People have lived in the Athens area for at least 5,000 years. The earliest surviving buildings date from about 1200 bce.

Ancient Greece was made up of many independent city-states. Athens reached its peak as one of the most powerful city-states in the 400s bce. The leader of Athens during that period was Pericles. He helped develop the form of government known as democracy. Athens also thrived in the 400s bce as a center of culture and learning. The city was home to great playwrights, historians, and scholars. After Athens lost a war in 404 bce, its power began to decline. Later the Macedonians and then the Romans controlled the city.

Arkansas’s capital and the seat of Pulaski County, Little Rock lies on the south bank of the Arkansas River, set in the center of the state on the edge of the Gulf Coastal Plain. The foothills of the Ouachita Mountains, a range within the Ozark Mountains, lie to the west. Little Rock is the largest city in Arkansas.

Little Rock is a center for government, transportation, culture, medicine, and tourism. Food processing and manufacturing also play major roles in the city’s economy. The area experiences warm, humid summers and a long growing season during which a number of crops are produced. Livestock is also raised in the area.

 Douglas MacArthur, which houses the MacArthur Museum of Military History. Also in Little Rock are the Quapaw Quarter area (the oldest section of the city); state schools for the deaf and blind; and state and federal hospitals. The William J. Clinton Presidential Center houses the Clinton Presidential Library, a museum, and other research facilities.

The city is the site of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (1927; formerly Little Rock University) and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (1879). The Little Rock area is also the home of Shorter College (1873), Philander Smith College (1877), and Arkansas Baptist College (1884).

The city traces its name to French explorer Bernard de la Harpe. In 1722 he came upon two prominent rock formations, located about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) apart on the bank of the Arkansas River. He reputedly named them La Petite Roche (“little rock”) and La Grande Roche (“big rock”). La Harpe built a trading post at a Quapaw Indian settlement near the “little rock.” Little Rock’s first house was built in 1812 by trapper William Lewis. After the site was surveyed for the territorial capital, the government moved there from Arkansas Post in 1821. In its early days the town was a busy river port and frontier post. During the American Civil War it was taken by Federal forces in 1863.

In 1957 Little Rock was the scene of a pivotal point in the civil rights movement. That year a showdown developed between the state and federal governments over the right of nine African American students to attend the city’s Central High School. Arkansas governor Orval E. Faubus ordered the state military to prevent the students from entering the school, but President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent federal troops to the city to protect them. In 1998 the high school was declared a national historic site, and President Clinton awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to each of the “Little Rock Nine.”

Little Rock was incorporated as a town in 1831 and chartered as a city in 1836. It has a council-manager form of government. Population (2010) 193,524; metropolitan area (2010) 699,757.

The mountain ranges of Alaska give their state a rugged and beautiful terrain across its entire expanse. They include the highest peak in North America and are characterized by glaciers, earthquakes, and continuing volcanic activity. Structurally, the ranges are northwestward continuations of the Rocky Mountainsand the Pacific mountain system of North America. Still little explored for vast stretches, Alaska’s mountains contain, or lie close to, largely untapped mineral resources.