Arkansas

Arkansas (are-can-saw) is a  located in the  of the. Arkansas shares a border with six states, with its eastern border largely defined by the. Its diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the and the, which make up the , to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River. The capital and most populous city is, located in the central portion of the state.

The name Arkansas is a pronunciation of a  word meaning "land of downriver people". The pronunciation "arkansaw" was made official by an act of the state legislature in 1881.

Geography
The forms most of Arkansas' eastern border, except in  and  counties where the  forms the western boundary of the, and in dozens of places where the current channel of the Mississippi has meandered from where it had last been legally specified. Arkansas shares its southern border with, its northern border with , its eastern border with and , and its western border with  and.

Arkansas is a land of mountains and valleys, thick forests and fertile plains. Northwest Arkansas is part of the including the, to the south are the  and these regions are divided by the ; the southern and eastern parts of Arkansas are called the Lowlands. All of these mountains ranges are part of the region, the only major mountainous region between the  and the.

The so-called Lowlands are better known by names of their two regions, the and the Grand Prairie. The Arkansas Delta is a flat landscape of of the adjacent Mississippi. Further away from the river, in the southeast portion of the state, the Grand Prairie consists of a more undulating landscape. Both are fertile agricultural areas.

The Delta region is bisected by an unusual geological formation known as. A narrow band of rolling hills, Crowley's Ridge rises from 250 to 500 feet above the surrounding alluvial plain and underlies many of the major towns of eastern Arkansas.

Arkansas is home to many, such as. It is also the first U.S. state in which s were found (near ).

Arkansas is home to many areas protected by the. These include:
 * at

The National Historic Trail also runs through Arkansas.

Climate
Arkansas generally has a, which borders on in some northern highland areas. While not bordering the, Arkansas is still close enough to this warm, large body of water for it to be the main weather influence in the state. Generally, Arkansas has very hot, humid summers and mild, slightly drier winters. In Little Rock, the daily high temperatures average around 90 °F (32 °C) in the summer and close to 50 °F (10 °C) in winter. Annual precipitation throughout the state averages between about 40 and 60 inches (1,000 to 1,500 mm); somewhat wetter in the south and drier in the northern part of the state. Snowfall is not uncommon, but certainly not excessive in most years as the average snowfall is around 5 inches (13 cm).

Despite its subtropical climate, Arkansas is known for occasional extreme weather. Between both the and the, Arkansas receives around 60 days of thunderstorms. As a part of, tornadoes are not an uncommon occurrence in Arkansas, and a few of the most destructive tornadoes in U.S. history have struck the state. While being sufficiently away from the coast to be safe from a direct hit from a hurricane, Arkansas can often get the remnants of a which dumps tremendous amounts of rain in a short time and often spawns smaller tornadoes.

History

 * See main article .

The first European to reach Arkansas was the explorer  at the end of the 16th century. Arkansas is one of several formed from the territory purchased from  in the. The early Spanish or French explorers of the state gave it its name, which is probably a phonetic spelling for the word for the  people, who lived downriver from them. Other nations that lived in Arkansas prior to westward movement were the Quapaw,, and  nations. While moving westward, the inhabited Arkansas during its territorial period.

The The name Arkansas has been pronounced and spelled in a variety of fashions. The region was organized as the on July 4, 1819, but the territory was admitted to the  as the  on June 15, 1836. The name was historically pronounced, and several other variants. In 1881, the passed the following concurrent resolution (Arkansas Statutes, Title 1, Chapter 4, Section 105): "Whereas, confusion of practice has arisen in the pronunciation of the name of our state and it is deemed important that the true pronunciation should be determined for use in oral official proceedings." "And, whereas, the matter has been thoroughly investigated by the State Historical Society and the Eclectic Society of Little Rock, which have agreed upon the correct pronunciation as derived from history, and the early usage of the American immigrants." "Be it therefore resolved by both houses of the General Assembly, that the only true pronunciation of the name of the state, in the opinion of this body, is that received by the French from the native Indians and committed to writing in the French word representing the sound. It should be pronounced in three (3) syllables, with the final 's' silent, the 'a' in each syllable with the Italian sound, and the accent on the first and last syllables. The pronunciation with the accent on the second syllable with the sound of 'a' in 'man' and the sounding of the terminal 's' is an innovation to be discouraged." Citizens of the often pronounce the  as  in a manner similar to the common pronunciation of the name of their state. was organized on July 4, 1819, and on June 15, 1836, the State of Arkansas was admitted to the as the 25th  and the 13th.

Arkansas played a key role in aiding Texas in its war for independence with Mexico, sending troops and materials to Texas to help fight the war. The proximity of the city of to the Texas border involved the town in the  of 1835-36. Some evidence suggests and his compatriots planned the revolt in a tavern at Washington in 1834. When the fighting began a stream of volunteers from Arkansas and the eastern states flowed through the town toward the Texas battle fields. When the began in 1846, Washington became a redezvous for volunteer troops. Governor Thomas S. Drew issued a proclamation calling on the state to furnish one regiment of cavalry and one battalion of infantry to join the United States Army. Ten companies of men assembled here where they were formed into the first Regiment of Arkansas Cavalry.

