Heavens Angels Around The World

Minnesota:
Following the visits of several French explorers, fur traders, and missionaries, including Jacques Marquette, Louis Joliet, and Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, the region was claimed for Louis XIV by Daniel Greysolon, Sieur Duluth, in 1679.

The U.S. acquired eastern Minnesota from Great Britain after the Revolutionary War and 20 years later bought the western part from France in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Much of the region was explored by U.S. Army lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike before the northern strip of Minnesota bordering Canada was ceded by Britain in 1818.

The state is rich in natural resources. A few square miles of land in the north in the Mesabi, Cuyuna, and Vermilion ranges produce more than 75% of the nation's iron ore. The state's farms rank high in yields of corn, wheat, rye, alfalfa, and sugar beets. Other leading farm products include butter, eggs, milk, potatoes, green peas, barley, soybeans, oats, and livestock.

Minnesota's factories produce non electrical machinery, fabricated metals, flour-mill products, plastics, electronic computers, scientific instruments, and processed foods. The state is also a leader in the printing and paper-products industries.

Minneapolis is the trade center of the Midwest, and the headquarters of the world's largest super-computer and grain distributor. St. Paul is the nation's biggest publisher of calendars and law books. These “twin cities” are the nation's third-largest trucking center. Duluth has the nation's largest inland harbor and now handles a significant amount of foreign trade. Rochester is home to the Mayo Clinic, a world-famous medical center.

Tourism is a major revenue producer in Minnesota, with arts, fishing, hunting, water sports, and winter sports bringing in millions of visitors each year.

Among the most popular attractions are the St. Paul Winter Carnival; the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre, the Institute of Arts, Walker Art Center, and Minnehaha Park, in Minneapolis; Boundary Waters Canoe Area; Voyageurs National Park; North Shore Drive; the Minnesota Zoological Gardens; and the state's more than 10,000 lakes.

Minnesota

Minnesota's flag was officially adopted in 1893. The state's motto "The North Star," shown on the red banner, was originally created when the state was the most northerly in the Union.

Official name: Minnesota
Capital: St. Paul
Statehood: May 11, 1858 the 32nd state
State nickname: The Land of 10,000 Lakes
Name for residents: Minnesotans
State motto: L'etoile du Nord
(Star of the North)
Abbreviation: MN

Minnesota's Historical Event's:

1000 bc Mound Builder culture appears in Minnesota.
ad 1000 Dakota Sioux peoples migrate into the Minnesota area.
about 1650-1750 Ojibwa peoples move into the Minnesota area.
1660 Radisson and Groseilliers, French explorers, reach northeastern Minnesota.
1679 Greysolon reaches Mille Lacs Lake from Lake Superior and claims much of Minnesota for France.
1732 Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye establishes Fort Saint Charles in Lake of the Woods.
1736-1776 Warfare between the Ojibwa and the Dakota force the Dakota farther west.
1762 France cedes Louisiana to Spain.
1763 France cedes Minnesota east of the Mississippi to Great Britain at the end of the French and Indian War.
1783 The United States acquires Minnesota east of the Mississippi at the end of the Revolutionary War.
1803 The United States acquires Minnesota west of the Mississippi with purchase of Louisiana Territory from France.
1805-1806 Army explorer Zebulon M. Pike explores parts of Minnesota for the United States.
1815 British period in Minnesota ends after the War of 1812.
1819 The first U.S. troops reach Minnesota.
1820 Fort Snelling is built.
1832 Henry R. Schoolcraft visits and names Lake Itasca, the source of the Mississippi River.
1837 The Dakota and Ojibwa peoples cede the area between the Mississippi and Saint Croix rivers to the United States.
1849 The Minnesota Territory is organized.
1851 Treaties of Traverse des Sioux and Mendota cede Dakota Sioux lands in Minnesota to the United States.
1858 Minnesota is admitted to the Union as the 32nd state (May 11).
1862 Thirty-eight Dakota are hanged after warfare in the upper Minnesota River valley.
1867 Oliver H. Kelley founds the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry.
1884 Iron ore is first shipped from the Vermilion Range.
1890 Iron ore is discovered in the Mesabi Range.
1894 The Hinckley forest fire kills several hundred people.
1899 Production peaks in virgin forest lumbering.
1918 The Farmer-Labor Party first participates in state elections.
1930 Floyd B. Olson is elected as the first Farmer-Laborite governor.
1938 Harold Stassen is elected governor.
1944 The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party is organized.
1955 The state's first taconite plant opens at Silver Bay.
1965-1969 Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota serves as vice president of the United States.
1977-1981 Walter Mondale of Minnesota serves as vice president of the United States.

All ideas, concepts, and content including text and graphics are owned by Heavens Angels and it's members unless otherwise noted and should not be taken or duplicated without expressed written consent.
Copyright © 2001/2005 Heavens Angels.