1673 Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet of France explored the Mississippi River as far south as the mouth of the Arkansas River.
1682 Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, claimed the Mississppi Valley for France.
1686 Henri de Tonti, a friend of La Salle, established a camp at the mouth of the Arkansas River, at present-day Arkansas Post.

1803 The United States acquired Arkansas as part of the Louisiana Purchase.
1819 The Arkansaw Territory was formed from the Missouri Territory.
1836, June 15 Arkansas became the 25th state.
1861 Arkansas seceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy.
1868 Arkansas was readmitted to the Union.
1874 Reconstruction ended, and the state adopted its present constitution.
1887 Bauxite was discovered near Little Rock.

1921 The first oil well was drilled in the El Dorado Field.
1957 National Guardsmen and federal troops helped enforce a court order to integrate Little Rock's Central High School.
1964 Orval E. Faubus became the first Arkansas Governor to be elected to a sixth consecutive term.
1966 Winthrop Rockefeller became the first Republican Governor elected since Reconstruction days.
1970 The Arkansas River Development Program opened the river to navigation from the Mississippi River to Oklahoma.