Arkansas History

By Nikki.scercy
  • 1541

    June 18

    June 18
    Hernando de Soto of Spain was the first European to explore Arkansas.

  • 1762

    1762
    France cedes the Louisiana Territory, including Arkansas, to Spain, but French soldiers continue to man Arkansas Post.

  • 1803

    1803
    The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France, which had retaken it from Spain as part of the Treaty of San Ildefonso.

  • 1887

    1887
    Bauxite discovered southwest of Little Rock; peak output is reached by 1918, by which time almost all US Bauxite is being mined in Arkansas.

  • August 1

    August 1
    Diamonds found near Murfreesboro, which becomes the site of the only diamond mine in the United States

  • 1927

    1927
    The Mississippi River floods one-fifth of the state.

  • 1957

    1957
    President Eisenhower had to send US troops to help African Americans attend Central High School in Little Rock.

  • 1967

    1967
    Winthrop Rockefeller became the first Republican governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction.

  • 1969

    1969
    The University of Arkansas establishes a multi-campus system.

  • 1978

    1978
    Attorney-General Bill Clinton is elected governor.