Minnesota (nonfiction)

This map shows the Quaternary surficial geology of the US state of Minnesota.

Minnesota is a state in the Midwestern United States.

Its name comes from the Dakota word for "clear blue water".

Owing to its large number of lakes, the state is informally known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes".

Its official motto is L'Étoile du Nord (French: Star of the North).

The remainder of the state consists of western prairies now given over to intensive agriculture; deciduous forests in the southeast, now partially cleared, farmed and settled; and the less populated North Woods, used for mining, forestry, and recreation.

Minnesota is known for its idiosyncratic social and political orientations and its high rate of civic participation and voter turnout.

Until European settlement, Minnesota was inhabited by the Dakota and Ojibwe/Anishinaabe.

The large majority of the original European settlers immigrated from Scandinavia and Germany, and the state remains a center of Scandinavian American and German American culture.

In the News

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  Cover of a brochure for a 1917 Chautauqua in Cass Lake, Minnesota.

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  Canada, Minnesota's neighbor to the North.

Fiction cross-reference

• New Minneapolis, Canada - New Minneapolis, Canada is an exclave of Canada; previously known as Minneapolis (nonfiction).

Nonfiction cross-reference

External links:

• Minnesota @ Wikipedia