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Arkansas
State
Map
CountryUnited States
Admitted to the UnionJune 15, 1836 (25th)
CapitalLittle Rock
Largest cityLittle Rock
Government
 • GovernorMike Huckabee (R)
 • Upper house{{{Upperhouse}}}
 • Lower house{{{Lowerhouse}}}
U.S. senatorsBlanche Lincoln (D)
Mark Pryor (D)
Population
 • Total
2,673,400
 • Density51.34/sq mi (19.82/km2)
Language
 • Official languageEnglish
Traditional abbreviationArk.
Latitude33°N to 36°30'N
Longitude89°41'W to 94°42'W

Arkansas (pronounced /ˈɑ(ɹ)kənˌsɑː/ or /ˈɑ(ɹ)kənˌsɔː/) is a Southern state in the United States.

Geography

Template:Ussm See: List of Arkansas counties, List of cities in Arkansas, List of Arkansas townships, List of Arkansas native plants.

The capital of Arkansas is Little Rock. Arkansas is the first state in the U.S. where diamonds were 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 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.

Buffalo National River, one of many attractions that give the state's nickname The Natural State.

Arkansas is home to many caves, such as Blanchard Springs Caverns.

Arkansas is home to many areas protected by the National Park System. These include:

The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail also runs through Arkansas.

History

The first European who arrived in Arkansas was the Spaniard Hernando de Soto, explorer at the end of the 16th Century. The early Spanish or French explorers of the state gave it its name, which is probably a phonetic spelling for the French or Catalan word for "downriver" people, a reference to the Quapaw people and the river along which they settled. Other Native American nations that lived in Arkansas prior to westward movement were the Quapaw, Caddo, and Osage Nations. While moving westward, the Five Civilized Tribes inhabited Arkansas during the territorial period. The Five Civilized Tribes are the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Cherokee, and Seminole. They were recognized as the "civilized tribes" because they eventually adopted Western customs such as plantation living and Christianity. Prior to statehood, it was known as the Arkansaw Territory.

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 respond to the unprovoked attack of Fort Sumter by Confederates in 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 readmitted Arkansas in June 1868.

In 1881, the Arkansas state legislature enacted a bill that adopted "arkansaw" as the official pronunciation - note the distinctive pronunciation of the last syllable. (See Law and Government below).

Demographics

Historical populations
Census
year		 Population Change Percent
change
1810 1,062 — —
1820 14,273 13,211 93%
1830 30,388 16,115 53%
1840 97,574 67,186 69%
1850 209,897 112,323 54%
1860 435,450 225,553 52%
1870 484,471 49,021 10%
1880 802,525 318,054 40%
1890 1,128,211 325,686 29%
1900 1,311,564 183,353 14%
1910 1,574,449 262,885 17%
1920 1,752,204 177,755 10%
1930 1,854,482 102,278 6%
1940 1,949,387 94,905 5%
1950 1,909,511 -39,876 -2%
1960 1,786,272 -123,239 -7%
1970 1,923,295 137,023 7%
1980 2,286,435 363,140 16%
1990 2,350,725 64,290 3%
2000 2,673,400 322,675 12%

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. It is estimated that about 48.8% is male, and 51.2% is female.

Arkansas Population Density Map
Demographics of Arkansas (csv)
By race White Black AIAN* Asian NHPI*
2000 (total population) 82.65% 16.02% 1.39% 0.96% 0.12%
2000 (Hispanic only) 3.04% 0.14% 0.08% 0.03% 0.02%
2005 (total population) 82.43% 16.09% 1.40% 1.18% 0.13%
2005 (Hispanic only) 4.43% 0.19% 0.10% 0.04% 0.02%
Growth 2000–05 (total population) 3.68% 4.42% 4.94% 28.03% 14.80%
Growth 2000–05 (non-Hispanic only) 1.85% 4.08% 3.36% 27.99% 14.48%
Growth 2000–05 (Hispanic only) 51.65% 43.64% 30.22% 28.97% 16.86%
* AIAN is American Indian or Alaskan Native; NHPI is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander

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 European 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 part of the Bible Belt and is overwhelmingly Protestant. The religious affiliations of the people are as follows:

Economy

The state's total gross state product for 2003 was $76 billion. Its Per Capita Personal Income for 2003 was $24,384, 50th 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 subsidiary Hino Motors).

Tourism is also very important to the Arkansas economy; the official state nickname "The Natural State" was originally created (as "Arkansas Is A Natural") for state tourism advertising in the 1970's, and is still regularly used there to this day.

The effect of Tyson Foods, Wal-Mart, J.B. Hunt and other multinational companies located in NW Arkansas cannot be overstated. 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.

Taxation

A map of Arkansas with county boundaries drawn

Arkansas imposes a state income tax with six brackets, ranging from 1.0 percent to 7.0 percent. The first $9,000 of military pay of enlisted personnel is exempt from Arkansas tax; officers do not have to pay state income tax on the first $6,000 of their military pay. Retirees pay no tax on Social Security, or on the first $6,000 in gain on their pensions (in addition to recovery of cost basis). Residents of Texarkana, Arkansas are exempt from Arkansas income tax; wages and business income earned there by residents of Texarkana, Texas are also exempt. Arkansas's gross receipts (sales) tax and compensating (use) tax rate is currently 6 percent. The state has also mandated that various services be subject to sales tax collection. They include wrecker and towing services; dry cleaning and laundry; body piercing, tattooing and electrolysis; pest control; security and alarm monitoring; self-storage facilities; boat storage and docking; and pet grooming and kennel services.

