Dictionary of Meaning

<<Back
Please select a letter:
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0-9

Arkansas

*** Shopping-Tip: Arkansas
{{Otheruses1|the U.S. State}} {{US state | Name = Arkansas | Fullname = State of Arkansas | Flag = Flag of Arkansas.svg | Flaglink = Flag of Arkansas | Seal = Arkansasstateseal.jpg | Map = Map_of_USA_highlighting_Arkansas.png | Nickname = The Natural State, The Razorback State,
& The Land of Opportunity| Capital = Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock | OfficialLang = English language English | LargestCity = Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock | Governor = Mike Huckabee (R)| Senators = Blanche Lincoln (D) Mark Pryor (D) | PostalAbbreviation = AR | TradAbbreviation = Ark. | AreaRank = 29^th | TotalArea = 137 732 | TotalAreaUS = 53,179 | LandArea = 134 856 | LandAreaUS = 52,068 | WaterArea = 2876 | WaterAreaUS = 1,110 | PCWater = 2.09 | PopRank = 33^rd | 2000Pop = 2,673,400 | DensityRank = 34^th | 2000Density = 19.82 | 2000DensityUS = 51.34 | AdmittanceOrder = 25^th | AdmittanceDate = June 15, 1836 | TimeZone = Central Standard Time Zone Central: Coordinated Universal Time UTC-6/Daylight saving time DST-5 | Latitude = 33Â°N to 36Â°30'N | Longitude = 89Â°41'W to 94Â°42'W | Width = 385 | WidthUS = 239 | Length = 420 | LengthUS = 261 | HighestElev = 839 | HighestElevUS = 2753 | MeanElev = 198 | MeanElevUS = 650 | LowestElev = 17 | LowestElevUS = 56 | ISOCode = US-AR | TradAbbrev = Ark | Website = www.arkansas.gov }} '''Arkansas''' (IPA chart for English pronounced {{IPA|/ËˆÉ‘(r)k(É™)nËŒsÉ‘Ë?/}} or {{IPA|/ËˆÉ‘(r)k(É™)nËŒsÉ”/}}) is a U.S. Southern States Southern U.S. state state in the United States.

Geography
{{ussm|arkansas.PNG|ar}} ''See: List of Arkansas counties, List of cities in Arkansas, List of Arkansas townships, List of Arkansas native plants.'' The capital of Arkansas is Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock. Arkansas is the only state in the U.S. where diamonds are found naturally (near Murfreesboro, Arkansas). The eastern border for most of Arkansas is the Mississippi River except in Clay and Greene counties where the St. Francis River forms the western boundary of the Missouri Bootheel. Arkansas shares its southern border with Louisiana, its northern border with Missouri, its eastern border with Tennessee and Mississippi, and its western border with Texas and Oklahoma. Arkansas is a beautiful land of mountains and valleys, thick forests and fertile plains. Northwest Arkansas is part of the Ozark Plateau including the Boston Mountains, to the south are the Ouachita Mountains and these regions are divided by the Arkansas River; the southern and eastern parts of Arkansas are called the Lowlands. The so called Lowlands are better known as the Mississippi embayment Delta and the Grand Prairie. The land along the Mississippi river is referred to as the "Delta" of Arkansas. It gets this name from the formation of its rich alluvial soils formed from the flooding of the mighty Mississippi. The Grand Prairie is slightly away from the Mississippi river in the southeast portion of the state and consists of a more undulating landscape. Both are fertile agricultural areas and home to much of the crop agriculture in the state. Image:PetitJean.jpg right|thumb|260px|''Petit Jean State Park'', one of many attractions that give the state's nickname ''The Natural State''. Arkansas is home to many List of caves in Arkansas caves, such as Blanchard Springs Caverns. Arkansas is home to many areas protected by the National Park System. These include: *Arkansas Post National Memorial at Gillett, Arkansas Gillett *Buffalo National River *Fort Smith National Historic Site *Hot Springs National Park *Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site *Pea Ridge National Military Park The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail also runs through Arkansas.

History
The early French explorers of the state gave it its name, which is probably a phonetic spelling for the French word for "downriver" people, a reference to the Quapaw people and the river along which they settled. Other Native Americans in the United States Native American nations living in present-day Arkansas were Caddo, Cherokee and Osage Nations. On June 15, 1836, Arkansas became the 25th state of the United States as a slave state. Arkansas refused to join the Confederate States of America until after Abraham Lincoln called for troops to invade South Carolina. It seceded from the Union on May 6, 1861. The state was the scene of numerous small-scale battles during the American Civil War. Under the Military Reconstruction Act, Congress readmitted Arkansas in June 1868. In 1881, the Arkansas state legislature enacted a bill that adopted "arkansaw" as the official pronunciation - note the distinct pronuniciation of the last syllable. (See Law and Government below).

