National park, central Arkansas, U.S. Established in 1921, it occupies an area of 9 square mi (23 sq km).
It is centred on 47 thermal springs, from which more than 850,000 gallons (3,200,000 litres) of water, with an average temperature of 143 kF (62 kC), flow daily. The springs, long used by the Indians and probably visited by Hernando de Soto in 1541, drew Spanish and French visitors in search of health benefits in the 1700s. The city of Hot Springs (pop., 2000: 35,750), a health and tourist resort and boyhood home of U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton , was settled in 1807 and incorporated in 1876.