1849–1858 When Europeans arrived in North America, the
Dakota people lived in what is now Minnesota. The first Europeans to enter the region were French
voyageurs and
fur traders who arrived in the 17th century. They used the
Grand Portage to access trapping and trading areas further into Minnesota. The
Anishinaabe (also known as
Ojibwe or Chippewa) were migrating into Minnesota, and formed an Alliance with the Dakota. European powers destabilized the region economically and politically, resulting in the alliance's collapse and the
Dakota-Ojibwe War, and dislocated the
Mdewakanton from its homelands along
Mille Lacs Lake. Explorers such as
Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, Father
Louis Hennepin,
Jonathan Carver,
Henry Schoolcraft, and
Joseph Nicollet mapped the state. The region was part of
Spanish Louisiana from 1762 to 1802. The portion of the state east of the Mississippi River became part of the United States at the end of the
American Revolutionary War, when the
Second Treaty of Paris was signed. Land west of the Mississippi was acquired with the
Louisiana Purchase, though the
Hudson's Bay Company disputed the
Red River Valley until the
Treaty of 1818, when the border on the
49th parallel was agreed upon. Its soldiers built a
grist mill and a
sawmill at
Saint Anthony Falls, which were harbingers of the water-powered industries around which Minneapolis later grew. Meanwhile, squatters, government officials, and others had settled near the fort; in 1839 the army forced them off military lands, and most moved downriver, just outside the military reservation, to the area that became St. Paul. Minnesota was part of several territorial organizations between acquisition and statehood. From 1812 to 1821 it was part of the
Territory of Missouri that corresponded with much of the Louisiana Purchase. It was briefly an unorganized territory (
1821–1834) and was later consolidated with Wisconsin, Iowa and half the Dakotas to form the short-lived
Territory of Michigan (1834–1836). From 1836 to 1848, Minnesota and Iowa were part of the
Territory of Wisconsin. From 1838 to 1846, Minnesota west of the Mississippi River was part of the
Territory of Iowa. Minnesota east of the Mississippi was part of Wisconsin until 1848.
Statehood When Iowa gained statehood, western Minnesota was in an Unorganized Territory again.
Minnesota Territory was formed on March 3, 1849. The first territorial legislature, held on September 2, 1849, was dominated by men of
New England ancestry. Minnesota became the
32nd U.S. state on May 11, 1858. The founding population was so overwhelmingly of New England origins that the state was dubbed "the New England of the West". Treaties between the U.S. government and the eastern Dakota and Ojibwe gradually forced the natives off their lands and onto
reservations. As conditions deteriorated for the eastern Dakota, tensions rose, leading to the
Dakota War of 1862. The conflict was ignited when four young Dakota men, searching for food, killed a family of white settlers on August 17. That night, a faction of
Little Crow's eastern Dakota decided to try to drive all settlers out of the Minnesota River valley. In the weeks that followed, Dakota warriors killed hundreds of settlers, causing thousands to flee the area. The six-week war ended with the defeat of the eastern Dakota and 2,000 in custody, who were eventually exiled to the
Crow Creek Reservation by the
Great Sioux Reservation in
Dakota Territory. The remaining 4,500 to 5,000 Dakota mostly fled the state into
Rupert's Land. As many as 800 settlers were killed during the war. Minnesota Governor
Alexander Ramsey subsequently declared that "the Sioux Indians of Minnesota must be exterminated or driven forever beyond the borders of the state" and placed a bounty of $25/scalp on the heads of the eastern Dakota men. Over 1,600 eastern Dakota women, children, and elderly walked from the Lower Sioux Agency to
Fort Snelling to be held until the spring thaw allowed riverboats to take them out of Minnesota to Crow Creek Indian Reservation.
William Crooks, commander of
6th Minnesota, had a
palisade erected around the encampment on the river bottom flats directly below Fort Snelling, to protect native people from the soldiers and settlers. Conditions there were poor and between 125 and 300 died of disease. Around 400 Dakota men were tried after the war. 303 were sentenced to death, but
Abraham Lincoln reviewed the convictions and approved 39 of the death sentences. In December 1862, 38 of them were hanged. By 1900, Minnesota mills, led by
Pillsbury,
Northwestern, and the Washburn-Crosby Company, an ancestor of
General Mills, were grinding 14.1% of the nation's grain. in
Otter Tail County The state's iron-mining industry was established with the discovery of iron in the
Vermilion and
Mesabi ranges in the 1880s, followed by the
Cuyuna Range in the early 1900s. The ore went by rail to
Duluth and
Two Harbors for ship transport east via the
Great Lakes.
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. The nonprofit
Mayo Clinic, which was founded in 1864 in
Rochester, grew to become one of the country's leading medical systems, and, by the 21st century, Minnesota's largest private employer. In 1957, the legislature created a planning commission for the Twin Cities metropolitan area, which became the
Metropolitan Council in 1967. In 1971, under Governor
Wendell Anderson, a series of legislation called the "Minnesota Miracle" led to a broad reform in financing of Minnesota public schools and local governments that created a fairer distribution in taxation and education. Two postwar Minnesota governors, former dentist
Rudy Perpich and former professional wrestler
Jesse Ventura, were both known for their unconventional manner, but enjoyed some popularity within the state. After a period of mostly divided government during the 21st century, the DFL (
Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party) won control of all three branches of Minnesota's government in 2022 and passed significant reforms in the
2023 legislative session, moving the state in a progressive direction. == Geography ==