Demographics
{| class="toccolours" align="right" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin:0 0 1em 1em; font-size: 95%;" |- ! colspan=2 bgcolor="#ccccff" align="center"| Historical populations |- ! align="center"| Census
year !! align="right"| Population |- | colspan=2|

|- | align="center"| 1810 || align="right"| 1,062 |- | align="center"| 1820 || align="right"| 14,273 |- | align="center"| 1830 || align="right"| 30,388 |- | align="center"| 1840 || align="right"| 97,574 |- | align="center"| 1850 || align="right"| 209,897 |- | align="center"| 1860 || align="right"| 435,450 |- | align="center"| 1870 || align="right"| 484,471 |- | align="center"| 1880 || align="right"| 802,525 |- | align="center"| 1890 || align="right"| 1,128,211 |- | align="center"| 1900 || align="right"| 1,311,564 |- | align="center"| 1910 || align="right"| 1,574,449 |- | align="center"| 1920 || align="right"| 1,752,204 |- | align="center"| 1930 || align="right"| 1,854,482 |- | align="center"| 1940 || align="right"| 1,949,387 |- | align="center"| 1950 || align="right"| 1,909,511 |- | align="center"| 1960 || align="right"| 1,786,272 |- | align="center"| 1970 || align="right"| 1,923,295 |- | align="center"| 1980 || align="right"| 2,286,435 |- | align="center"| 1990 || align="right"| 2,350,725 |- | align="center"| 2000 || align="right"| 2,673,400 |} As of 2005, Arkansas has an estimated population of 2,779,154, which is an increase of 29,154, or 1.1%, from the prior year and an increase of 105,756, or 4.0%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 52,214 people (that is 198,800 births minus 146,586 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 57,611 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 21,947 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 35,664 people. It is estimated that about 48.8% is male, and 51.2% is female. {| |- |Image:Arkansas_population_map.png thumb|right|200px|Arkansas Population Density Map Racially, Arkansas is: *78.6% Whites White non-Hispanic *15.7% African American Black *3.2% Hispanic American Hispanic *0.8% Asian American Asian *0.7% Native Americans in the United States Native American *1.3% Mixed race The five largest ancestry groups in the state are: United States American (15.9%), African American (15.7%), Ireland Irish (9.5%), German-American German (9.3%), British American English (7.9%). |} People of American ancestry have a strong presence in the northwestern Ozarks and the central part of the state. Blacks live mainly in the fertile southern and eastern parts of the state, especially along the Mississippi river. Arkansans of British and German ancestry are mostly found in the far northwestern Ozarks near the Missouri border. As of 2000, 95.0% of Arkansas residents age 5 and older speak English language English at home and 3.3% speak Spanish language Spanish. French language French is the third most spoken language at 0.3%, followed by German language German at 0.3% and Vietnamese language Vietnamese at 0.1%.

Religion
Arkansas, like most other Southern states, is overwhelmingly Protestant. The religious affiliations of the people are as follows: *Christianity Christian – 86% **Protestant – 78% ***Baptist – 39% ***Methodist – 9% ***Pentecostal – 6% ***Church of Christ – 6% ***Assemblies of God – 3% ***Other Protestant – 15% **Roman Catholicism in the United States Roman Catholic – 7% **Other Christian – 1% *Other Religions – <1% *Non-Religious – 14%

Economy
Image:wiki_arkansas.jpg thumb|275px|Greetings from Arkansas The state's total gross state product for 2003 was $76 billion. Its Per Capita Personal Income for 2003 was $24,384, 50^th in the nation. The state's agriculture outputs are poultry and eggs, soybeans, sorghum, cattle, cotton, rice, hogs, and milk. Its industrial outputs are food processing, electric equipment, fabricated metal products, machinery, paper products, bromine, and vanadium. In recent years, automobile parts manufacturers have opened factories in eastern Arkansas to support auto plants in other states (though Arkansas does not yet have an auto plant itself, it is rumored to be a future site for a Toyota plant as well as for a truck plant to be built by Toyota's subsidiary Hino Motors). Tourism is also very important to the Arkansas economy; the official state nickname "The Natural State" is prominently displayed in state tourism advertising. The effect of Tyson Foods, Wal-Mart, J.B. Hunt and other multinational companies located in NW Arkansas cannot be understated. The area is currently in a long-running economic boom due to being the forefront of Global Trade. Wal-Mart alone accounts for $8.90 out of every $100 spent in U.S. retail stores.

