Talk:Arkansas

The history and the historical economics of the State

The History, economic and cultural, has been altered and skewed. The economy suffered before and after the Civil War,Not because it depended on large plantations, there were relatively few of those, confined mainly to the east along the Mississippi River, but because of the poor quality soil and mountainous regions over much of the state. Much of the natural forest had been stripped and the soil below washed away or overused to the point that it would not support substantial crops.

 In addtion, the history you present is tainted with prejudice and bigotry, not actual facts. 72.188.70.180 (talk) 12:06, 15 September 2024 (UTC)

Largest City List

The list of largest cities in Arkansas is out of date and is no longer accurate. Not only are the populations listed incorrect but the order is wrong too. It lists Fort Smith as the second largest city and Fayetteville as the third largest. These positions have been switched for a number of years.

Conway and North Little Rock have switched places as well. Additionally, most of positions 14-20 have changed. Most have switched order and West Memphis has been replaced by Van Buren.

Source cited claims to be from 2017. However, when following the link, the source has been updated to show this correctly based on the 2024 estimates.

https://www.biggestuscities.com/ar Debaser01 (talk) 13:30, 24 September 2024 (UTC)

It should be as follows:

{{Largest cities

| country = Arkansas

| stat_ref = Source:

| list_by_pop =

| div_name =

| div_link = Counties of Arkansas|County

| city_1 = Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock

| div_1 = Pulaski County, Arkansas|Pulaski

| pop_1 = 203,842

| img_1 = Little Rock.jpg

| city_2 = Fayetteville, Arkansas|Fayetteville

| div_2 = Washington County, Arkansas|Washington

| pop_2 = 101,680

| img_2 = Fayetteville, Arkansas skyline featuring University of Arkansas.jpg

| city_3 = Fort Smith, Arkansas|Fort Smith

| div_3 = Sebastian County, Arkansas|Sebastian

| pop_3 = 89,770

| img_3 = Fort Smith, AR 002.jpg

| city_4 = Springdale, Arkansas|Springdale

| div_4 = Washington County, Arkansas|Washington

| pop_4 = 88,224

| img_4 =

| city_5 = Jonesboro, Arkansas|Jonesboro

| div_5 = Craighead County, Arkansas|Craighead

| pop_5 = 80,650

| img_5 =

| city_6 = Rogers, Arkansas|Rogers

| div_6 = Benton County, Arkansas|Benton

| pop_6 = 74,035

| img_6 =

| city_7 = Conway, Arkansas|Conway

| div_7 = Faulkner County, Arkansas|Faulkner

| pop_7 = 69,580

| img_7 =

| city_8 = North Little Rock, Arkansas|North Little Rock

| div_8 = Pulaski County, Arkansas|Pulaski

| pop_8 = 64,531

| img_8 =

| city_9 = Bentonville, Arkansas|Bentonville

| div_9 = Benton County, Arkansas|Benton

| pop_9 = 59,471

| img_9 =

| city_10 = Pine Bluff, Arkansas|Pine Bluff

| div_10 = Jefferson County, Arkansas|Jefferson

| pop_10 = 39,123

| img_10 =

| city_11 = Hot Springs, Arkansas|Hot Springs

| div_11 = Garland County, Arkansas|Garland

| pop_11 = 37,994

| img_11 =

| city_12 = Benton, Arkansas|Benton

| div_12 = Saline County, Arkansas|Saline

| pop_12 = 37,558

| img_12 =

| city_13 = Sherwood, Arkansas|Sherwood

| div_13 = Pulaski County, Arkansas|Pulaski

| pop_13 = 33,118

| img_13 =

| city_14 = Bella Vista, Arkansas|Bella Vista

| div_14 = Benton County, Arkansas|Benton

| pop_14 = 32,368

| img_14 =

| city_15 = Paragould, Arkansas|Paragould

| div_15 = Greene County, Arkansas|Greene

| pop_15 = 30,520

| img_15 =

| city_16 = Russellville, Arkansas|Russellville

| div_16 = Pope County, Arkansas|Pope

| pop_16 = 29,338

| img_16 =

| city_17 = Texarkana, Arkansas|Texarkana

| div_17 = Miller County, Arkansas|Miller

| pop_17 = 29,223

| img_17 =

| city_18 = Jacksonville, Arkansas|Jacksonville

| div_18 = Pulaski County, Arkansas|Pulaski

| pop_18 = 29,094

| img_18 =

| city_19 = Cabot, Arkansas|Cabot

| div_19 = Lonoke County, Arkansas|Lonoke

| pop_19 = 27,190

| img_19 =

| city_20 = Van Buren, Arkansas|Van Buren

| div_20 = Crawford County, Arkansas|Crawford

| pop_20 = 24,138

| img_20 =

}} Debaser01 (talk) 21:29, 24 September 2024 (UTC)

References

Cities and town section - Third Paragraph

This section is reflecting the 2010 Census and not the 2024 estimates or even the newer 2020 census.

The third Paragraph should read as follows:

The state has nine cities with populations above 50,000 (based on 2024 estimates). In descending order of size, they are Little Rock, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Springdale, Jonesboro, Conway, North Little Rock, Rogers, and Bentonville. Of these, only Fort Smith and Jonesboro are outside the two largest metropolitan areas. Other cities in Arkansas include Pine Bluff, Crossett, Bryant, Lake Village, Hot Springs,Texarkana, Sherwood, Jacksonville, Russellville, Bella Vista, West Memphis, Paragould, Cabot, Searcy, Van Buren, El Dorado, Blytheville, Harrison, Dumas, Rison, Warren, and Mountain Home.

Source

The link listed as the original source for this section has been updated to reflected newer information.

https://www.arkansas-demographics.com/cities_by_population

Debaser01 (talk) 13:49, 24 September 2024 (UTC)

Pronunciation

The article states: "In 1881, the state legislature defined the official pronunciation of Arkansas as having the final "s" be silent (as it would be in French). A dispute had arisen between the state's two senators over the pronunciation issue. One favored /ˈɑːrkənsɔː/ (AR-kən-saw), the other /ɑːrˈkænzəs/ (ar-KAN-zəs).[c]" However, a footnote quotes the Arkansas state legislature resolving that "the "a" in each syllable" should be pronounced "with the Italian sound". This means that the legislature's favoured official pronunciation is different from both of the two pronunciations cited (which means it's also different from the one recommended at the start of the article), because the transcription /ˈɑːrkənsɔː/ (AR-kən-saw) has the three "a"s pronounced in three different ways, whereas the state legislature had mandated that all three "a"s have roughly the same Italian sound. The notion that the legislature was choosing between the two pronunciations cited, and the implication that it chose one of the two, therefore seems incorrect. 31.192.197.247 (talk) 20:30, 1 April 2025 (UTC)

Odd sentence at the end of lead...

Arkansas's culture is observable in museums, theaters, novels, television shows, restaurants, and athletic venues across the state.

1. This isn't really saying much of anything, since it's true of anywhere you go. The sentence seems to serve entirely as an excuse to wikilink "Culture of Arkansas" which can probably be done without using book report filler level non-information.
2. Also, "novels and television shows... across the state"? Do the novels vary wildly from county to county in Arkansas? Are they unavailable in other states? The "television shows" part probably gets by on a technicality if you count local news, but if I used the news as a guide for what local culture was like anywhere I went I'd just think it was in the same stupidly grinning nightmare as everywhere else and never bother going outside.

A Shortfall Of Gravitas (talk) 06:43, 18 September 2025 (UTC)