Editing West Memphis, Arkansas (section)

====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]].