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The history of the U.S. state of Minnesota is shaped by its original Native American residents, European exploration and settlement, and the emergence of industries made possible by the state's natural resources.
- Overview
- Relief
- Drainage
- Soils
- Climate
Minnesota, constituent state of the United States of America. It became the 32nd state of the union on May 11, 1858. A small extension of the northern boundary makes Minnesota the most northerly of the 48 conterminous U.S. states. (This peculiar protrusion is the result of a boundary agreement with Great Britain before the area had been carefully surveyed.) Minnesota is one of the north-central states. It is bounded by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north, by Lake Superior and the state of Wisconsin to the east, and by the states of Iowa to the south and South Dakota and North Dakota to the west.
Minnesota’s thousands of rivers flow northward via the Red and Rainy rivers to Hudson Bay, eastward through the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean, and southward through the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. Indeed, Minnesota received its name from the Dakota (Sioux) word for the Mississippi’s major tributary in the state, the Minnesota River, which means “sky-tinted water.”
Minnesota’s terrain stretches from the edge of a subarctic forest to the heart of the Corn Belt. Most of the state was covered by glaciers several times, and the land’s surface was shaped by the alternate freezing, thawing, and movement of those glaciers. Prominent geomorphic reminders of this glacial activity are the rolling farmlands, thousands of lakes, steep hillsides, and flat glacial lake and outwash plains that make up Minnesota’s present-day landscape. The state’s rich prairie soils developed on the finely ground mineral materials left by the retreating glaciers. Minnesota’s elevations range from 602 feet (184 metres) above sea level at Lake Superior to 2,301 feet (701 metres) above sea level at Eagle Mountain, located about 12 miles (19 km) from the lake’s north shore.
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The majority of Minnesota’s lakes are located in the areas of glacial moraine, where glaciers deposited hills of sand and gravel. Lakes more than 100 square miles (260 square km) in area include Red Lake, Mille Lacs Lake, Leech Lake, Lake Winnibigoshish, Lake of the Woods, and Rainy Lake. The shoreline of Lake Superior, one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world, forms the state’s northeastern border for some 160 miles (260 km). In northeastern Minnesota there are stream valleys and deep, clear lakes that were scoured by glaciers from the granite bedrock.
The largest glacial lake plain (more than 100,000 square miles [260,000 square km]) was formed by Lake Agassiz, which held the meltwaters as the latest glaciers retreated northward some 8,000 years ago. The southern part of the former lake bed lies along the Minnesota–North Dakota border and is known as the Red River valley. Red Lake, Lake of the Woods, and Canada’s Lake Winnipeg are all remnants of this huge body of glacial meltwater. Its southward drainage created the wide valley of the Minnesota River, the flow of which eventually reversed as ice blockage to the north melted.
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The most fertile soils in Minnesota formed beneath the original grasslands of the south and west and are rich in organic matter and soluble minerals. Soils that formed under the original coniferous forest in northeastern Minnesota are light-coloured, acidic, and low in organic matter. Those that formed under the original hardwood forest, which occu...
Temperature variations in Minnesota occur not only seasonally but also from one part of the state to another. Southern Minnesota is hot in the summer. In the northern regions of the state, frost is possible in any month.
Average daily maximum temperatures in July range from the mid-80s F (about 29 °C) in southern Minnesota to the low 70s F (about 21 °C) along the shore of Lake Superior. Average daily January highs range from the mid-20s F (about −4 °C) in the south to about 15 °F (−9 °C) in the north; minimums are from about 5 °F (−15 °C) to about −5 °F (−21 °C). Record-breaking lows have been known to occur; in 1996 a temperature of −60 °F (−51 °C) was recorded near the northeastern city of Tower. The average frost-free periods vary from fewer than 90 days in parts of the north to more than 160 days in parts of the south.
When Minnesota became a U.S. state in 1858, its boundaries were cut back from the Missouri River eastward to the Red River. In 1861 Minnesota was the first Northern state to send volunteers to serve in the American Civil War.
9. Nov. 2009 · Learn about Minnesota's history from its Native American origins to its statehood in 1858. Explore the conflicts, treaties, migrations and cultural influences that shaped the state's identity and economy.
Today, both the Dakota and Ojibwe remain a vibrant part of Minnesota – what happened between first European contacts in the area and today is of critical importance in understanding our shared history.
Learn about Minnesota's diverse and complex past through historic sites, museums, exhibitions, collections, and research. Explore the history of women, African Americans, Indigenous peoples, and more with the Minnesota Historical Society.
The Minnesota Territory, established in 1849, included present-day Minnesota and the eastern sections of North and South Dakota. Minnesota became the 32nd U.S. state in 1858. The Sioux Uprising in southern Minnesota in 1862 resulted in the death of more than 500 civilians, soldiers, and Dakota.