In addition to the state sales tax, there are more than 300 local taxes in Arkansas. Cities and counties have the authority to enact additional local sales and use taxes if they are passed by the voters in their area. These local taxes have a ceiling or cap; they cannot exceed $25 for each 1 percent of tax assessed. These additional taxes are collected by the state, which distributes the money back to the local jurisdictions monthly. Low-income taxpayers with a total annual household income of less than $12,000 are permitted a sales tax exemption for electricity usage.

Sales of alcoholic beverages account for added taxes. A 10 percent supplemental mixed drink tax is imposed on the sale of alcoholic beverages (excluding beer) at restaurants. A 4 percent tax is due on the sale of all mixed drinks (except beer and wine) sold for "on-premises" consumption. And a 3 percent tax is due on beer sold for off-premises consumption.

Property taxes are assessed on real and personal property; only 20 percent of the values are used as the tax base.

Transportation

Interstate highways

United States highways

North-south routes East-west routes

Major Arkansas state highways

North-south routes East-west routes

Airports

Little Rock National Airport and Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport are Arkansas' main air terminals. Limited passenger service is available at smaller airports in Fort Smith, Texarkana, Pine Bluff, Harrison, Hot Springs, El Dorado and Jonesboro.

Law and government

File:LR capitol.jpg
The Arkansas State Capitol.

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.

Both of Arkansas' U.S. Senators are Democrats: Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor. The state has four seats in U.S. 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).

Presidential elections results
Year Republican Democratic
2004 54.31% 572,898 44.55% 469,953
2000 51.31% 472,940 45.86% 422,768
1996 36.80% 325,416 53.74% 475,171
1992 35.48% 337,324 53.21% 505,823
1988 56.37% 466,578 42.19% 349,237
1984 60.47% 534,774 38.29% 338,646
1980 48.13% 403,164 47.52% 398,041
1976 34.93% 268,753 64.94% 499,614
1972 68.82% 445,751 30.71% 198,899
1968* 31.01% 189,062 30.33% 184,901
1964 43.41% 243,264 56.06% 314,197
1960 43.06% 184,508 50.19% 215,049
*State won by George Wallace
of the American Independent Party,
at 38.65%, or 235,627 votes

The Democratic Party holds super-majority status in the Arkansas General Assembly. Republicans 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. Arkansas had the distinction in 1992 of being the only state in the entire country to give the majority of its vote to a single candidate in the presidential election—native son Bill Clinton— while every other state's electoral votes were won by pluralities of the vote between the three candidates.

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 U.S. Senate since Reconstruction. The Arkansas General Assembly has not been controlled by the Republican Party since Reconstruction and is the fourth most heavily 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 and the overwhelming majority of registered voters in the state are Democrats. The state is socially conservative – its voters passed a ban on gay marriage with 74% voting yes, the Arkansas Constitution protects right to work, and the state is one of a handful that has legislation on its books banning abortion in the event Roe vs. Wade is ever overturned.

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

Each officer'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.

The state is the only one with a pronunciation specified by law. Section 105 of Chapter 4 of Title 1 of the Arkansas code[1] 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 are-KAN-sas "is an innovation to be discouraged."

See also : List of Arkansas Governors See also : United States presidential election, 2004

Important cities and towns

Education

Public school districts

Centers of research

Colleges and universities

File:UAMS Cancer.JPG
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock.
Arkansas State University, Jonesboro.

Miscellaneous topics

Symbols

The following state symbols are officially recognized by state law.

The designation of a variety of tomato as both the state fruit and the state vegetable is correct. Standing on both sides of the long-running controversy, the law recognizes that the tomato is botanically a fruit, but is a vegetable in culinary use; thus it is officially both in Arkansas.

Though two other songs are designated as "state songs" (plus a "state historical song" which was the state song from 1949 to 1963), by state law the Secretary of State must respond to any requests for "the state song" with the music of the state anthem, Arkansas; it was the state song before 1949 and from 1963 to 1987, when it became state anthem and the other songs gained their present status. This is strictly to preserve the status of Arkansas; all four songs are either copyrighted by the state itself or in the public domain.

Famous Arkansans

Main article: List of people from Arkansas

Politics

Business

Entertainment

Arts

Sports

Inventor

Military

Outlaws

See also

Further reading

  • Blair, Diane D. & Jay Barth Arkansas Politics & Government: Do the People Rule? (2005)
  • Deblack, Thomas A. With Fire and Sword: Arkansas, 1861-1874 (2003)
  • Donovan, Timothy P. and Willard B. Gatewood Jr., eds. The Governors of Arkansas (1981)
  • Dougan, Michael B. Confederate Arkansas (1982),
  • Duvall, Leland. ed., Arkansas: Colony and State (1973)
  • Fletcher, John Gould. Arkansas (1947)
  • Hamilton, Peter Joseph. The Reconstruction Period (1906), full length history of era; Dunning School approach; 570 pp; ch 13 on Arkansas
  • Hanson, Gerald T. and Carl H. Moneyhon. Historical Atlas of Arkansas (1992)
  • Key, V. O. Southern Politics (1949)
  • Kirk, John A., Redefining the Color Line: Black Activism in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1940-1970 (2002).
  • Moore, Waddy W. ed., Arkansas in the Gilded Age, 1874-1900 (1976).
  • Peirce, Neal R. The Deep South States of America: People, Politics, and Power in the Seven Deep South States (1974)
  • Thompson, George H. Arkansas and Reconstruction (1976)
  • Whayne, Jeannie M. et al. Arkansas: A Narrative History (2002)
  • Whayne, Jeannie M. Arkansas Biography: A Collection of Notable Lives (2000)
  • White, Lonnie J. Politics on the Southwestern Frontier: Arkansas Territory, 1819-1836 (1964)

Primary Sources

  • Williams, C. Fred. ed. A Documentary History Of Arkansas (2005)
  • WPA., Arkansas: A Guide to the State (1941)

 United States

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