Arkansas

Summary
A lesson on the state of Arkansas. The reading is accompanied by true/false questions.

Objectives
• To introduce students to salient features about the state of Arkansas and its history

Suggested Grades
4th Grade
5th Grade
6th Grade

Excerpt
Arkansas is located in the south central United States along the west bank of the Mississippi River. Arkansas is surrounded by six other states: Tennessee and Mississippi to the east; Louisiana and Texas to the south; Oklahoma to the west; and Missouri to the north.

The History of Arkansas
The Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his 400 men were the first Europeans to travel to Arkansas in 1541. The explorers had arrived in Florida two years earlier and made their way across the wilderness until they reached the eastern bank of the Mississippi River. After building rafts, they crossed the mile-wide water and encountered the Pacaha and Casqui, Native Americans who were already living in Arkansas. Unfortunately the Spaniards brought European diseases to native people who had never been exposed to them and the Casqui people virtually died out by 1550.

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