Arkansas USA
Destination Travel Guide & Hotel Reservations
Historically, ARKANSAS belongs very much to the American South. It sided firmly
with the Confederacy in the Civil War and its capital, Little Rock, was, in 1957, one of
the most notorious flashpoints in the struggle for civil rights. Geographically, however,
it marks the beginning of the Great Plains. Unlike the other Southern states, on the far
side of the Mississippi River, Arkansas remained very sparsely populated until almost a
century ago. Westward expansion was blocked by the existence of the Indian Territory in
what's now Oklahoma, and not until the railroads opened up the forested interior during
the 1880s did settlers stray in any numbers from their small riverside villages. Only once
the Depression and mechanization had forced thousands of farmers to leave their fields did
Arkansas begin to develop any significant industrial base. In 1992, local boy Bill
Clinton's accession to the presidency catapulted Arkansas into national prominence. Four
towns lay claim to him: Hope, his birthplace; Hot Springs, his "home town";
Fayetteville, where he and Hillary married; and, of course, Little Rock, the state
capital. Of the four, only sleepy Little Rock and the nearby spa resort of Hot
Springs are worth a trip, whatever the tourist brochures may say.
Though Arkansas encompasses the Mississippi Delta in the east, oil-rich timber
lands in the south, and the sweeping Ouachita ( Wash-i-taw ) Mountains
in the west, the cragged and charismatic Ozark Mountains in the north are its most
scenic asset, where the main attractions for tourists are the uncrowded parks and
unspoiled rivers. Incidentally, "Arkansas" is a distorted version of the name of
a small Indian tribe; the state legislature declared once and for all in 1881 that the
correct pronunciation is Arkansaw .
Reserve a Hotel Room in Arkansas USA
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