The 25th state admitted to the US was Arkansas on June 15,1836. Arkansas was part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1836, after it became a separate territory in 1819. The name Arkansas comes from "acansaw", which means "downstream place". French explorers referred to the Quapaw people and the river that they settled to name the state. Arkansas is known as "The Natural State" by the Arkansas Park System. Because the 1973 Act 49 of the state General Assembly believed that people from Arkansas were hardworking, they declared the honeybee as the state insect. Their most important crop is rice, and they are known for their production of diamonds as the only state in the US to do so. Arkansas is known for Southern Hush Puppies, Possum Pie, and Southern Biscuits with Chocolate Gravy. The capital of Arkansas is Little Rock, the state bird is the Mockingbird, the state tree is the Pine Tree, and the state flower is the Apple Blossom.
Archeologists say that Indigenous peoples inhabited the area of Arkansas for about 14,000 years. The first people were the Paleo, Archaic, Woodland, and the Mississippian Indians who used stone tools and animal bones to hunt and gather. The most prevalent Native American tribes of the area were the Caddos, Quapaws, Osages, and Cherokees. In May of 1541, Hernando de Soto was the first explorer from Spain who encountered the Indigenous peoples in Arkansas. He and his Spanish settlers explored Arkansas for over two years, using violence and killing many Native Americans. Many of his own people were also killed, and he was known for his violent rages and killing sprees. He soon was killed and the French settlers followed his footsteps. Next came the English, and many of these settlers brought African slaves that worked and developed this agriculture land. The land was kept up and taken care of entirely by African slaves. Local indigenous people were forced out of their land and pushed westward into what was called "Indian Territory", which eventually became Oklahoma. This move was an exile along the Arkansas River called the "Trail of Tears". After the Civil War, white people had settled all of the Indian Territory. Arkansas was the ninth state to secede in May 1861, after the Confederate capture of Fort Sumter and the call for volunteers by President Lincoln. Most of Arkansas fought for the Confederacy, but Little Rock fell to the Union in 1863. There was a fight between sides, and the defeat in the Civil War added to the poverty, racial tension, and tenant farming. Arkansas continued to grow into a more urbanized state over the years. In 1996, under President Clinton's Executive Order, modern Caddo, Cherokee, Osage, Quapaw, and Tunica started to reclaim their ancestry to Arkansas. Today, Native Americans gather together at least once a month in culture and friendship for Indian Inter-Tribal Association meetings. The land has yet to be returned to the Indigenous ancestors from whom it was stolen.
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