Taxation
Arkansas imposes a state income tax with six brackets, ranging from 1.0 percent to 7.0 percent. The first $9,000 of military pay of enlisted personnel is exempt from Arkansas tax. Officers do not have to pay state income tax on the first $6,000 of their military pay. Residents of Texarkana are exempt from Arkansas income tax. Arkansas's gross receipts (sales tax sales) tax and compensating (use tax use) tax rate is currently 6 percent. The state has also mandated that various services be subject to sales tax collection. They include wrecker and towing services; dry cleaning and laundry; body piercing, tattooing and electrolysis; pest control; security and alarm monitoring; self-storage facilities; boat storage and docking; and pet grooming and kennel services. In addition to the state sales tax, there are more than 300 local taxes in Arkansas. Cities and counties have the authority to enact additional local sales and use taxes if they are passed by the voters in their area. These local taxes have a ceiling or cap; they cannot exceed $25 for each 1 percent of tax assessed. These additional taxes are collected by the state, which distributes the money back to the local jurisdictions monthly. Low-income taxpayers with a total annual household income of less than $12,000 are permitted a sales tax exemption for electricity usage. Sales of alcoholic beverages account for added taxes. A 10 percent supplemental mixed drink tax is imposed on the sale of alcoholic beverages (excluding beer) at restaurants. A 4 percent tax is due on the sale of all mixed drinks (except beer and wine) sold for "on-premises" consumption. And a 3 percent tax is due on beer sold for off-premises consumption.

Transportation

Interstate highways
*Interstate 30 *Interstate 40 *Interstate 55 *Interstate 430 *Interstate 440 (Arkansas) Interstate 440 *Interstate 530 *Interstate 540 (Arkansas) Interstate 540 *Interstate 630

United States highways
{| |- | align=center | ''North-south routes'' | align=center | ''East-west routes'' |- | valign=top | *U.S. Route 425 *U.S. Route 49 *U.S. Route 59 *U.S. Route 61 *U.S. Route 63 *U.S. Route 65 *U.S. Route 165 *U.S. Route 67 *U.S. Route 167 *U.S. Route 71 *U.S. Route 371 *U.S. Route 79 | valign=top | *U.S. Route 412 *U.S. Route 62 *U.S. Route 64 *U.S. Route 70 *U.S. Route 270 *U.S. Route 278 *U.S. Route 82 |}

Major Arkansas highways
{| |- | align=center | ''North-south routes'' | align=center | ''East-west routes'' |- | valign=top | *Arkansas State Highway 1 *Arkansas State Highway 5 *Arkansas State Highway 7 | valign=top | *Arkansas State Highway 4 *Arkansas State Highway 10 |}

Airports
Little Rock National Airport and Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport are Arkansas' main air terminals. Fort Smith and Texarkana have smaller airports with limited passenger service.

