Among the Native American tribes who lived in what is now Arkansas were the Biloxi, Caddo, Cherokee, Quapaw, and Tunica. Their predecessors in the area were part of the Woodland culture and then the Mound Builder culture. One medieval group was known as the Plum Bayou people. Very early settlers were called the Bluff Dwellers.

In much the same way as in other neighboring states, Arkansas was first visited by a European in the form of Spain's Hernando de Soto, in 1541; visited by French explorers Marquette and Jolliet in 1673; and claimed for France by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in 1682. Frenchman Henri de Tonti built the first permanent settlement, the Arkansas Post, in 1686. He would become known as the "Father of Arkansas."

What is now Arkansas was part of the vast Louisiana Territory, which was owned by France until 1762, when ownership transferred to Spain. The population increased as the enticement of new land to farm and claim proved irresistible to a growing number of settlers coming from the east. A series of land grants issued after the War of 1812 spurred immigration. An early preference for fur trading gave way to other farming pursuits. Cotton eventually became a big crop in the state, as the beginnings of a plantation society emerged.

Arkansas Post was the site of a few important events in early Arkansas history:

• It was the site of an intended much larger settlement, due to be financed by Scottish financier John Law. The implosion of his scheme in 1720 precluded further settlement and led to some settlers moving out. (This was known as the Mississippi Bubble and affected people in Mississippi as well.)
• British troops lay siege to it during the Revolutionary War.
• French troops maintained a presence there even after Spain took over ownership of the wider territory.

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