Arkansas Creoles

Arkansas Creoles (French: Créole de l'Arkansas, Louisiana Creole: Moun Kréyòl Arkansas, Spanish: Criollos de Arkansas), or Arkansas Metis, are a Louisiana French ethnic group descended from the inhabitants of Colonial New France and French Louisiana, including the Creole Corridor and Arkansas, during the periods of French and Spanish rule, before it became a part of the United States or in the early years under the United States. They share cultural ties such as the traditional use of the French, Spanish, Louisiana French, and Creole languages, and predominantly practice Catholicism.

The term Créole was originally used by French Creoles / French Louisianians to distinguish people born in Louisiana from those born elsewhere, thus drawing a distinction between Old-World Europeans (and Africans) and their descendants born in the New World. The word is not a racial label—people of European, African, or mixed ancestry can and have identified as Louisiana Creoles since the 18th century. After the Sale of Louisiana, the term "Creole" took on a more political meaning and identity, especially for those people of Latinate culture. The Catholic Latin-Creole culture in Louisiana contrasted greatly to the Anglo-Protestant culture of Yankee Americans.

Although the terms "Cajun" and "Creole peoples" today are often seen as separate identities, Cajuns have historically been known as Creoles. Today, the most famous Creole groups are the Alabama Creoles (including Alabama Cajans), Arkansas Creoles, Louisiana Creoles (including Louisiana Cajuns), and the Missouri French (Illinois Country Creoles). Currently some Arkansans may identify exclusively as either Cajun or Creole, while others embrace both identities.

Creoles of French descent, including those of Québécois or Acadian lineage, have historically comprised the majority of white-identified Creoles in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. In the early 19th century amid the Haitian Revolution, refugees of both whites and free people of color originally from Saint-Domingue arrived in New Orleans with their slaves having been deported from Cuba, doubled the city's population and helped strengthen its Francophone culture. From there smaller numbers travelled up the Mississippi River, Arkansas River, White River (Arkansas–Missouri), Cache River, Bayou des Arc, Little Red River, Black River, L'Anguille River, St. Francis River, Cossatot River, Saline River, Caddo River, Boeuf River, Antoine River, and Ouachita Rivers. Francophones also lent the names of the mountain ranges in Arkansas upon exploring them. Originally the Ozarks Mountains and Ouachita Mountains, both French names as well, were known as the Masserne or Mazern Mountains, possibly a derivative of the name Mont Cerne.

The first settlement was at Poste d'Arkansa (Arkansas Post/Arkansas Post National Memorial) in Southeastern Arkansas, then locations like Cadron (now Conway) in central Arkansas, and Belle Pointe (now Fort Smith, Arkansas) in Western Arkansas, and even more remote locations in Arkansas. Poste de Arkansea, or Akansa or Aux Arc, became one fortified trading location along the Mississippi Creole Corridor along with Vincennes, Kaskaskia, Ste Genevieve, and Cahokia. Later 19th-century immigrants to Arkansas, such as Irish, Germans, and Italians, also married into the Creole group. Most of these immigrants were Catholic.