Arkansas

ARKANSAS HISTORY
ANCIENT TIMES
Almost all of Arkansas was underwater millions of years ago. Many extinct animals, such as mosasarus that looked something like today's elephants, have been traced to this region. Mansards bones were uncovered 20 feet below the ground in northeast Arkansas.

People reached Arkansas at least 12,000 years ago. They were ancestors of today's American Indians and some lived in caves along the White River and made homes under rock shelves and they were known as Bluff Dwellers. There were three large Indian groups by the 1600s, the Osages, Cados and Quapaws. They grew corn and pumpkins and hunted deer and bear.
EUROPEAN EXPORERS AND SETTLERS

French explorers reached Arkansas in the late 1600s. La Salla claimed the Mississippi River Valley for France. He named it Louisiana in honor of King Louis XIV (14) of France.

During the war France handed Louisiana over to Spain for protection and this included Arkansas. France won the land back in the 1...