Arkansas is a landlocked state in the south-central region of the Southern United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage language, a Dhegiha Siouan language, and referred to their relatives, the Quapaw people. The state's diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U.S. Interior Highlands, to the densely forested land in the south known as the Arkansas Timberlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River and the Arkansas Delta.
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US state of Vermont and in some other English-speaking jurisdictions. County towns have a similar function in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, as well as historically in Jamaica.
Harrison is a city in and the county seat of Boone County, Arkansas, United States. It is named after Marcus LaRue Harrison, a surveyor who laid out the city along Crooked Creek at Stifler Springs. According to 2019 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 13,069, up from 12,943 at the 2010 census and it is the 30th largest city in Arkansas based on official 2019 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Harrison is the principal city of the Harrison Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Boone and Newton counties.
Jonesboro is a city located on Crowley's Ridge in the northeastern corner of the U.S. State of Arkansas. Jonesboro is one of two county seats of Craighead County. In 2023, the city had a population of 81,969 and was the fifth-largest city in Arkansas at the time. In 2023, the Jonesboro metropolitan area had a population of 135,287 and a population of 179,932 in the Jonesboro-Paragould Combined Statistical Area.
Pine Bluff is the eleventh-largest city in the state of Arkansas and the county seat of Jefferson County. It is the principal city of the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area and part of the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Pine Bluff Combined Statistical Area. The population of the city was 49,083 in the 2010 Census with 2019 estimates showing a decline to 41,474.
Fort Smith is the third-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. As of the 2020 census, the population was 89,142. It is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 298,592 residents that encompasses the Arkansas counties of Crawford, Franklin, and Sebastian, and the Oklahoma counties of Le Flore and Sequoyah.
Fayetteville is the second-largest city in Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County, and the biggest city in Northwest Arkansas. The city is on the outskirts of the Boston Mountains, deep within the Ozarks. Known as Washington until 1829, the city was named after Fayetteville, Tennessee, from which many of the settlers had come. It was incorporated on November 3, 1836, and was rechartered in 1867. Fayetteville is included in the three-county Northwest Arkansas Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is ranked 102nd in terms of population in the United States with 560,709 in 2021 according to the United States Census Bureau. The city had a population of 95,230 in 2021.
The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant portion of northern Arkansas and most of the southern half of Missouri, extending from Interstate 40 in central Arkansas to Interstate 70 in central Missouri.
The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in Colorado, specifically the Arkansas River Valley. The headwaters derive from the snowpack in the Sawatch and Mosquito mountain ranges. It flows east into Kansas and finally through Oklahoma and Arkansas, where it meets the Mississippi River.
The University of Arkansas is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System. Founded as Arkansas Industrial University in 1871, classes were first held on January 22, 1872, with its present name adopted in 1899.
Central Arkansas, also known as the Little Rock metro, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metro area in the U.S. state of Arkansas. With an estimated 2020 population of 748,031, it is the most populated area in Arkansas. Located at the convergence of Arkansas's other geographic regions, the region's central location make Central Arkansas an important population, economic, education, and political center in Arkansas and the South. Little Rock is the state's capital and largest city, and the city is also home to two Fortune 500 companies, Arkansas Children's Hospital, and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).
William Asa Hutchinson II is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 46th governor of Arkansas from 2015 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U.S. attorney for the Fort Smith-based Western District of Arkansas from 1982 to 1985, U.S. representative for Arkansas's 3rd congressional district from 1997 to 2001, administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration from 2001 to 2003, and the first undersecretary for border and transportation security at the United States Department of Homeland Security from 2003 to 2005.
The Arkansas Razorbacks football program represents the University of Arkansas in the sport of American football. The Razorbacks compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The program has one national championship awarded by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and Helms Athletic Foundation (HAF) in 1964, and one national championship awarded by the Rothman Foundation for the Analysis of Competitions and Tournaments in 1977. The school does not claim the 1977 title. Arkansas has won 13 conference championships, includes 58 All-Americans amongst its list of players, and holds an all-time record of 736–531–40. Home games are played at stadiums on or near the two largest campuses of the University of Arkansas System: Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, and War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
During the American Civil War, Arkansas was a Confederate state, though it had initially voted to remain in the Union. Following the capture of Fort Sumter in April 1861, Abraham Lincoln called for troops from every Union state to put down the rebellion, and Arkansas and several other states seceded. For the rest of the civil war, Arkansas played a major role in controlling the Mississippi River, a major waterway.
The Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball team represents the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas in NCAA Division I men's basketball competition. The team competes in the Southeastern Conference. Arkansas plays its home games in Bud Walton Arena on the University of Arkansas campus. The Razorbacks are a top-twenty-five program all-time by winning percentage (.641), top-twenty program by NCAA tournament games played, top-twenty program by NCAA Tournament games won, top-fifteen program by Final Four appearances, and despite playing significantly fewer seasons than most programs in major conferences, top-thirty by all-time wins. Under the coaching leadership of Nolan Richardson, the Hogs won the national championship in 1994, defeating Duke, and appeared in the championship game the following year, finishing as runner-up. The Razorbacks have made six NCAA Final Four appearances.
Little Rock is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 204,405 in 2022, according to the United States Census Bureau. As the county seat of Pulaski County, the city was incorporated on November 7, 1831, on the south bank of the Arkansas River close to the state's geographic center. The city derived its name from a rock formation along the river, named the "Little Rock" by the French explorer Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe in 1722. The capital of the Arkansas Territory was moved to Little Rock from Arkansas Post in 1821. The six-county Little Rock–North Little Rock–Conway, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is ranked 81st in terms of population in the United States with 748,031 residents according to the 2020 estimate by the United States Census Bureau.
The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the U.S. state of Arkansas in March 2020. The first case in Arkansas was reported on March 11, 2020, in Pine Bluff, Jefferson County. As of March 2022, there were 819,984 cumulative cases of COVID-19 with a total of 10,524 deaths.
