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Arkansas

  • Places
  • Grades 3-4
  • 674 words
  • Also written for younger readers
First Baptist Church, Magnolia
First Baptist Church, Magnolia Billy Hathorn · cc by-sa 3.0 · source

Quick facts

Capital
Little Rock
Largest city
capital
Motto
Regnat populus (Latin: The People Rule)
Abbreviation
AR
Became a state
June 15, 1836 (the 25th state)
Area
53,179 sq mi (137,733 km²)
Population (2020)
3,114,791

Facts from Wikipedia’s “Arkansas” page (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Arkansas is a state in the United States of America. Its capital and largest city is Little Rock. It is considered part of the South, and is bordered by Oklahoma to the west, Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and its southwestern corner touches Texas. The 2020 census counted 3,013,756 people living in Arkansas.

History

Arkansas became the 25th state to enter the Union in 1836. During the American Civil War, Arkansas was one of the Confederate states. Afterward, during Reconstruction, it was the second state to be reintegrated into the U.S. Native Americans first settled in the state before the arrival of Europeans. Many enslaved Africans and their descendants were forcibly brought to Arkansas during the Transatlantic slave trade.

Geography

Petit Jean State Park view.jpg|View from the summit of Petit Jean Mountain, in the Arkansas River Valley, from Mather Lodge in Petit Jean State Park. AR Ouachita National Forest.jpg|The Ouachita River runs through the Ouachita National Forest. Blanchard Springs II.jpg|Blanchard Springs Caverns in Stone County is a popular tourist destination. Buffalo National River.jpg|The Buffalo National River, one of many attractions that give the state’s nickname The Natural State. Flatsidewildernesssunset1a.jpg|Flatside Wilderness Area, Ouachita Mountains, Arkansas Arkansas borders Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, Oklahoma to the west, Missouri to the north, and Tennessee and Mississippi on the east. The United States Census Bureau classifies Arkansas as a southern state. The Mississippi River forms most of Arkansas’s eastern border, except in Clay and Greene counties. There the St. Francis River forms the western boundary of the Missouri Bootheel.

Arkansas has many rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. Arkansas has few natural lakes but many reservoirs such as Bull Shoals Lake, Lake Ouachita, Greers Ferry Lake, Millwood Lake, Beaver Lake, Norfork Lake, DeGray Lake, and Lake Conway.

Arkansas is home to many caves, such as Blanchard Springs Caverns. More than 43,000 Native American living, hunting and tool making sites have been catalogued by the State Archeologist. Arkansas is currently the only U.S. state in which diamonds are mined. This is done by members of the public with primitive digging tools for a small daily fee, not by commercial interests.

Arkansas is home to a bunch of wood Areas adding around 150,000 acres (607.028 km²). These areas are set for outdoor playing and are open to hunting, fishing, hiking, and camping. No vehicles are able to drive in these areas.

Religion

Arkansas, like most other Southern states, is part of the Bible Belt. It is mostly Protestant. The largest denominations by number of followers in 2000 were the Southern Baptist Convention with 665,307; the United Methodist Church with 179,383; the Roman Catholic Church with 115,967; and the American Baptist Association with 115,916.

Education

Education in Arkansas has been an issue. Part of the problem has been low teacher salaries and small budgets for spending on students. Other problems have been not wanting to integrate, and poor school facilities.

Arkansas has two university systems: Arkansas State University System and University of Arkansas System. Some other public institutions are Arkansas Tech University, Henderson State University, Southern Arkansas University, and University of Central Arkansas. It is also home to 11 private colleges and universities. One of them being Hendrix College, one of the nation’s top 100 liberal arts colleges, according to U.S. News & World Report.

Culture

Arkansas is liked for its bauxite mines. Arkansas was also the first U.S. state where diamonds were found. Liked Arkansans are Bill Clinton, who was governor of Arkansas before he became the President of the United States, Sam Walton, the CEO of Wal-Mart, Johnny Cash, a famous guitar player known as “The Man In Black”.

Attractions

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

  • Arkansas Post National Memorial at Gillett
  • Buffalo National River
  • Fort Smith National Historic Site
  • Hot Springs National Park
  • Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
  • Pea Ridge National Military Park
  • President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site
  • Clinton House Museum

Written for younger readers

Arkansas, in simpler words

This version comes from Wikijunior, a set of books written for children aged 8 to 11. It is shorter and uses plainer language than the article above.

From Wikijunior: North America

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Arkansas shares a border with six states. 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 was inhabited thousands of years by the Native American people before European settlers arrived. Henri de Toni settled it in the name of King Louis the XIV of France in 1686 and called it the Arkansas Post.

Napoleon Bonaparte sold Arkansas to The United States in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Arkansas became a territory of The United States in 1819 and shortly after this the capitol of Arkansas was moved to Little Rock. Arkansas gain fulled statehood in in 1836. It was the 25th state to enter the Union.

Arkansas is a land of the mountains and valleys, thick forests and fertile plains. The so-called Lowlands are better known by names of their two regions, the Delta and the Grand Prairie. The Arkansas Delta is a flat landscape of rich soils formed by repeated flooding of the Mississippi River. Further away from the river, in the southeast portion of the state, the Grand Prairie consists of a more rolling plains landscape. Both are fertile agricultural areas.

The Highlands of Arkansas are called the Ozark mountains and the Ouachita Mountains. In the Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains there are dense forests and rivers. The Ozark Mountains are found in the North Central part of Arkansas and the Ouachita Mountains are found in the western part of the state. The Ouachita Mountains were part of the Appalachian mountains of the East coast a long time ago.

As of 2012, Arkansas has an estimated population of 2,949,132. In the 2008 American Community Survey, 93.8% of Arkansas’ population over the age of five years spoke only English at home.

Arkansas is mostly Protestant, with Baptist being the most followed denomination. There are Catholic, Buddhist, and Pagans in Arkansas as well.

Arkansas is home to the world’s largest retailer Walmart. Arkansas is also the United States largest producer of rice, broiler chickens, and turkeys. Arkansas is fourth in The United States in softwood lumber production.

Arkansas also depends on tourism for it’s economy. It is called The Natural State and has 52 state parks. Arkansas has the only diamond producing site that is open to the public at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas.

  • The State Nickname is The Natural State
  • The State Motto is “Regnat populus”, which is Latin for “The people rule.”
  • The State Anthem is “Arkansas”
  • The State American Folk Dance is the Square dance
  • The State Beverage is Milk
  • The State Bird is the Mockingbird
  • The State Butterfly is the Diana Fritillary
  • The State Flower is the Apple blossom
  • The State Fruit and Vegetable is the South Arkansas vine ripe pink tomato
  • The State Gem is the Diamond
  • The State Grain is Rice
  • The State Grape is the Cynthiana Grape
  • The State Historic Cooking Vessel is the Dutch oven
  • The State Insect is the Honey bee
  • The State Mammal is the White-tailed deer
  • The State Mineral is Quartz
  • The State Musical Instrument is the Fiddle
  • The State Nut is the Pecan
  • The State Rock is Bauxite
  • The State Soil is Stuttgart
  • The State Tree is the Pine Tree

Where this page comes from

The article above is adapted from “Arkansas” on Simple English Wikipedia, by its contributors. We removed reference markers, navigation boxes and tables, expanded measurement templates into readable numbers, and kept the prose otherwise intact. The simpler version is adapted from Wikijunior on Wikibooks.

Both sources are published under CC BY-SA 4.0, so this page is published under the same licence. You may share and adapt it, including commercially, as long as you credit the original and keep the same licence.

Worksheets, answer keys and printable layouts elsewhere on K5Print are our own work and are not covered by this licence.