MINNESOTA

LIFE ON EARTH IS A PRECIOUS THING TO MARVEL AT AND PROTECT

Map of the USA, with Minnesota in red

Minnesota is a state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the south, and North Dakota and South Dakota to the west. It is the 12th-largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd-most populous, with about 5.7 million residents. Minnesota is known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" and has 14,380 bodies of fresh water covering at least ten acres each. Roughly a third of the state is forested. Much of the remainder is prairie and farmland. More than 60% of Minnesotans, about 3.7 million, live in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, known as the "Twin Cities", the state's main political, economic, and cultural hub and the 16th-largest metropolitan area in the U.S. Other minor metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas include Duluth, Mankato, Moorhead, Rochester, and St. Cloud.

Minnesota, which gets its name from the Dakota language, has been inhabited by various Indigenous peoples since the Woodland period of the 11th century BCE. Between roughly 200 and 500 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 1000 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 1803. After several territorial reorganizations, the Minnesota Territory was admitted to the Union as the 32nd state in 1858. Minnesota's official motto, L'Étoile du Nord ("The Star of the North") is the only state motto in French. This phrase was adopted shortly after statehood and reflects both the state's early French explorers and its position as the northernmost state in the contiguous U.S.

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 1848, which partly influenced the state's development as a center of labor and social activism. Minnesota's rapid industrialization and urbanization precipitated major social, economic, and political changes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; the state was at the forefront of labor rights, women's suffrage, and political reform. Consequently, Minnesota is unique among Midwestern states in being a relative stronghold of the Democratic Party, having voted for every Democratic presidential nominee since 1976, longer than any other U.S. state. On August 6, 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris announced Governor Tim Walz as her running mate in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, running against former President Donald Trump.

Confederate lines, Vicksburg, May 19, 1863. Assault by US 1st Battalion, 13th Infantry.

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. It is consequently one of the richest states in terms of GDP and per capita income. 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. In more recent decades, the state has become more multicultural, driven by both larger domestic migration and immigration from Latin America, Asia, the Horn of Africa, and the Middle East; the state has the nation's largest population of Somali Americans and second-largest Hmong community. Minnesota's standard of living and level of education are among the highest in the U.S., and it is ranked among the best states in metrics such as employment, median income, safety, and governance.

Timothy James Walz (born April 6, 1964) is an American politician, former schoolteacher, and retired U.S. Army non-commissioned officer who has served as the 41st governor of Minnesota since 2019. He is the Democratic Party's nominee for vice president in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2019, and was the ranking member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee from 2017 to 2019.

Walz was born in West Point, Nebraska. After high school, he joined the Army National Guard and worked in a factory. He later graduated from Chadron State College in Nebraska before moving to Minnesota in 1996. Before running for Congress, he was a high school social studies teacher and football coach. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for Minnesota's 1st congressional district in 2006, defeating six-term Republican incumbent Gil Gutknecht.

Walz was reelected to the House five times before being elected governor of Minnesota in 2018, a position to which he was reelected in 2022. During his second gubernatorial term, he pushed for and signed a wide range of legislation, including tax modifications, free school meals, bolstering state infrastructure, universal gun background checks, codifying abortion rights, and free college tuition for low-income families.

On August 6, 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris announced Walz as her running mate in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

This website is Copyright © 2024.   The bird logo and name Solar Navigator are trademarks. All rights reserved.  All other trademarks are hereby acknowledged. 

Max Energy Limited is an educational charity.