All About Minnesota
Minnesota is a constituent state of the United States of America. Its 84,402 square miles (218,601 square kilometres) are bounded on the north by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario, on the east by Lake Superior and Wisconsin, on the south by Iowa, and on the west by South and North Dakota. A small extension of the northern boundary makes Minnesota the most northerly of the 48 coterminous U.S. states. This irregularity is the result of a general boundary agreement with Great Britain before the area had been carefully surveyed. St. Paul is the state capital.
The state lies near the heart of the North American continent. Its waters flow southward through the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, eastward through the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean, and northward via the Red and Rainy rivers to Hudson Bay. Minnesota, which became the 32nd state on May 11, 1858, received its name from the Dakota (Sioux) word for the Mississippi's major tributary in the state, which means ''Sky-Tinted Waters.''
Minnesota is a land of extensive woodlands, fertile prairies, and innumerable lakes, more than 12,000 of which are larger than 10 acres (four hectares) in area. The nearly 5,000 square miles of inland fresh water are a dominant feature of life in Minnesota. Its climate is continental, with cold winters and warm summers. About one in four Minnesotans is at least part Scandinavian, but Germans constitute the single largest ethnic group in the state. In the past the Minnesota economy has been dominated by the production and processing of its timber, iron ore, and agricultural resources. While agriculture remains important, the state's economy has become much more diversified since World War II, with the rapid growth of specialized manufacturing and services.
Minnesota's elevations range from 602 feet (184 metres) above sea level at Lake Superior to 2,301 feet (701 metres) at Eagle Mountain, about 12 miles from Lake Superior's north shore. Most of Minnesota has been covered by glaciers several times, and the land's surface has been shaped by the alternate freezing, thawing, and movement of those glaciers. Prominent reminders are the rolling farmlands, thousands of lakes, steep hillsides, and flat glacial lake and outwash plains. Minnesota's rich prairie soils developed on the finely ground mineral materials left by the retreating glaciers. The majority of Minnesota's lakes are located in the areas of glacial moraine, where glaciers deposited hills of sand and gravel. Lakes of more than 100 square miles in area are Red Lake, Mille Lacs Lake, Leech Lake, and Lake Winnibigoshish; Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake are shared with Canada. With some 160 miles (260 kilometres) of coastline, Minnesota shares Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake in the world, with Ontario, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
The economic growth of early Minnesota was related closely to the exploitation of its primary natural resources: soils, iron ore, and timber. These activities, in turn, stimulated the growth of such ancillary activities as railroads, processing of natural resources and agricultural products, and services. During the late 1960s and early '70s, activities based on natural resources, as well as railroads and associated manufacturing, began to decline. Agriculture, however, is still Minnesota's largest industry. Iron ore accounts for more than 90 percent of the value of all minerals produced in Minnesota. The Mesabi Range, the largest of three iron ranges in the state, began production in 1892 and at its peak produced one-fourth of the world's iron ore.
Many activities are oriented toward the outdoors; they include swimming, boating, canoeing, camping, hunting, and fishing. Popular winter sports include downhill and cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, and ice fishing; ice hockey is most commonly played indoors. St. Paul celebrates winter with its annual Winter Carnival, while Minneapolis celebrates summer with its Aquatennial. The State Fair is a major summer attraction of the Twin Cities. Community festivals are abundant throughout the state year-round.
The movement of people and goods in Minnesota and the upper Midwest is centred on the Twin Cities area. Regional and transcontinental rail and highway systems radiate outward from the Twin Cities, tying the towns and hamlets into one interdependent network. The rail system of northeastern Minnesota brings iron ore and taconite products for transshipment by boat at the Lake Superior ports of Duluth and Superior. Wheat from the Dakotas and Montana also has been an important product transshipped from rail to boat at Duluth. Since the opening of the Great Lakes waterway to ocean vessels in 1959, products of the upper Midwest are carried directly to locations throughout the world. The Twin Cities area, also the air hub of the upper Midwest, is served by several commercial airlines. The Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport is supplemented by a satellite network of additional airports around the state.
