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Article #5: The history of Minnesota

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The history of Minnesota concerns the Minnesota now came under the control of
state of Minnesota that forms part of the the British. Spain claimed the rest of
United States of America. It is located the region comprising the current state.
along the northern border with Canada, at However, no Spanish explorers had come
the western shore of Lake Superior. through the area, and it was eventually
The first people came to region that now transferred to French hands in 1800.
forms Minnesota during the last Ice Age, In the late 18th century, The United
following herds of large game. The States came into being. A portion of
Anishinaabe, the Sioux, and the other previously British territory in Minnesota
Native American inhabitants of the region was soon claimed by Americans. The
represent the ancestors of these first Northwest Territory was formed in 1787
early settlers. European presence began and included lands east of the
with the coming of French fur traders in Mississippi, including the northeastern
the 1600s. During the 1800s most of the region around Lake Superior.
Native American population was pushed out In 1800, the Northwest Territory was
as American settlers moved westward. By divided into two parts. The western
1858, thousands of people had come to portion became Indiana Territory while
build farms and cut timber, and Minnesota the eastern part became Ohio. Also in
became the 32nd US state. 1800, a wide swath of land once claimed
evidence indicates that human beings by Spain became French territory, but it
first came to the region about 12,000 to didn't stay that way for long. The
10,500 years ago (10,000 BC to 8500 BC). Louisiana Purchase brought most of what
Clovis points have been discovered in the is now Minnesota under the control of
area, but dating stone tools is Americans in 1803.
difficult. Some Native Americans believe In 1809, the eastern portion of Minnesota
that humans came to North America even again changed names, this time becoming
before this time. Illinois Territory until the State of
Some of the earliest evidence of a Illinois was formed in 1818. The land
sustained presence in the area comes from became part of Michigan Territory.
a site known as Bradbury Brook near Lake The western part of the state became
Mille Lacs which was used around the year known as part of Missouri Territory in
7500 BC. Before long, extensive trading 1812, until it became unorganized in 1821
networks apparently began to grow. The when Missouri became a state.
body of an early resident known as The western portion of Minnesota was
"Minnesota Woman" was discovered in 1931 merged into Michigan Territory along with
in Otter Tail County. Radiocarbon dating the eastern portion that was already part
determined that she had come through the of that region in 1834. It was separated
area in approximately 6600 BC. She had a off in 1836 to become Wisconsin
conch shell from a snail species known as Territory. Another two years, and Iowa
Busycon perversa, which has only been Territory was separated off in 1838.
known to exist in Florida. The area was split off again when Iowa
Several hundred years later, the climate was formed from Iowa Territory in 1846.
of Minnesota warmed significantly. Minnesota Territory finally came into
Archaeologists have found that stone being on March 3, 1849. The territory
tools shrank in this time as native stretches west to the Missouri River. A
people transitioned from hunting (very) flurry of other activities occur the same
big game toward smaller creatures. Hooks, year as cities and counties are
nets, and harpoons were also devised for incorporated and new agencies are formed
catching fish. under the new government (such as the
Around 5000 BC, people on the shores of Minnesota Historical Society).
Lake Superior (in Minnesota and portions On May 11, 1858, Minnesota was admitted
of what is now Michigan, Wisconsin, and into the Union as the 32nd state.
Canada) were the first on the continent In 1805, two years after the Louisiana
to begin making metal tools. They used Purchase, Zebulon Pike purchased land
pieces of ore with high concentrations of from the Dakota that would later become
copper. The pieces were initially pounded the basis of Fort Snelling. For
into a rough shape, heated to reduce Americans, this was the first region that
brittleness, and pounded again to refine could be legally settled. However, a
the shape, and heated again. Edges could permanent U.S. presence didn't come to
be made sharp enough to be useful as the new land for more than a decade.
knives or spear points. In 1837, treaties were signed
Native people began intentionally leaving individually with the Mdewakanton Dakota
their mark around 3000 BC. Stone carvings and Ojibwe, ceding land between the St.
depicting people and animals were carved Croix and Mississippi so that lumberjacks
into rock faces until just a few hundred could come in and start logging.
years ago. Pieces of pottery began to The Ho-Chunk were moved in 1847 by the
appear at shortlived settlements about U.S. government after a treaty was signed
2000 years later. Around 700 BC, burial with them. They were moved from northeast
mounds were first created. The practice Iowa and southeast Minnesota into a
of making mounds also continued until reservation in the central part of the
about the time white settlers began state where Todd County currently is. The
moving into the area. At one time, 10,000 reservation was meant to be a buffer zone
such mounds dotted the state. between the Dakota and Ojibwe tribes,
By 800 AD, wild rice became a staple crop which were continuing to come into
in the region, much like corn farther to conflict. Also in 1847, the Ojibwe ceded
the south. Within a few hundred years, a section of land west of the Mississippi
the Mississippian culture reached into in central Minnesota to the U.S.
the southeast portion of the state, and government.
