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Arkansas Post was founded in 1686 by Henri de Tonti at the site of a Quapaw Indian village named Osotouy near where the Arkansas River enters the Mississippi River. This place was where the first recorded Christian services occurred in Arkansas. The site became a strategic point for France, Spain, the United States, and the Confederate States at different times during its history.
On 17 April 1783 British Colonel James Colbert conducted a raid against Spanish forces controlling Arkansas Post as part of a small campaign against the Spanish on the Mississippi River. Colbert's Raid was the only American Revolutionary War battle fought in Arkansas, or anywhere west of the Mississippi.
In 1803 Arkansas Post became a part of the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. The post was selected as the first capital of the Arkansas Territory and became the center of commercial and political life in Arkansas. Prior to statehood the territorial capital was moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, and Arkansas Post lost much of its importance.
The Quapaw tribe (known as Ugahxpa in their own language) were speculated to have emigrated from the Ohio River valley to the area where the Arkansas and Mississippi Rivers connect. The namesake of the state of Arkansas was named after the Quapaw, for they were called "Akansea" or "Akansa," meaning "land of the downriver people" by other native tribes and eventually by the French explorers Marquette and Joliet. The Quapaw and French had an ironically amicable relationship, for the French were usually at war with most other native tribes. Many Quapaw and French intermarried and birthed children together. In fact, Pine Bluff, Arkansas was founded by a half-Quapaw, half-Frenchman. The emergence of the French is apparent in the history of South Arkansas; Ecore Fabre (French for Fabre's Bluff), one of the first settlements in South Central Arkansas, later became the areas of Camden and Frenchport, Arkansas. Sumac Couvert (French for "covered in sumac") was later mispronounced "Smackover" by the English, and this name stuck throughout history. La Petite Rocher became Little Rock over time. As far as tribal names, there seems to be some discrepancies over the name "Ouachita;" some sites list it as a Chocktaw word, whereas others list it as a Quapaw word. Either way, the word probably has French characteristics incorporated into it. The first Miss Indian USA was a Quapaw.
Arkansas Territory was created from the portion of the Missouri Territory lying south of a point on the Mississippi River at 36 degrees north latitude running west to the St. Francois River, then followed the river to 36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude, then west to the territorial boundary. This included all of the present state Oklahoma south of the parallel 36°30' north. The westernmost portion of the territory was removed on 1824-11-15, a second westernmost portion was removed on 1828-05-06, reducing the territory to the extent of the present state of Arkansas.
Arkansas Post was the first territorial capital (1819-1821) and Little Rock was the second (1821-1836).
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