Camden Map
Camden is a city in and the county seat of Ouachita County in the southern part of the U.S. state of Arkansas. Long an area of American Indians villages, the French also made a permanent settlement here because of its advantageous location above the Ouachita River. According to 2007 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 11,657. Camden is the principal city of the Camden Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Ouachita and Calhoun counties.
Indigenous peoples of various cultures had lived along the rivers of Arkansas for thousands of years and created complex societies. Mississippian culture peoples built massive earthwork mounds along the Ouachita River beginning about 1000 AD.
In 1783, this area was part of New France. A French trader named Fabre settled on a bluff above the Ouachita River and called the settlement Écore Fabre (Faber’s Bluff). This was the first European permanent settlement of what would become Camden. He traded with the Ouachita and other American Indians who inhabited the area.
Nearby cities include Chidester, Louann, Bearden, Smackover, Stephens.