Map of Arkansas

History

Before European settlement of North America, Arkansas was inhabited by indigenous peoples for thousands of years. The Caddo, Osage, and Quapaw peoples encountered European explorers. The first of these Europeans was Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto in 1541, who crossed the Mississippi and marched across central Arkansas and the Ozark Mountains. After finding nothing he considered of value and encountering native resistance the entire way, he and his men returned to the Mississippi River, where de Soto fell ill. From his deathbed, he ordered his men to massacre all the men of the nearby village of Anilco, whom he feared had been plotting with a powerful polity down the Mississippi River, Quigualtam.

Geography

Arkansas borders Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, Oklahoma to the west, Missouri to the north, and Tennessee and Mississippi to the east. The United States Census Bureau classifies Arkansas as a southern state, sub-categorized among the West South Central States. The Mississippi River forms most of its eastern border, except in Clay and Greene counties, where the St. Francis River forms the western boundary of the Missouri Bootheel, and in many places where the channel of the Mississippi has meandered (or been straightened by man) from its original 1836 course.

Arkansas can generally be split into two halves, the highlands in the northwest and the lowlands of the southeast.

Economy

In 2025, Arkansas's gross domestic product (GDP) was $198.4 billion and the state's per capita personal income was $61,752. The median household income was $55,432 in 2023, which ranked 47th.

Once a state with a cashless society in the uplands and plantation agriculture in the lowlands, Arkansas's economy has evolved and diversified. Six Fortune 500 companies are based in Arkansas, including the #1 company atop the list, the mega-retailer Walmart, founded by Sam Walton in 1962, and headquartered in Bentonville. In 2025, 99.3% of businesses in Arkansas were small businesses, and employed 46.1% of the state's workforce.

The state's agriculture outputs are poultry and eggs, soybeans, sorghum, cattle, cotton, rice, hogs, and milk.

Demographics

The United States Census Bureau estimated that the population of Arkansas was 3,017,804 on July 1, 2019, a 3.49% increase since the 2010 United States census. At the 2020 U.S. census, Arkansas had a resident population of 3,011,524.

From fewer than 15,000 in 1820, Arkansas's population grew to 52,240 during a special census in 1835, far exceeding the 40,000 required to apply for statehood. Following statehood in 1836, the population doubled each decade until the 1870 census conducted following the American Civil War. The state recorded growth in each successive decade, although it gradually slowed in the 20th century.