Minnesota

Minnesota, the North Star State, was the thirty-second to join the Union on May 11, 1858. It is the largest midwestern state and is bordered by Canada, Wisconsin , Iowa , North Dakota , and South Dakota .

When the first Europeans set foot in Minnesota in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the Dakota and Ojibwa nations resided there. Eastern Minnesota eventually fell under British control, then was ceded to the United States after the American Revolution (1775–83). In 1803, as part of the Louisiana Purchase , the United States purchased from France the area of Minnesota west of the Mississippi River. After the War of 1812 (1812–15), the United States passed a law forbidding the British from participating in the fur trade.

Beginning in 1837, a series of treaties with the Ojibwa and Dakota tribes transferred vast areas of tribal lands to the federal government. This opened the land for lumbering, farming, and settlement, but broke up the relationship between fur traders and Native Americans. Chief Little Crow (c. 1810–1863) led the Dakotas in an uprising in 1862 in which more than three hundred whites and untold numbers of Native Americans were killed. Thirty-eight Dakota captives were hanged, and the rest moved to reservations in Nebraska . That same year, the state's first railroad joined two major cities—St. Anthony (Minneapolis) and St. Paul—with 10 miles (16 kilometers) of track.

Further construction of railroads brought about an era of large-scale commercial farming in Minnesota. By 1880, the mills in Minneapolis alone were producing more than two million barrels of flour every year. Around that same time, iron ore was discovered in the northeast, attracting thousands of immigrants to the region. By the beginning of World War I (1914–18), Minnesota had become the nation's iron-mining center.

More than five million people resided in Minnesota in 2006. Eighty-eight percent were white, another 4 percent African American. Their leading sources of income were manufacturing, finance, real estate, and insurance. Agriculture, too, plays an important role in the state's economy. Minnesota is first in the nation in the production of sugar beets. It also produces sweet corn, green peas, wheat, alfalfa hay, oats, soybeans, and other crops. One-fourth of the state's labor force was employed in agriculture or agriculture-related industries, especially food processing.

Minnesota is a state of two political parties: the Republican Party and the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. In 1998, the state's voters surprised the nation when they elected Reform Party candidate Jesse Ventura (1951–) as governor. Ventura, a famous professional wrestler, was new to politics; he served just one term.

Tourism is a thriving industry in Minnesota, as visitors come from all over to enjoy the state's lakes and parks, ski trails, campgrounds, and historical and cultural attractions. The state also is home to the Mall of America, the nation's largest retail and entertainment complex.