It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U. It is the 12th-largest U. Minnesota is known as the "Land of 10, Lakes"; it has 14, bodies of fresh water covering at least ten acres each. Much of the remainder is prairie and farmland. Other minor metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas include Duluth , Mankato , Moorhead , Rochester , and St.
Minnesota, which gets its name from the Dakota language , has been inhabited by various Native Americans since the Woodland period of the 11th century BCE. Between roughly and CE, two areas of the indigenous Hopewell tradition emerged: the Laurel complex in the north, and Trempealeau Hopewell in the Mississippi River Valley in the south.
The Upper Mississippian culture , consisting of the Oneota people and other Siouan speakers, emerged around CE and lasted through the arrival of Europeans in the 17th century. French explorers and missionaries were the earliest Europeans to enter the region, encountering the Dakota , Ojibwe , and various Anishinaabe tribes. Much of what is now Minnesota formed part of the vast French holding of Louisiana , which the United States purchased in After several territorial reorganizations, the Minnesota Territory was admitted to the Union as the 32nd state in As part of the American frontier , Minnesota attracted settlers and homesteaders from across the country.
Its growth was initially based on timber, agriculture, and railroad construction. Into the early 20th century, European immigrants arrived in significant numbers, particularly from Scandinavia , Germany, and Central Europe. Many were linked to the failed revolutions of , which partly influenced the state's development as a center of labor and social activism. Since the late 20th century, Minnesota's economy has diversified away from traditional industries such as agriculture and resource extraction to services, finance, and health care.
Minnesota ranks highly in terms of life expectancy and above the national average in income per capita. Minnesota is home to 11 federally recognized Native American reservations seven Ojibwe, four Dakota , and its culture, demographics, and religious landscape reflect Scandinavian and German influence. This heritage continues to affect the state's racial demographics, making it one of the country's least diverse states, [ 15 ] but in recent decades, Minnesota has become more multicultural, due to both larger domestic migration and immigration from Latin America, Asia, the Horn of Africa , and the Middle East.
