Portal:Minnesota

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Location of Minnesota in the United States The flag of Minnesota, adopted in 1893

Minnesota (pronounced ˌmɪnɨˈsoʊtə (help·info)) is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. The 12th-largest state by area in the U.S., it is the 21st most populous, with just over five million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the 32nd state on May 11, 1858. The state is known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes, and those lakes and the other waters for which the state is named, together with state and national forests and parks, offer residents and tourists a variety of outdoor recreational opportunities.

Nearly 60% of Minnesota's residents live in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area known as the Twin Cities, the center of transportation, business, and industry, and home to an internationally known arts community. The remainder of the state, often referred to as "Greater Minnesota" or "Outstate Minnesota", consists of western prairies now given over to intensive agriculture; eastern deciduous forests, also heavily farmed and settled; and the less populated northern boreal forest. (Full article)

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Red Wing, Minnesota Red Wing is a cityin Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States, on the Mississippi River. The population was 16,116 at the 2000 census. It is the county seatof Goodhue County6. Red Wing is famous as the home of Red Wing Shoes, the Riedell Ice and Roller Skates, and also for its Red Wing Stoneware. The Cannon Valley Trailhas its eastern terminus in Red Wing. Treasure Island Resort & Casino is located in nearby Welch. The National Trust for Historic Preservationplaced Red Wing on its 2008 distinctive destinations list, which adds 12 communities annually nationwide. Red Wing was added for its "impressive architecture and enviable natural environment." {Full article) Photo: Todd Murray. Map: User:Arkyan Suggest a community edit · view

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Norman Borlaug in 2005

Norman Ernest Borlaug (born March 25, 1914) is an American agronomist, humanitarian, Nobel laureate, and has been called the father of the Green Revolution. Borlaug was one of five people in history to have won the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. He is also an awardee of the Padma Vibhushan, India's highest civilian honour to non-citizens of exemplary accomplishment. Borlaug received his Ph.D. in plant pathology and genetics from the University of Minnesota in 1942. Increases in yield have been labeled the Green Revolution, and Borlaug is often credited with saving over a billion people from starvation. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 in recognition of his contributions to world peace through increasing food supply. More recently, he has helped apply these methods of increasing food production to Asia and Africa. Borlaug has continually advocated the use of his methods and biotechnology to decrease world famine. His work has faced environmental and socioeconomic criticisms. (Full article)

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Scenic Minnesota

The source of the Mississippi River, Itasca State ParkCredit: Christine Karim

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Weisman Art Museumat the University of MinnesotaCredit: Flickr user gomattolson

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Did you know...

Traverse des Sioux near St. Peter, Minnesota

...that at Traverse des Sioux on the Minnesota River (pictured), Sioux tribes were induced to enter into an 1851 treaty, ceding 24 million acres (9.7 million ha) for seven cents per acre?
...that the once-buried remains of a power canal and flour mills in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota have been unearthed and are now open as Mill Ruins Park to provide historical interpretation in the area?
...that outlaws John Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelly, and Baby Face Nelson were tried in the historic Landmark Center in St. Paul?

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June in the history of Minnesota

First printing of the Minnesota Constitution

An election in Minnesota Territory to select Republican and Democratic delegates to a state constitutional convention was held on June 1, 1857. The divisions between the parties were so great that they each held their own separate conventions and never met together aside from five people from each party who met in a conference committee to create a document acceptable to both sides. Still, the tension was so extreme that delegates would not sign anything that had previously been signed by a member of the complementary convention. In the end, each convention signed their own copies of the document. The two were essentially identical, but had about 300 differences in punctuation, grammar, and wording because of errors in transcription produced as copyists worked late into the night. (Full article)