Page 22 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

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Arkansas
Little Rock, the capital city of Arkansas
Founded 1821
Incorporated 1831 Elevation 335 ft (102 m) Population 193,524
Metro 724,385 (US: 75th)
Little Rock is the capital and biggest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. It is built on the south bank of the Arkansas River where a small rock on the bank was used to indicate a good place for crossing the river.
Before the Europeans arrived, the land was home to the Quapaw people. French explorers called the territory Arkansas, pronounced Arkan-saw - after the way the Illinois people said the name of the Quapaw tribe.
The Spanish, led by explorer Hernando de Soto were the first to explore this area, arriving in 1541. However, it was the French who began permanent settlements and trading posts. In 1673, French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet reached the Arkansas River on an expedition to map the Mississippi River.
Nevertheless, it remained almost uninhabited by Europeans except for a scattering of trappers and hunters. Although the French set up trading posts,
it remained a Spanish colony until 1800. Then it passed into French hands for just three years before being sold on to the United States as the Louisiana Purchase.
It was after this that the history of the area changed, with European settlers moving west and south from Tennessee. As the settlers moved in, so the relatively peaceful relationship between the Native Americans and the Europeans changed.
At first it was known as the Arkansas Territory in 1819, becoming a state in 1836. The area around Little Rock, as with much of the rest of Arkansas,