9781422286067

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Central Mississippi River Basin: Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri

tices are known as Mississippian cul- ture, and flourished from around 800 to 1600 CE . The Toltec Mounds site on the Arkansas river in central Arkansas includes the remains of the largest Mississippian site in the region. Among the first Europeans to explore the area that today is Arkansas were members of a small army led by Hernando de Soto. After crossing the Mississippi River, the Spaniards trekked west through the area in 1541. In May 1542, while passing back through the region, de Soto died in Arkansas. His men buried him secretly in the Mississippi River

and spread throughout the continent, with some of them settling in the region that today is Arkansas. Descendants of these early inhabi- tants became various Native American tribes. Most of the Native Americans were nomadic . They traveled through large areas during the year and hunted or fished for their food. However, by around the year 650 CE , some tribes had begun to settle into permanent vil- lages and develop more complex civi- lizations. The built large mounds and earthworks as ceremonial and reli- gious centers. Their culture and prac-

Spanish conquistador and explorer Hernando De Soto (1500–1542), riding a white horse and dressed in Renaissance finery, arrives at the Mississippi River on May 8, 1541. De Soto was the first European documented to have seen the river.