The riverfront areas in the Arkansas Delta were developed for cotton plantations that used enslaved African Americans.

However, they made no effort assert actual control over the province, and all Europeans present during the Spanish era were French fur traders who had simply stayed behind.

Napoleon's brother, acting as king of Spain, then "gave" the Louisiana territory back to France.

[9] This area was developed for cotton plantations through the antebellum period, based on the labor of enslaved African-American workers.

The anti-immediate secession delegates negotiated a compromise to put the question on the statewide ballot in August, but to remain in the Union.

At the turn of the century, the state legislature passed measures that effectively disenfranchised most blacks for decades.

The Equal Justice Initiative reported in 2015 that the county had 18 lynchings of African Americans from 1877 to 1950,[13] most in the decades near the turn of the 20th century.

This was the highest of any county other than Phillips, where the Elaine Race Riot is believed to have resulted in more than 200 deaths of African Americans.

[13] To escape the violence and social oppression, thousands of African Americans left the state in the Great Migration to northern industrial cities.

[14] Within the Delta, Arkansas County is almost entirely within the Grand Prairie subregion, historically a flat grassland plain underlain by an impermeable clay layer (the Stuttgart soil series).

Prior to the 19th century, flatter areas with slowly to very slowly permeable soils (often containing fragipans) supported Arkansas's largest prairie, covered in prairie grasses and forbs, with oaks covering the low hills and ridges, and pockets of floodplains with bottomland hardwood forests.

The rice fields provide habitat and forage for large numbers and many species of waterfowl; duck and goose hunting occurs at this important spot along the Mississippi Flyway.

These areas of flat floodplain contain the meander belts of the present and past watercourses, point bars, natural levees, swales, and abandoned river channels.

Several agencies own and maintain areas of natural and cultural value for enjoyment and use by residents and visitors of Arkansas County.

In the western part of the county, 39.3 square miles (102 km2) of the George H. Dunklin Jr. Bayou Meto Wildlife Management Area is managed by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to preserve natural woodlands and wetlands for wintering waterfowl within the Mississippi Flyway.

At the southern tip of the county, the bottomland hardwood forest area between the Arkansas and White is preserved in the Trusten Holder WMA.

The nearby Arkansas Post State Park preserves the history of early settlement on the Grand Prairie through a five-building museum.

Mechanization and industrial-scale agriculture reduced the number of farm workers, and people have moved away because of the lack of opportunities.

Both high schools offer Advanced Placement (AP) courses and are accredited by the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE).

Within Arkansas County, two branch campuses of Phillips Community College (based in Helena-West Helena) are operated in De Witt and Stuttgart.

[41] The county's population is significantly above healthy weight, with 71.2% of adults and 39.8% of children/adolescents ranking as overweight or obese, compared to the state averages of 67.1% and 39.3%, respectively.

The agency is led by the Arkansas County Sheriff, an official elected by countywide vote every four years.

Rural areas are served by the Alcorn, Casscoe, Crockett's Bluff, One Horse, and Tichnor volunteer fire departments.

Four facilities interpret the county's natural heritage and unique position on the Grand Prairie, including Arkansas Post State Park,[52] the Museum of the Grand Prairie in Stuttgart,[52] the Potlatch Conservation Education Center in Casscoe,[53] and the Visitor Center at White River NWR in St.

Popular with Arkansans and tourist hunters from across the country, annual hunting trips in Arkansas were first documented by French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet in 1673.

In the 2016–17 season, the AGFC sold over 100,000 waterfowl stamps, roughly equally split between in-state and out-of-state hunters.

[59][60] In Congress, Arkansas has been represented by two Republican senators (John Boozman and Tom Cotton) since January 3, 2015, ending a long history of Democratic hegemony.

This tax is collected by the Arkansas County Collector between the first business day of March of each year through October 15 without penalty.

This is due to early settlers in Arkansas tending to settle in small clusters rather than incorporated towns.

However, the United States census does list Arkansas population based on townships (sometimes referred to as "county subdivisions" or "minor civil divisions").