Q 01/05

The name Arkansas comes from a French rendering of a word for which Native American people?

A) The Osage

B) The Cherokee

C) The Caddo

D) The Quapaw

Answer · why

D) The Quapaw

The Quapaw: the French took the name from Algonquian-speaking neighbours such as the Illinois, so it was never what the Quapaw called themselves.

Q 02/05

How did the Arkansas legislature officially rule the state's name should be pronounced in 1881?

A) As two syllables

B) Stressed on the second syllable

C) With the final "s" silent

D) With a hard "z" sound at the end

Answer · why

C) With the final "s" silent

With the final "s" silent: lawmakers made the Arkansaw sound official, an ending that may come from the French pronunciation.

Q 03/05

Arkansas joined the Union on June 15, 1836, as which number state?

A) 28th

B) 25th

C) 23rd

D) 19th

Answer · why

B) 25th

Arkansas became the 25th state on 15 June 1836, paired with free-state Michigan to keep the Senate balance; it was the 13th slave state, with about 60...

Q 04/05

Which Spanish explorer crossed the Mississippi into Arkansas in 1541?

A) Hernando de Soto

B) Francisco Coronado

C) Cabeza de Vaca

D) Ponce de León

Answer · why

A) Hernando de Soto

Hernando de Soto: he had passed himself off to local people as an immortal 'Son of the Sun', so after he died in 1542 his men secretly sank his body i...

Q 05/05

What was the first European settlement in the future state, founded by Henri de Tonti in 1686?

A) Fort Smith

B) Arkansas Post

C) Arkadelphia

D) Arkansas City

Answer · why

B) Arkansas Post

Arkansas Post, set up by Henri de Tonti in 1686 near the Arkansas River's mouth, was the Arkansas Territory's first capital until 1821 and saw the sta...