Minnesota | History, Map, Cities, & Facts | Britannica

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• Introduction & Quick Facts
• Land
  • Relief
  • Drainage
  • How big is Minnesota?
  • Soils
  • Climate
  • Plant and animal life
• People
  • Population composition
  • Settlement patterns
  • Demographic trends
• Economy
  • Agriculture, forestry, and fishing
  • Resources and power
  • Manufacturing
  • Services and labor
  • Transportation
• Government and society
  • Constitutional framework
  • Health and welfare
  • Education
• Cultural life
  • The arts
  • Cultural institutions
  • Sports and recreation
  • Media and publishing
• History
  • Early history
  • European settlement
  • Territory and statehood
  • Adaptation and growth
  • Minnesota in the 21st century

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• Why are people protesting in Minnesota in 2026?
• Which ethnic groups have significantly influenced Minnesota’s population?
• Who are historically the U.S.’s allies?
• What are the two major political parties in the U.S.?
• What is Tim Walz’s background before entering politics?

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External Websites

• Jewish Virtual Library - Minnesota, United States
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Minnesota state, United States Ask Anything Quick Summary Homework Help Also known as: North Star State Written by John S. Adams Professor of Geography, University of Minnesota. Co-author of Minneapolis-St. Paul: People, Place, and Public Life; The Path of Urban Decline; and others. John S. AdamsAll Fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors Last updated Feb. 26, 2026 •History Britannica AI Ask Anything Quick Summary Table of Contents Table of Contents Quick Summary Ask Anything Top Questions

When did Minnesota become a state?

Minnesota became the 32nd state of the United States on May 11, 1858. It had become a territory in 1849. While the territory reached west to the Missouri River, Minnesota’s boundaries were cut back to the Red River when it became a state.

Why are people protesting in Minnesota in 2026?

Minnesotans have been protesting the presence of agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies in the state as part of Operation Metro Surge, a federal crackdown on immigration that began in the Minneapolis area in late 2025. Residents have also protested over the chaotic and unsafe tactics used by federal immigration agents and the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens in January 2026. One notable protest was held on January 23, 2026—dubbed the Day of Truth and Freedom, thousands of people participated in a march and rally in Minneapolis, which was accompanied by a statewide general strike.

What are Minnesota’s major geographical features?

Minnesota is known for its extensive woodlands, fertile prairies, and numerous lakes, earning it the nickname “Land of 10,000 Lakes.” It also features a continental climate with cold winters and warm summers.

Which ethnic groups have significantly influenced Minnesota’s population?

Although Minnesota’s population includes a large number of people of Scandinavian origin, Germans constitute the largest single ethnic group. Other significant groups include Swedes, Norwegians, Finns, Poles, Bohemians, Irish, French, and French Canadians.The Native American population in Minnesota is primarily Ojibwe (self-name Anishinaabe; also called Chippewa), about half of whom live in the Twin Cities area; most of the remainder live on reservations in rural Minnesota. Since the mid-1970s, Hispanic, Asian, and African immigrants have settled in Minnesota. Hispanics now comprise about 7 percent of the total population. Vietnamese, Laotians, Cambodians, and Hmong refugees immigrated to the Twin Cities area beginning in the late 1970s, and refugees from Somalia began arriving in the 1990s. Minnesota now has one of the largest Hmong populations and the largest Somali population in the country.

What is the significance of the Twin Cities region in Minnesota?

The Twin Cities region, comprising Minneapolis and St. Paul, is the major administrative, economic, and cultural hub of Minnesota. St. Paul is the state capital.

News •

Walz unveils anti-fraud package after Trump administration threatens to halt Medicaid funds • Feb. 26, 2026, 5:25 PM ET (AP) ...(Show more) Vance says administration is pausing some Medicaid funding to Minnesota because of fraud concerns • Feb. 25, 2026, 7:42 PM ET (AP) Trump's pick to lead new Justice Department unit scrutinized as president declares 'war on fraud' • Feb. 25, 2026, 2:32 PM ET (AP) Twins ace Pablo López is set for season-ending Tommy John elbow surgery as expected • Feb. 20, 2026, 2:55 PM ET (AP) New Trump administration order could lead to the detention of thousands of legal refugees • Feb. 19, 2026, 6:36 PM ET (AP) Show less

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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 word for the Mississippi’s major tributary in the state, the Minnesota River, which means “sky-tinted water.”

Quick Facts 1 of 4 See article: flag of Minnesota 2 of 4 Seal of Minnesota 3 of 4 The loon is the state bird of Minnesota. 4 of 4 Minnesota's state flower is the pink-and-white lady's slipper. Capital: St. Paul (Show more) Population1: (2020) 5,706,494; (2024 est.) 5,793,151 (Show more) Governor: Tim Walz (Democrat) (Show more) Date Of Admission: May 11, 1858 (Show more) U.S. Senators: Amy Klobuchar (Democratic-Farmer-Labor) Tina Smith (Democratic-Farmer-Labor) (Show more) State Nickname: North Star State Gopher State Land of 10,000 Lakes Land of Sky-blue Waters (Show more) State Motto: "L’Étoile du Nord (The North Star)" (Show more) State Bird: common loon (Show more) State Flower: pink and white lady’s slipper (Show more) State Song: “Hail! Minnesota” (Show more) Seats In U.S. House Of Representatives: 8 (of 435) (Show more) Time Zone: Central (GMT − 6 hours) (Show more) Total Area (Sq Km): 225,161 (Show more) Total Area (Sq Mi): 86,935 (Show more)

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Minnesota consists of extensive woodlands, fertile prairies, and innumerable lakes—the basis for one of the state’s nicknames, “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” though Minnesota actually has more than 10,000 lakes that are larger than 10 acres (4 hectares) in area. The nearly 5,000 square miles (13,000 square km) of inland fresh water is a dominant feature in Minnesota. Its climate is continental, with cold winters and warm summers. About one in four Minnesotans is at least partly of Scandinavian origin, but those of German descent constitute the single largest ethnic group in the state. By the end of the 20th century, services had become the dominant activity of Minnesota’s economy, surpassing farming, mining, and manufacturing, which had been the major sources of income for the state since settlement. St. Paul is the state capital, and the Twin Cities region (Minneapolis–St. Paul) is the major administrative, economic, and cultural hub of Minnesota. Area 86,935 square miles (225,161 square km). Population (2020) 5,706,494; (2024 est.) 5,793,151.

Land

Relief

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 meters) above sea level at Lake Superior to 2,301 feet (701 meters) above sea level at Eagle Mountain, located about 12 miles (19 km) from the lake’s north shore.

Drainage

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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.

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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.

Extreme southeastern Minnesota was the only part of the state to escape glaciation during the last ice age. There, streams cut their way through layers of limestone, leaving extensive caverns beneath the surface and steep, rocky bluffs rising high above the valleys.

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How big is Minnesota?

Soils

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-colored, acidic, and low in organic matter. Those that formed under the original hardwood forest, which occupied a belt between the prairie and the coniferous forest, are intermediate in color and natural fertility.

Climate

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.

Average annual precipitation ranges from less than 20 inches (500 mm) in the northwest to more than 30 inches (750 mm) in the southeast. Average seasonal snowfall varies from less than 40 inches (1,000 mm) in the western part of the state to more than 70 inches (1,800 mm) in the northeastern tip. Many parts of Minnesota have continuous snow cover for at least 90 days, from about mid-December to mid-March.