Blank Arkansas map

What the outline shows

The map draws Arkansas's border alone. The north edge with Missouri is straight except for the small bootheel notch where Missouri pushes south at the northeast corner. The east edge with Tennessee and Mississippi follows the meanders of the Mississippi River and is the most detailed part of the outline. The south edge with Louisiana is a straight parallel. The west edge with Texas and Oklahoma is straight but stepped: it jogs at the Red River and again at Fort Smith. Inside there is nothing at all. Add "AR" with the Abbreviation button or a dot at Little Rock with Capital. Printing scales the outline to a single sheet.

Portrait or landscape

Arkansas is roughly 275 miles east to west and 240 miles north to south. It is wider than it is tall, but only slightly, so it prints acceptably either way. Landscape gives the biggest map and keeps the Mississippi meanders large enough to trace. Portrait works if you need the space below the outline for a word bank or a list of rivers to draw. The Missouri bootheel notch is small; at a reduced print size it can look like a printing flaw, so point it out before students start.

Five classroom exercises

1. Trace the Arkansas River entering from Oklahoma at Fort Smith, flowing east-southeast through Little Rock and reaching the Mississippi south of Helena.
2. Draw the Mississippi River as the full eastern border and mark where Arkansas faces Tennessee (north of Memphis) and where it faces Mississippi.
3. Shade the Ozark Plateau in the northwest and the Ouachita Mountains west of Little Rock, leaving the Arkansas River valley between them.
4. Mark the Red River at the southwest corner, where the Texas border briefly follows it, and the Louisiana line along the 33rd parallel.
5. Place Little Rock, Fort Smith, Fayetteville and Jonesboro, and draw the White River route from the Ozarks down to the Mississippi.

How to recognise the Arkansas outline

• A block shape, slightly wider than tall, with three mostly straight sides.
• A wriggling right edge, the Mississippi, with big loops near Memphis and Greenville.
• A small square notch bitten out of the top right corner: the Missouri bootheel.
• The west side steps inward twice, once at Fort Smith and once near Texarkana.

Answer key and related maps

• Arkansas map — the labeled version with capital, cities and borders; use it as the answer key.
• Printable Arkansas map — the same outline with cities, county lines and the capital printed on.
• Arkansas county map — all 75 counties with their seats.
• Little Rock — capital and largest city, on the Arkansas River.
• Neighbours: Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma.
• Arkansas River, Mississippi River and the Ozarks.
• All blank state maps and the printable US maps index.