Arkansas History

By kamryn.ethridge
  • Jun 18, 1541

    Hernando de Soto

    Hernando de Soto
    Hernando de Soto of Spain was the first European to Explore Arkansas. Hernando de Soto began his career in exploration at age 14.

  • Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette

    Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette
    French explorers Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette descended the Mississippi to the mouth of Arkansas River.Warned by the Quapaw (Arkansas) Indians of hostile tribes farther South they turned back.

  • Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la salle

    Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la salle
    Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, reaches the Arkansas on his way to the mouth of the Mississippi.

  • Henri de Tonti

    Henri de Tonti
    Henri de Tonti founded Arkansas Post, the first settlement in the lower Mississippi River Valley. It served as a trading post, a way-station for Mississippi River travel, and the home of a Jesuit mission for a few years.

  • Slaves

    Slaves
    A group of 1,300 half-starved colonists-whites and black slaves-abandon Arkansas after John Law's scheme to develop the Mississippi Valley collapses.

  • The United States

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

  • Quapaw

    Quapaw
    The Quapaw cede their lands between their lands between the Red and Arkansas Rivers.

  • Arkansas Gazette

    Arkansas Gazette
    Arkansas, which has been part of Missouri Territory since 1812, is detached and made a territory. November 20: Arkansas Gazette, the first newspaper in Arkansas, published.

  • Capital

    Capital
    The capital moves from Arkansas Post to Little Rock.

  • Eagle

    Eagle
    The Eagle, first steamboat to ascend the Arkansas River, arrives at Little Rock.