Minnesota is a state in the Upper Midwest region of the United States. It borders the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and the U.S. states of Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota, with a water boundary touching Michigan in the northeast. It is the 12th-largest U.S. state by area and the 22nd-most populous, with about 5.8 million residents. Known as the “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” Minnesota has more than 14,000 bodies of fresh water larger than ten acres, while roughly a third of its land is forested and much of the rest is prairie and farmland.
The state’s largest population center is the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, often called the Twin Cities, which serves as Minnesota’s principal political, economic, and cultural hub. Other important urban areas include Duluth, Mankato, Moorhead, Rochester, and St. Cloud. Minnesota was inhabited for centuries by Native peoples including the Dakota people, Ojibwe, and other Anishinaabe groups before European arrival. French explorers and missionaries were among the first Europeans to enter the region, and much of present-day Minnesota became part of the Louisiana Territory before being acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. It entered the Union in 1858 as the 32nd state.
Minnesota’s economy originally depended on timber, agriculture, and railroads, then diversified into services, finance, and health care. The state is known for high life expectancy, strong educational attainment, and above-average income per capita. Its population and culture have been shaped by Scandinavian and German immigration, though in recent decades it has become more diverse through migration and immigration, including large Somali American and Hmong communities. Minnesota has also been a center of labor and political reform and has voted reliably for Democratic presidential nominees since 1976.