アーカンソー州、アメリカ合衆国

人

人口構成

南北戦争前（1861〜65）、州の住民は主にケンタッキーとテネシーから来ました。この流入は、植民地時代の初めから、バージニア州、ノースカロライナ州、サウスカロライナ州から移住していたスコットランド人、スコッチアイルランド人、およびイギリス人の祖先の西向きの動きの一部でした。黒人アフリカ系の人もたくさんいました。ほとんどが白人入植者の奴隷でした。 1860年の黒人居住者の数は約110,000人で、州の人口の約4分の1にのぼっています。

21世紀初頭までに、アーカンソーの白人コミュニティは州の住民の5分の4以上を受け入れるように成長しましたが、アフリカ系アメリカ人は人口の減少を続けましたが、それでも人口は減少しています。アフリカ系アメリカ人の最も重い濃度は、北西部の高原、肥沃な東部沖積平野、および川の谷にありました。州の東部の一部の地域は、アフリカ系アメリカ人の半分以上が残っていました。他の注目に値するグループには、主にメキシコ起源の、小さいが急速に拡大しているヒスパニック系の人口と、主にベトナム人、中国人、インド人、フィリピン人からなるより小さなアジアのコミュニティが含まれていました。ネイティブアメリカンは州の居住者のごく一部を占め、そのほとんどは19世紀初頭にオクラホマでの予約に連れ去られました。その多くは悪名高い涙の軌跡に続いています。連邦内で承認された部族や保護区は州内に存在していませんでした。

Historically, the religious atmosphere of Arkansas has been one of conservative fundamentalism, with a variety of Christian Protestant denominations constituting the largest religious communities in the state. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Pentecostals, and followers of the Church of Christ are among the most prominent Protestant groups. There also is a growing Roman Catholic population, substantially boosted by Vietnamese and Mexican immigration. Small, long-established Jewish communities are found in Little Rock and Fayetteville. In Bentonville a sizable Jewish community had emerged by the early 21st century, largely because of business opportunities that had developed around Walmart, a company that not only had its headquarters in the town but had become the world’s largest retailer. There are Muslim groups in the state’s larger cities, consisting largely of various immigrant communities.

Settlement patterns and demographic trends

In the Ozark and Ouachita mountains, where a plantation economy was impracticable, people lived in rural isolation until the mid-20th century. Meanwhile, settlement of the westernmost areas was long discouraged by the rough frontier border with the Indian Territory, and in the early 21st century much of that region remained timbered and lay within the boundaries of the Ouachita and Ozark–St. Francis national forests.

In the flat portions of Arkansas a plantation economy developed, wherein many tenant farmers delivered labour, produce, cash, or a combination thereof to a landlord in exchange for the right and means to cultivate the land. As the rate of farm mechanization increased during the 20th century, so too did the exodus of the tenant farmers—both black and white—to cities in the northern and eastern United States. Many of the state’s African American residents, swept up in the Great Migration that spanned much of the 20th century, left for points north. Indeed, in the later 20th century, the populations of the flatlands of southern and southeastern Arkansas plummeted to less than half of what they had been in the World War II (1939–45) era; the trend continued into the early 21st century, with the region regularly recording a stable or declining population. Meanwhile, the more rugged northwestern region and central portions of the state have experienced population growth, which has generally offset the losses in the flatlands.

Little Rock, the major port on the Arkansas River, lies among the easternmost foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. A marketing centre and the site of assorted manufacturing facilities, the city also is home to various corporate headquarters and convention centres, as well as an array of renovated historic buildings. At the western boundary of the state lies Fort Smith. It is one of the most industrialized cities in the state and serves as a regional business and service centre. The economy of Pine Bluff, some 50 miles (80 km) downriver from Little Rock, continues to depend largely on the surrounding agricultural area, but since the late 20th century it also has become more industrialized and business-oriented. Texarkana, contiguous with the Texas city with the same name, is an important regional rail centre. An urban concentration in northwest Arkansas has emerged in the wake of the rapid growth of retailing in Bentonville, of trucking in Lowell, and of poultry interests in Springdale and other cities of the region.