Overview of Minnesota
February 16, 2022
The U.S. gained the land now known as Minnesota starting in the late 1700s through the Treaty of Paris, the Louisiana Purchase and negotiations with the Dakota Indians and other tribes who had long inhabited the land.
The start of Minnesota’s statehood, gained in 1858, was marked by hostile relations between the settlers and the Dakota over land treaties and mistreatment by traders. Only a few years later, Minnesota was the first to offer its troops to the Union in the Civil War, though it was the youngest state.