The 32nd state admitted to the US was Minnesota, on May 11th, 1858. Minnesota is known as "The North Star State" because three years after it became a state, the first governor of Minnesota, Henry Sibley" adopted the motto "L'Étoille du Nord", which is French for "The Star of the North". The state's nickname is the "Land of 10,000 Lakes", even though there are 11,842 lakes. Minnesota is located at the northernmost point compared to all of the other states. The name "Minnesota" comes from the Dakota-Sioux phrase for "sky-tinted water" or "cloudy water". This phrase came out of the description of the Minnesota River and the cloudiness of the water. The biggest city in Minnesota is Minneapolis, and the capital city is St. Paul. The state bird of Minnesota is the Common Loon, the state flower is the Showy Lady's Slipper, and the state tree is the Red (Norway) Pine.
Archeologists say that the Paleoindians lived on the land we now call Minnesota at least 12,000 years ago. Norsemen have claimed to have came to the area in the 14th century. The Kensington Stone is still kept in a museum today with medieval Germanic script from these people. Native Americans have used the waterways for growing food, traveling, and trading with other tribes for just thousands of years. However, by the 1600's, the Dakota and the Ojibwe were the two main groups living there. The Dakota were made up of the Mdewakanton, Wahpeton, Wahpekute, and Sisseton people who were considered the "Sioux" and lived in the south and the west. The Ojibwe, (the Chippewa or Anishinaabe), lived in the north and the east.
Soon enough, the French arrived in the 17th century while searching for the Northwest Passage, and began to trade fur and negotiate with the Indigenous people. The fur traders had slaves since they first arrived in Minnesota. A government was established out of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 that forbade slavery in new territories like Minnesota, and the Missouri Compromise of 1820 prohibited slavery in the Louisiana Territory and all of Minnesota. In the early 1800's, Christian missionaries, white settlers, and soldiers colonized Minnesota and successfully wiped out much of the Native American culture. European hunters cleared out most of the Great Plains' buffalo that were counted on to feed, clothe, protect as shelter, and trade for skins/fur by both the Indigenous and the Europeans. The Dakota and the Anishinaabe fought for land, and in 1825-1826, they agreed to the Treaties of Prairie du Chien and the Fond du Lac that allowed the US government to divide the land for them. The government didn't honor the agreements, and in the 1850's, they ceded most of their land to the US. Many different treaties and agreements were promised to the Indigenous, only to be abandoned by the US government later. Land was stolen, and fighting continued. The Dakota Uprising of 1862 killed more than 500 white settlers and 150 Dakota. President Abraham Lincoln handed out death sentences to 264 Dakota who were not charged with crimes, and in 1862, the largest mass execution in American history happened to the Dakota. The remaining Dakota who lived through this tragedy were forcibly removed to Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska. It wasn't until the 1880's and 1890's that some Dakota returned to the state. The 1934 Indian Reorganization Act helped to reestablish some of their land. The American Indian Movement was established in 1968, and by 2022, there were four federally-recognized tribes of Dakota and seven federally-recognized Anishinaabe tribes in Minnesota.
On May 11th, 1858, Minnesota became a state. It is now the state with successful forestry, health, and agricultural businesses. Bloomington's Mall of America is the most visited shopping mall in the country, bringing in over 40 million visitors yearly. The skyway system in the downtown area of Minneapolis is the world's largest indoor network of pedestrian pathways, allowing people to get all of their needs met without having to go outside at all. In June of 2024, Minneapolis was named the happiest city in the US. It was the only city to receive a "Gold" ranking that is given to the top 37 happiest cities in the entire world.
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