Arkansas refused to join the until after   called for troops to respond to the attack on, , by Confederate forces. The State of Arkansas seceded from the on May 6, 1861. While not often cited in history, the state was the scene of numerous small-scale battles during the. Arkansans of note during the Civil War include Confederate Major General. Considered by many to be one of the most brilliant Confederate division commanders of the war, Cleburne is often referred to as The Stonewall of the West. Also of note is Major General. A former United States Representative, Hindman commanded Confederate forces at the and.

Under the, Congress readmitted Arkansas in June 1868.

In 1874, the shook Little Rock and the state governorship which was finally settled when Grant ordered that Joseph Brooks disperse his militant supporters.

In 1881, the Arkansas state legislature enacted a bill that adopted an official pronunciation, to combat a controversy then raging around the proper pronunciation of the state's name. (See Law and Government below).

After the case in 1957, the  incident again brought Arkansas to national attention when the Federal government was forced to again interfere in the Arkansan capital. , governor at the time, sent the to aid segregationists in preventing nine African-American students from enrolling at Little Rock's Central High School. , after attempting to contact Orval Faubus 3 times, sent 1000 paratroops to escort the African-American students on,. This incident eventually led to the closing of Little Rock high schools for the rest of the school year. The Little Rock high schools were completely integrated by the fall of 1959.

, the 42nd, was born in. Before his presidency, Clinton served nearly twelve years as the 50th and 52nd of Arkansas.

Demographics
As of 2006, Arkansas has an estimated population of 2,810,872, which is an increase of 29,154, or 1.1%, from the prior year and an increase of 105,756, or 4.0%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 52,214 people (that is 198,800 births minus 146,586 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 57,611 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 21,947 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 35,664 people. It is estimated that about 48.8% is male, and 51.2% is female. From 2000 through 2006 Arkansas has had a population growth of 5.1% or 137,472 http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/05000.html.

The of Arkansas is located in the far northeast corner of.

The five largest ancestry groups in the state are: (15.9%),  (15.7%),  (9.5%),  (9.3%),  (7.9%).

People of European ancestry have a strong presence in the northwestern Ozarks and the central part of the state. African Americans live mainly in the fertile southern and eastern parts of the state. Arkansans of Irish, English and German ancestry are mostly found in the far northwestern Ozarks near the Missouri border.

As of 2000, 95.07% of Arkansas residents age 5 and older speak at home and 3.31% speak. is the third most spoken language at 0.299%, followed by at 0.291% and  at 0.13%.

Religion
Arkansas, like most other Southern states, is part of the and is overwhelmingly Protestant. The religious affiliations of the people are as follows:
 * – 86%
 * – 78%
 * – 39%
 * – 9%
 * – 6%
 * – 6%
 * – 3%
 * Other Protestant – 15%
 * – 7%
 * – <1%
 * Other Christian – <1%
 * Other Religions – <1%
 * Non-Religious – 14%

Economy
The state's gross domestic product for 2005 was $87 billion. Its per capita household median income (in current dollars) for 2006 was $35,295, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The state's agriculture outputs are poultry and eggs, soybeans, sorghum, cattle, cotton, rice, hogs, and milk. Its industrial outputs are food processing, electric equipment, fabricated metal products, machinery, paper products, bromine, and vanadium.

In recent years, parts manufacturers have opened factories in eastern Arkansas to support auto plants in other states. Additionally, the city of is the site of a school bus factory.

Tourism is also very important to the Arkansas economy; the official state nickname "The Natural State" was originally created (as "Arkansas Is A Natural") for state tourism advertising in the 1970s, and is still regularly used to this day.

According to Forbes.com or http://www.forbes.com/2007/07/10/washington-virginia-utah-biz-cz_kb_0711bizstates-table.html

Arkansas currently ranks 21st for The Best States for Business, 9th for Business Cost, 40th for Labor, 22nd for Regulatory Environment, 17th for Economic Climate, 9th for Growth Prospects, 34th in Gross Domestic Product, and positive economic change of 3.8% or ranked 22nd.

Taxation
Arkansas imposes a state with six brackets, ranging from 1.0% to 7.0%. The first $9,000 of military pay of enlisted personnel is exempt from Arkansas tax; officers do not have to pay state income tax on the first $6,000 of their military pay. Retirees pay no tax on, or on the first $6,000 in gain on their pensions (in addition to recovery of ). Residents of are exempt from Arkansas income tax; wages and business income earned there by residents of  are also exempt. Arkansas's gross receipts tax and compensating  tax rate is currently 6%. The state has also mandated that various services be subject to sales tax collection. They include wrecker and towing services; dry cleaning and laundry; body piercing, tattooing and electrolysis; pest control; security and alarm monitoring; self-storage facilities; boat storage and docking; and pet grooming and kennel services.

