Statehood The 25th state June 15, 1836 Captial Little Rock State Motto The people rule Origin of State Name The name is taken from the Arkansas River, which is named for the Native Americans of the Arkansa tribe. State Nickname The Land of Opportunity The nickname reflects the state's diversified and fairly well-balanced economy. Interesting Facts Large burial mounds found in Arkansas were a prominent feature of the region's last prehistoric culture, the Mississippian, which began about 700 AD. Buffalo National River, which cuts through massive limestone bluffs in the Ozark Mountains, is one of the few remaining free-flowing rivers in the lower 48 states. During the 1930s, the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union, a radical labor group based in Arkansas, brought national attention to the tenant farming and sharecropping system. Hattie O. W. Caraway (D) was the first woman elected to the United States Senate. She succeeded her husband in 1932.