The Ozarks

The Ozarks, also called the Ozark Mountains or Ozark Plateau, are a highland physiographic region of about 47,000 square miles across Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, with a small extension into southeastern Kansas, forming the most extensive highland region between the Appalachians and the Rocky Mountains. The region stretches from Interstate 40 in central Arkansas north to Interstate 70 in central Missouri and includes the Boston Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma and the Saint Francois Mountains of Missouri, its highest point being Wahzhazhe Summit at 2,561 feet in Arkansas. Extensive karst topography gives the Ozarks thousands of caves, springs, and sinkholes, and its major cities include Springfield and St. Louis in Missouri and Fayetteville, Bentonville, and Harrison in Arkansas. The region has developed its own distinctive culture, architecture, and dialect, celebrated in tourist destinations such as Branson, Missouri.