In addition to the state sales tax, there are more than 300 es in Arkansas. Cities and counties have the authority to enact additional local sales and use taxes if they are passed by the voters in their area. These local taxes have a ceiling or cap; they cannot exceed $25 for each 1% of tax assessed. These additional taxes are collected by the state, which distributes the money back to the local jurisdictions monthly. Low-income taxpayers with a total annual household income of less than $12,000 are permitted a sales for  usage.

Sales of s account for added taxes. A 10% supplemental mixed drink tax is imposed on the sale of alcoholic beverages (excluding ) at s. A 4% tax is due on the sale of all s (except beer and ) sold for "on-premises" consumption. And a 3% tax is due on beer sold for off-premises consumption.

es are assessed on real and personal property; only 20% of the value is used as the tax base.

Airports
(Adams Field) and in  in  are Arkansas's main air terminals. Limited passenger service is available at smaller airports in, , , , , , and. Many air travelers in eastern Arkansas use.

Rail
makes several stops in Arkansas daily on its run from Chicago to San Antonio and Los Angeles.

Law and government
The current is, a. He was elected on.

Both of Arkansas's U.S. Senators are Democrats: and. The state has four seats in. Three seats are held by Democrats&mdash; (map), (map), and  (map). The state's lone Republican congressman is (map).

The Democratic Party holds status in the. A majority of local and statewide offices are also held by Democrats. This is rare in the modern, where a majority of statewide offices are held by Republicans. Arkansas had the distinction in 1992 of being the only state in the country to give the majority of its vote to a single candidate in the presidential election— —while every other state's electoral votes were won by pluralities of the vote among the three candidates. In 2004, won the state of Arkansas by 9 points, leading some to speculate that the state was shifting toward the Republicans. In 2006, however, Democrats were elected to all statewide offices by the voters in a Democratic sweep that included the Arkansas Democratic Party regaining the governorship.

Most Republican strength lies mainly in in the areas around  and, and especially in North Central Arkansas around the  area where voters have often voted 90 percent Republican. The rest of the state is strongly Democratic, especially and the areas along the. Arkansas has only elected one Republican to the U.S. Senate since, , who was defeated after one term by. The General Assembly has not been controlled by the Republican Party since Reconstruction and is the fourth most heavily Democratic Legislature in the country, after, , and. Arkansas is also the only state among the states of the former that sends two Democrats to the U.S. Senate and the overwhelming majority of registered voters in the state are Democrats. The state is socially conservative – its voters passed a ban on with 74% voting yes, the  protects, and the state is one of a handful that has legislation on its books banning  in the event  is ever overturned.

In Arkansas, the lieutenant governor is elected separately from the governor and thus can be from a different political party.

Each officer's term is four years long. Office holders are to two full terms plus any partial terms prior to the first full term. Arkansas gubernatorial terms became four years with the 1986 general election; before this, the terms were two years long.

Some of Arkansas's have two s, as opposed to the usual one seat. The arrangement dates back to when travel was extremely difficult in the state. The seats are usually on opposite sides of the county. Though travel is no longer the difficulty it once was, there are few efforts to eliminate the two seat arrangement where it exists, since the county seat is a source of pride (and jobs) to the city involved.

Arkansas is the only state to specify the pronunciation of its name by law. This is in response to residents of who used to pronounce the state's name as ar-KANSAS.

Metropolitan areas
The had 829,032 people in the 2006 census estimates and is the largest in Arkansas.

The is increasingly important to the state and its economy. The US Census estimated the population of the MSA to be 420,876 in 2006, up from 347,045 in 2000, making it the sixth fastest growing region in the nation. It is home to the corporate headquarters of companies, , and , as well as representatives of numerous vendors drawn by Wal-Mart. It is also home to the and the.

See also.

Top 15 Largest Cities in Arkansas

1. Little Rock     184,422     Central Arkansas

2. Fort Smith       83,461     Northwest Arkansas

3. Fayetteville     67,158     Northwest Arkansas

4. Springdale       60,096     Northwest Arkansas

5. Jonesboro        59,358     Northeast Arkansas

6. North Little Rock 58,833    Central Arkansas

7. Pine Bluff       52,693     Southeast Arkansas

8. Conway           52,430     Central Arkansas

9. Rogers           48,666     Northwest Arkansas

10.Hot Springs      37,847     Southwest Arkansas

11.Jacksonville     30,367     Central Arkansas

12.Texarkana        30,006     Southwest Arkansas

13.Bentonville      29,538     Northwest Arkansas

14.West Memphis     28,181     Northeast Arkansas

15.Benton           27,700     Central Arkansas

Important cities and towns
Names in bold have populations greater than 20,000.