Arkansas Historical Events

Date

Event

10,000-8500 bc	Paleo-Indian hunters range across Arkansas.
about 8500 bc	Dalton culture introduces improved stone tools.
about 7000 bc	Archaic culture introduces woven baskets.
about 500 bc	Woodland culture introduces mound building.
about ad 700	Mississippian culture is marked by city building.
1541	Hernando de Soto explores Arkansas.
1682	René-Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle, claims the Mississippi Valley, including Arkansas, for France.
1686	La Salle's lieutenant Henri de Tonty establishes Arkansas Post, the first permanent French settlement in Arkansas.
1803	Arkansas is acquired by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase.
1819	The Arkansas Territory is created.
1836	Arkansas enters the Union as the 25th state (June 15).
1861	Arkansas secedes from the Union (May 6) and joins the Confederate States of America.
1868	Arkansas is readmitted to the Union (June 22).
1874	The state's present constitution is adopted.
1927	The Mississippi River floods one-fifth of the state's land.
1957	Federal troops are sent to Little Rock to enforce a court order for integration at Central High School.
1966	Winthrop Rockefeller, the first Republican governor since Reconstruction, is elected.
1971	The McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System is completed.
1992	Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton is elected president of the United States.