Law and government
Image:LR capitol.jpg thumb|right|The Arkansas State Capitol. The current governor of Arkansas is Mike Huckabee, a Republican Party (United States) Republican. Huckabee, who had been elected lieutenant governor in a 1993 special election, became governor in 1996 when Governor Jim Guy Tucker, a Democratic Party (United States) Democrat, was convicted as part of the Whitewater Scandal. This led to a state "constitutional crisis" when Tucker refused to give up the governor's office for a short period of time, because the Arkansas Constitution does not allow a convicted felon to be governor of the state. Tucker had been lieutenant governor under Bill Clinton and had become governor as a result of Clinton's election to the presidency. Both of Arkansas' U.S. Senators are Democrats: Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor. The state has four seats in United States House of Representatives U.S. House of Representatives. Three seats are held by Democrats—Marion Berry ([http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/preview/congdist/ar01_109.gif map]), Vic Snyder ([http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/preview/congdist/ar02_109.gif map]), and Mike Ross ([http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/preview/congdist/ar04_109.gif map]). One seat is held by the state's lone Republican Congressman, John Boozman ([http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/preview/congdist/ar03_109.gif map]). The Democratic Party holds super-majority status in the Arkansas General Assembly. Republicans lost seats in the State House in 2004. A majority of local and statewide offices are also held by Democrats. This arrangement is extremely rare in the modern Southern United States South, where a majority of statewide offices are held by Republicans. Arkansas had the distinction in 1992 of being the only state in the entire country to give the majority of its vote to a single candidate in the presidential electionâ€”native son Bill Clintonâ€” while every other state's electoral votes were won by pluralities of the vote between the three candidates. Most Republican strength lies mainly in northwest Arkansas in the area around Fort Smith, Arkansas Fort Smith, while the rest of the state is strongly Democratic. Arkansas has only elected one Republican to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction. The Arkansas General Assembly has not been controlled by the Republican Party since Reconstruction and is the fourth most heavily Democratic Legislature in the country, after Massachusetts General Court Massachusetts, Hawaii State Legislature Hawaii, and Connecticut General Assembly Connecticut. Arkansas is also the only state among the states of the former Confederate States of America Confederacy that sends two Democrats to the U.S. Senate. However, the state is perceived as generally being conservative; its voters passed a ban on gay marriage and Arkansas is one of a handful of states that has legislation on its books banning abortion in the event ''Roe vs. Wade'' is ever overturned. In Arkansas, the lieutenant governor is elected separately from the governor and thus can be from a different political party. Each officer's term is four years long. Office holders are term-limited to two full terms plus any partial terms prior to the first full term. Some of Arkansas' county (United States) counties have two county seats, as opposed to the usual one seat. The arrangement dates back to when travel was extremely difficult in the states. The seats are usually on opposite sides of the county. Though travel is no longer the difficulty it once was, there are few efforts to eliminate the two seat arrangement where it exists, since the county seat is a source of pride (and jobs) to the city involved. The state is the only one with a pronunciation specified by law. Section 105 of Chapter 4 of Title 1 of the Arkansas code^{[http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/NXT/gateway.dll/ARCode/title00000.htm/chapter00063.htm/section00068.htm?f=templates$fn=document-frame.htm$3.0#JD_1-4-105]} determined in 1881 the official, codified pronunciation of Arkansas: "It should be pronounced in three (3) syllables, with the final "s" silent, the "a" in each syllable with the Italian sound, and the accent on the first and last syllables." The same section states that the variation ''are-KAN-sas'' "is an innovation to be discouraged." ''See also: List of Arkansas Governors''

Important cities and towns
{| |- | valign=top | *Arkadelphia, Arkansas Arkadelphia *Batesville, Arkansas Batesville *Bella Vista, Arkansas Bella Vista *Benton, Arkansas Benton *Bentonville, Arkansas Bentonville *Blytheville, Arkansas Blytheville *Bryant, Arkansas Bryant *Cabot, Arkansas Cabot *Camden, Arkansas Camden *Conway, Arkansas Conway *El Dorado, Arkansas El Dorado *Eureka Springs, Arkansas Eureka Springs *Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville *Forrest City, Arkansas Forrest City *Fort Smith, Arkansas Fort Smith *Harrison, Arkansas Harrison *Hope, Arkansas Hope *Hot Springs, Arkansas Hot Springs *Jacksonville, Arkansas Jacksonville *Jonesboro, Arkansas Jonesboro *Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock *Lonoke, Arkansas Lonoke | valign=top | *Magnolia, Arkansas Magnolia *Maumelle, Arkansas Maumelle *Monticello, Arkansas Monticello *Mountain Home, Arkansas Mountain Home *North Little Rock, Arkansas North Little Rock *Paragould, Arkansas Paragould *Pine Bluff, Arkansas Pine Bluff *Pocahontas, Arkansas Pocahontas *Pottsville, Arkansas Pottsville *Rector, Arkansas Rector *Rogers, Arkansas Rogers *Russellville, Arkansas Russellville *Searcy, Arkansas Searcy *Sherwood, Arkansas Sherwood *Smackover, Arkansas Smackover *Springdale, Arkansas Springdale *Siloam Springs, Arkansas Siloam Springs *Texarkana, Arkansas Texarkana *Van Buren, Arkansas Van Buren *West Helena, Arkansas West Helena *West Memphis, Arkansas West Memphis |}

Education

Centers of research

- Arkansas Cherokee Indian Research * Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center [http://www.dbnrrc.ars.usda.gov/ website] * National Center for Toxicological Research [http://www.fda.gov/nctr/ website]

Colleges and universities
Image:UAMS Cancer.JPG University_of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.html" title="Meaning of thumb thumb|right|[[University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock..html" title="Meaning of right|[[University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences">thumb|right|[[University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock.">right|[[University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences">thumb|right|[[University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock. *University of Arkansas System **University of Arkansas **University of Arkansas - Fort Smith **University of Arkansas at Little Rock **University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences **University of Arkansas at Monticello **University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

*** Shopping-Tip: Arkansas