One fact i know for sure is that Minnesota used to be inhabited by Native Americans of the Dakota tribe. I found some pretty cool info here on Wikipedia.org:
The word Minnesota comes from the Dakota name for the Minnesota River, mnisota. Mni (sometimes mini, or minne) can be translated as "water". Mnisota is then translated as sky-tinted water or somewhat clouded water.[2][3] Native Americans demonstrated the name to early settlers by dropping milk into water and calling it mnisota.[2] The names of many locations in the state contain the Dakota word for water, such as Minnehaha Falls ("waterfall", not "laughing waters" as is commonly thought), Minneiska ("white water"), Minnetonka ("big water"), Minnetrista ("crooked water"), and Minneapolis, which is a combination of mni and polis, the Greek word for "city".[4]
Before European settlement, Minnesota was populated by the Anishinaabe, the Sioux, and other Native Americans. The first Europeans were French fur traders who arrived in the 1600s. Late in the century, the Ojibwe Indians migrated westward to Minnesota, causing tensions with the Sioux.[21] Explorers such as Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, Father Louis Hennepin, Jonathan Carver, Henry Schoolcraft, and Joseph Nicollet, among others, mapped out the state.
In 1805, Zebulon Pike acquired land at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers. The construction of Fort Snelling followed, between 1819 and 1825.[22]
The soldiers built a grist mill and a sawmill at Saint Anthony Falls, and as industry later sprung up around the falls, the city of Minneapolis grew up around it. Meanwhile, squatters, government officials, and tourists had settled in the vicinity of the fort. In 1839, the Army forced them to move downriver, and they settled in the area that became St. Paul.[23] Minnesota Territory was formed on March 3, 1849. By 1858, thousands of people had come to build farms and cut timber, and Minnesota became the 32nd U.S. state on May 11, 1858.
Treaties between whites and the Sioux and Ojibwe gradually forced the natives off their lands and onto smaller reservations. As conditions deteriorated for the Sioux, tensions rose, leading to the Sioux Uprising of 1862. The result of the six-week war was the execution of 38 Indians—the largest mass execution in United States history—and the exile of most of the rest of the Sioux to the Crow Creek Reservation in Nebraska.[24]
Fort Snelling played a pivotal role in Minnesota's history and in the development of the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul.Logging and farming were mainstays of Minnesota's early economy. The sawmills at Saint Anthony Falls, and logging centers like Marine on St. Croix, Stillwater, and Winona, processed high volumes of lumber. These cities were situated on rivers that were ideal for transportation.[24] Later, Saint Anthony Falls was tapped to provide power for flour mills. Innovations by Minneapolis millers led to the production of Minnesota "patent" flour, widely regarded as the finest bread flour of its time. By 1900, Minnesota mills, led by Pillsbury and the Washburn-Crosby Company (a forerunner of General Mills), were grinding 14.1% of the nation's grain.[25]
The state's iron-mining industry was established with the discovery of iron in the Vermilion Range and the Mesabi Range in the 1880s, then in the Cuyuna Range in the early 1900s. The iron was shipped by rail to Two Harbors and Duluth, then loaded onto ships and transported eastward over the Great Lakes.[24]
Industrial development and the rise of manufacturing caused the population to shift gradually from rural areas to cities during the early 1900s. Nevertheless, farming remained prevalent throughout the state. During the Great Depression, Minnesota's economy was hard-hit, resulting in lower prices for farmers, layoffs among iron miners, and labor unrest. Compounding the adversity, western Minnesota and the Dakotas were hit by drought from 1931 to 1935. New Deal programs provided some economic turnaround. The Civilian Conservation Corps and other programs around the state established jobs for Indians on their reservations. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 provided a mechanism of self-government for the Indian tribes. This provided natives a greater voice within the state, and promoted more respect for tribal customs because religious ceremonies and native languages were no longer suppressed.[22]
After World War II, industrial development quickened. New technology increased productivity on farms, through automation of feedlots for hogs and cattle, machine milking at dairy farms, and raising chickens in large buildings. Planting became more specialized with hybridization of corn and wheat, and the use of farm machinery such as tractors and combines became the norm. University of Minnesota professor Norman Borlaug contributed to these developments as part of the Green Revolution.[22] During this time, suburban development accelerated due to increased postwar housing demand and convenient transportation. Increased mobility, in turn, enabled more specialized jobs.[22]
Minnesota became a center of technology after the war. Engineering Research Associates was formed in 1946 to develop computers for the United States Navy. It later merged with Remington Rand, and then became Sperry Rand. William Norris left Sperry in 1957 to form Control Data Corporation (CDC).[26] Cray Research was formed when Seymour Cray left CDC to form his own company. Medical device maker Medtronic also started business in the Twin Cities in 1949.
I sincerely hope this could help you ^__^
2007-01-24 12:42:27
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answer #1
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answered by Kaien かいえん 4
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