The word Minnesota comes from the Dakota name for the Minnesota River, mnisota. Mni, or sometimes mini, or Minne can be translated as "water". Mnisota is then translated as sky-tinted water or somewhat clouded water [2][3]. Native Americans demonstrated the name to early settlers by dropping milk into water and calling it mnisota. Many locations in the state contain the Dakota word for water, such as Minnehaha Falls ("Waterfall", not "laughing waters" as is commonly thought), Minneiska ("White water"), Minnetonka, ("Big water"), Minnetrista ("Crooked water"), and Minneapolis which is a combination of mni and the Greek word for "city", polis.
Minnesota is the northernmost state except for Alaska. The state borders Wisconsin on the east, and shares a water border in Lake Superior with Michigan. Iowa is to the south, North Dakota and South Dakota are west, and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba are north.
Two continental divides meet in the northwestern part of Minnesota, creating three watersheds. Rain falling in the state can follow the Mississippi River south to the Gulf of Mexico, the St. Lawrence Seaway east to the Atlantic Ocean, or the Hudson Bay watershed to the Arctic Ocean.
Much of the state is relatively flat, but pockmarked with lakes, having been eroded by glacial periods during the Ice Age. The extreme southeastern portion of the state is part of the Driftless Zone, which was not covered by the recent Wisconsin glaciation. It is here that Lake Pepin and the rugged high bluffs of the Mississippi River are found. The northeastern portion of the state is on the Canadian Shield and is covered by rugged ranges of hills, notably the Mesabi Range, rich in iron ore, the Sawtooth Mountains along the shore of Lake Superior, the Misquah Hills and the Laurentian Highlands in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.
Three of the great biomes of North America converge in Minnesota: the Great Plains of the west, the Eastern Deciduous Forest, and the Northern Boreal Forest of the Canadian Shield. Minnesota has temperature extremes characteristic of its continental climate, with cold winters and warm summers.
With its many lakes and rivers, Minnesota has approximately 90,000 miles of shoreline, the most of any state in the United States, and more than California, Florida, and Hawaii combined. The state's nickname, The Land of 10,000 Lakes, is no exaggeration: there are 11,842 lakes over 10 acres in size. The Minnesota portion of Lake Superior is the largest and deepest body of water in the state.
Minnesota is home to many park lands. The state has 71 state parks, 53 state forests, two national forests and many other wildlife preserves and regional parks. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and Itasca State Park, the official source of the Mississippi River are located in the north of the state.
Areas under the management of the National Park Service include:
The capital city of Minnesota is Saint Paul, located in the east-central part of the state along the Mississippi River. Saint Paul is neighbored by Minnesota's largest and most populous city, Minneapolis; together they and their suburbs are known as the Twin Cities. The Twin Cities metropolitan area is home to three-fifths of the state's population and is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the United States. The remainder of the state is known as Greater Minnesota or Outstate Minnesota.
The Twin Cities area is considered the capital for the arts in the Upper Midwest. There is a very high per-capita attendance of theatrical, musical, and comedy events across the area, which can be attributed to the large number of colleges, universities, and a generally strong economy. There are more theatre seats per capita than in any other American city, including New York City.
Stereotypical Minnesotan traits include Lutheranism, "Minnesota nice," "hot dish" (a Minnesotan term for casserole), "lutefisk" (a pungent preparation of fish from Scandinavian recipes that include soaking in lye), very close family ties (and a strong sense of duty to their families, healthy and dysfunctional alike), a strong sense of community and shared culture with many other Minnesotans instead of just with one's town or city, Minnesota's form of Upper Midwest American English (including Scandinavian-sounding words like "uff-da"), and a distinctive type of upper Midwestern accent.
Minnesota is not strongly associated with any particular food, though in recent years dishes like wild rice sausage have come from the state. The state is known as being very committed to education and as such, has a very educated population throughout the state.
Outdoor activities are major parts of the lives of many Minnesotans. Fishing is popular in Minnesota, over 36% of Minnesotans fish, second only to Alaska. During the winter ice fishing is popular, as it has been since the early Scandinavian immigrants arrived. Hunting is another common activity. Families frequently own or share cabins on central and northern tracts of land in forests and adjoining lakes, and weekend trips out to these properties are common, particularly in the summer. The 71 state parks which protect diverse landscapes in a state of nature are quite popular. A concern for environmentalism is shared by most state residents in one form or another, vegans and hunters alike. As with other northwoods states (such as Wisconsin, Michigan and Maine), residents like to joke that the mosquito is the state bird. The state bird is actually the common loon, whose distinctive cry can often be heard by campers in the northern part of the state and can even on occasion be found as far south as Minneapolis.
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