1960.Conway Twitty, Country Music legend with number 1 music hits such as "It's Only Make Believe", "Hello Darlin' ", and "Tight Fitting Jeans". Born in Friars Point, Mississippi in 1933, he was raised in Helena, Arkansas. Born with the name Harold Jenkins, he took his stage name from the towns of Conway, Arkansas and Twitty, Texas.John Grisham, author and attorney, best known for his books that were later transformed into popular movies, such as Lou Brock, former Major League Baseball player, thought to be the greatest base stealer of his era. Started his professional baseball career with the Chicago Cubs in 1961. Born in El Dorado, Arkansas in 1939.John Daly, PGA golf champion. Born in California in 1966, raised from age 5 in Dardanelle, Arkansas.Jerry Jones, owner of the NFL team Dallas Cowboys. Born in 1942 in North Little Rock, Arkansas, specifically hailing from Rose City.Sidney Moncrief, retired NBA star who played for the Milwaukee Bucks, and who set several college records with the University of Arkansas. Born in 1957 in Little Rock, Arkansas.Scottie Pippen, former NBA legend who played for the Chicago Bulls championship teams, and arguably one of the most talented players ever to play the game. Born in 1965 in Hamburg, Arkansas.Brooks Robinson, member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Born in 1937 in Little Rock, Arkansas.Barry Switzer, former head coach of the NFL team Dallas Cowboys. Born in Crossett, Arkansas in 1937.John Hanks Alexander, the first African American to hold a regular command position in the US Armed Forces, and the second African American to graduate from West Point. Born in Helena, Arkansas on January 6th 1864.

The capital of Arkansas is Little Rock. Arkansas is the only state in the US where diamonds are found naturally (near Murfreesboro, Arkansas).

The eastern border for most of Arkansas is the Mississippi River except in Clay and Greene counties where the St. Francis River forms the western boundary of the Missouri Bootheel. Arkansas shares its southern border with Louisiana, its northern border with Missouri, its eastern border with Tennessee and Mississippi, and its western border with Texas and Oklahoma. Arkansas is a beautiful land of mountains and valleys, thick forests and fertile plains. Northwest Arkansas is part of the Ozark Plateau including the Boston Mountains, to the south are the Ouachita Mountains and these regions are divided by the Arkansas River; the southern and eastern parts of Arkansas are called the Lowlands.

The so called Lowlands are better known as the Delta and the Grand Prairie. The land along the Mississippi river is referred to as the "Delta" of Arkansas. It gets this name from the formation of its rich alluvial soils formed from the flooding of the mighty Mississippi. The Grand Prairie is slightly away from the Mississippi river in the southeast portion of the state and consists of a more undulating landscape. Both are fertile agricultural areas and home to much of the crop agriculture in the state.

Arkansas is home to many caves, such as Blanchard Springs Caverns. Hot Springs National Park and the Buffalo National River can also be found within its borders.

The state's total gross state product for 2003 was $76 billion. Its Per Capita Personal Income for 2003 was $24,384, 50sup in the nation. The state's agriculture outputs are poultry and eggs, soybeans, sorghum, cattle, cotton, rice, hogs, and milk. Its industrial outputs are food processing, electric equipment, fabricated metal products, machinery, paper products, bromine, and vanadium.

In recent years, automobile parts manufacturers have opened factories in eastern Arkansas to support auto plants in other states (though Arkansas does not yet have an auto plant itself, it is rumored to be a future site for a Toyota plant as well as for a truck plant to be built by Toyota's subsidiary Hino Motors).

Tourism is also very important to the Arkansas economy; the official state nickname "The Natural State" is prominently displayed in state tourism advertising.

The effect of Tyson Foods, Wal-Mart, J.B. Hunt and other multinational companies located in NW Arkansas cannot be understated. The area is currently in a long-running economic boom due to being the forefront of Global Trade. Wal-Mart alone accounts for $8.90 out of every $100 spent in U.S. retail stores.

As of 2005, Arkansas has an estimated population of 2,779,154, which is an increase of 29,154, or 1.1%, from the prior year and an increase of 105,756, or 4.0%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 52,214 people (that is 198,800 births minus 146,586 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 57,611 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 21,947 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 35,664 people.

48.8% is male, and 51.2% is female.

Racially, Arkansas is:

The five largest ancestry groups in the state are: American (15.9%), African American (15.7%), Irish (9.5%), German (9.3%), English (7.9%).

People of American ancestry have a strong presence in the northwestern Ozarks and the central part of the state. Blacks live mainly in the fertile southern and eastern parts of the state, especially along the Mississippi river. Arkansans of British and German ancestry are mostly found in the far northwestern Ozarks near the Missouri border.

As of 2000, 95.0% of Arkansas residents age 5 and older speak English at home and 3.3% speak Spanish. French is the third most spoken language at 0.3%, followed by German at 0.3% and Vietnamese at 0.1%.

Religion

Arkansas, like most other Southern states, is overwhelmingly Protestant. The religious affiliations of the people are as follows:

Ivory-billed Woodpecker, long thought extinct, was recently re-discovered in the Big Woods of ArkansasFor the complete list of current cities, towns, unincorporated communities, counties, and other recognized places in Arkansas,