Editing West Memphis, Arkansas (section)

===Early history===
In the summer of 1541, Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto crossed the [[Mississippi River]] into what is now Crittenden County with an army of over 300 [[conquistador]]s and almost as many captured Native American slaves. The Spanish found the land to be the most densely populated that they had seen since starting their journey on the [[Florida]] coast, two years earlier. The Spanish expedition departed Arkansas two years later, leaving behind numerous [[Old World]] diseases. It was 130 years before Europeans visited this region again. The French expedition of Joliet and Marquette in 1673 found none of the towns or people that the Spanish had documented; all that remained were the many mounds that still dot the landscape along the rivers and creeks. The original inhabitants, like the later settlers, were drawn to this region because of its fertile river bottom soil, abundant game, and thick forest.

====First European settlement====
The earliest recorded immigrant to the area was Benjamin Fooy, a native of [[Holland]], who was sent in 1795 by the Spanish governor of the large area claimed by [[Spain]] to establish a settlement on the [[Mississippi River]]. He chose a location across the river from present-day Memphis. In 1797, the Spanish established Campo de la Esperanza,<ref>https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/about/ The Soldiers of Spain in Colonial Arkansas | Morris S. Arnold | Arkansas Historical Quarterly , Winter 2018, Vol. 77 Issue 4, p305-354, 50p</ref> which was a small fort along the Mississippi River. The Spanish abandoned the fort in 1802 and the area took its English translation "Field of Hope", which eventually became known as Hopefield shortly after the United States took possession of the [[Louisiana Territory]].