large villages were formed. The Dakota tribes ceded a massive swath
The Dakota Indian culture may have of southern Minnesota in 1852, except for
descended from some of the peoples of the a region along the western part of the
Mississippian culture. Minnesota River. Two vast stretches of
According to local legend, the earliest land were ceded by the Ojibwe in
Europeans to arrive were Vikings from following years. The first comes in 1854,
Scandinavia around the year 1362. The and composed most of the modern Arrowhead
Kensington Runestone was reportedly found Region. The next year, another parcel of
in the field of Olaf Ohman near land stretching most of the way across
Alexandria, Minnesota in 1898. Most the state was ceded.
scholars dismiss it as a hoax, however. In 1855, The Winnebago tribe moved again,
Around 1550, the legendary Iroquois from their settlement in Todd County to a
Indian leader Hiawatha came through the smaller one in Blue Earth County. The
area. Todd County settlement was wooded, a
It was a few more centuries before relatively unfamiliar area for the tribe,
contact between Europeans and Native which was more accustomed to prairie
Americans of Minnesota could be life.
confirmed. In the late 1650s, Pierre In 1858, another blow was dealt to the
Esprit Radisson and Sieur des Dakota tribe as half of their land around
Groseilliers were probably the first to the Minnesota River (the northern bank)
meet Dakota Indians while following the was ceded. Representatives of the tribe
southern shore of Lake Superior (which had gone to Washington, D.C. to discuss
would be northern Wisconsin). The north grievances about payments, but were
shore was explored in the 1660s. Among instead pressured into signing another
the first to do this was Claude Allouez, treaty.
a missionary on Madeline Island. He made In 1863 and 1864, another large swath of
an early map of the area in 1671. land was ceded by the Ojibwe to the
Also around this time, the Ojibwe Indians United States. A small area of land
reached Minnesota as part of a westward around Red Lake within this section
migration. Having come from a region remained in Ojibwe hands.
around Maine, they were experienced at The last of the northern Ojibwe lands
dealing with white traders. They dealt in outside of Red Lake in Minnesota are
furs and possessed guns. Tensions rose ceded in 1866 and 1867.
between the Ojibwe and Dakota in the Native people had been on the land for
ensuing years. millennia. Many of the earliest major
In 1671, France signed a treaty with a villages were part of the Mississippian
number of tribes to allow trade. Various civilization, though that society came
explorers and traders were soon coming apart long before Europeans came into the
through the region. French trader Daniel area. The Ojibwe came in the mid-17th
Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut was soon in the century, and the earliest white
area and trading with the local tribes. settlements by French explorers appeared
Du Lhut explored the western area of Lake soon after, but didn't take root.
Superior (hence the city of Duluth) and A military encampment known as Fort St.
areas south of there. He helped to Anthony appeared at the confluence of the
arrange a peace agreement between the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers in 1819.
Dakota and Ojibwe tribes in 1679. The first winter, more than 30 people
Father Louis Hennepin with companion died when supplies ran low in a temporary
Michel Aco (and possibly another) headed encampment down near the river.
north from the area of Illinois after In the following five years, the men
coming into that area with an exploration quarried stone and felled trees to build
party headed by René Robert Cavelier, the fort, soon named for Colonel Josiah
Sieur de La Salle. They were captured by Snelling, who led the group. The fort was
a Dakota tribe in 1680. While with the built to protect the American fur trade
tribe, they came across and named the by preventing British traders from taking
Falls of St. Anthony. Soon, du Lhut business away from U.S. traders.
negotiated to have Hennepin's party At the fort, Lawrence Taliaferro was an
released from captivity. Hennepin agent of the U.S. Bureau of Indian
returned to Europe and wrote a book, Affairs. He spent 20 years at the site,
published in 1683, about his travels finally resigning in 1839. A community
where many portions (including the part known as Mendota began growing across the
about St. Anthony Falls) were strongly river, but squatters also made their
embellished. presence known in another nearby camp. A
Explorers still searching for the fabled number of the people at the fort didn't
Northwest Passage and large inland seas appreciate the new presence, Taliaferro
in North America continued to pass among them. The fort imposed new
through the state. In 1731, the Grand restrictions a few times, forcing the
Portage trail was first passed through by squatters to head downriver.
a European, Pierre La Vérendrye. He used The squatters, mostly from the ill-fated
a map written down on a piece of birch Selkirk Colony in what is now the
bark by Ochagach, an Assiniboin guide. Canadian province of Manitoba, next
The North West Company, which traded in settled a site known as Fountain Cave.
fur and competed with the Hudson's Bay This site wasn't quite far enough for the
Company, was established along the Grand officers at the fort, so the squatters
Portage in 1783–1784. were forced out again, this time naming
The area of Minnesota was first claimed their settlement Pig's Eye after Pierre
by France in the 17th century, before "Pig's Eye" Parrant, a popular moonshiner
anyone had even visited the area. of the colony. The name was later changed
Explorers came through over the course of to Lambert's Landing and then finally
about a century. In 1763, the French Saint Paul. However, the earliest name
ceded much of their claimed territory in for the area comes from an Indian colony
North America to the Kingdom of Great Im-in-i-ja Ska, meaning "White Rock" and
Britain in the Treaty of Paris following referring to the limestone bluffs nearby.
the Seven Years' War. Northern regions of






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