USA Minnesota - The History : USA  

USA Minnesota - The History - Travel guide

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USA Minnesota - The History

The History

The Dakota (or Sioux) people had lived in Minnesota for many years. The first French fur traders, or voyageurs, arrived in the late 1600s. In the early 1800s, the U.S. government said it needed more land in this area. The Dakota signed a treaty with the U.S. government for the land where the Minnesota River joins the Mississippi, and, in the 1820s, Fort Snelling was built there.

During the years that followed, the Dakota and Anishinabe tribes were forced to sign treaties to relinquish most of Minnesota to the U.S. government. Thousands of new people poured into the region to build farms and cut timber.

By 1862, the Dakota were crowded into a small reservation along the Minnesota River. Times were had and Indian families hungry. When the U.S. government broke its promises, some of the Dakota went to war against the white farmers and towns. Many Dakota did not join in, but the fighting lasted six weeks and many people on both sides were killed or fled Minnesota. Afterwards the government forced most of the remaining Dakota to leave Minnesota. The Anishinabe stayed in northern Minnesota, and were not involved in the war.

The Dakota who stayed and those who eventually returned have formed four communities in southern Minnesota. There are seven Anishinabe Indian reservations in northern Minnesota. Many of the Indian people and their families who moved to the cities after World War II have continued to live there. Wherever they live, Minnesota’s Indians are maintaining their cultural identities.

Large number of immigrants came to Minnesota beginning in the 1830s to work in lumbering and farming. They were mainly from the eastern United States, Canada, and northern Europe. By 1900, the combined total of Scandinavians from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark outnumbered those from any single county. Later, as cities and new industries grew, people came also from eastern and southern Europe. Finland, Yugoslavia, and Italy sent many workers to Minnesota mines and factories. In 1900, nearly half of all Minnesotans were of German ancestry.

A few people of African descent had come with the early fur traders and soldiers. More moved to Minnesota after the Civil War, living and working mainly in the cities.

Minnesota became the 32nd State to Unite under America on May 11, 1858.