bumblebee
06-15-2005, 12:04 PM
ARKANSAS
The Twenty-Fifth State
On June 15, 1836, Arkansas became one of the United States. Native Americans first inhabited the state and created a thriving culture along the Mississippi River around 500 A.D. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, both the Spanish and the French explored the region. The United States acquired the land from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.