Minnesota, United States — Towns & Travel Guide

What is Minnesota known for?

Minnesota is known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes, an Upper Midwest state of the United States where water and forest run to the horizon. Lakes are everywhere. The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul hold most of its life, while Duluth stands on the northern water and Rochester and Mankato spread across the prairie and farmland to the south.

Forests cover the north.

Where is Minnesota?

Minnesota lies in the Upper Midwest, a broad state of the United States known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Water lies all across it. Glacier-carved lakes, rivers, and wetlands spread over much of the ground, while roughly a third of the state stands under forest and the rest runs to prairie and farmland.

Canada lies to the north. Manitoba and Ontario border it there, with North Dakota and South Dakota to the west, Iowa to the south, and Wisconsin along the east. Michigan touches the northeast corner. There the state meets a water boundary, and the deep cold lakes of the north give way southward to the prairie and farmland where Rochester and Mankato lie.

The Twin Cities sit at the middle. Duluth stands on the far northern water. From the forests and 10,000 lakes of the north to the farmland of the south, Minnesota spreads across the northern edge of the United States between Canada and the plains to the west.

Minneapolis and Saint Paul divide the centre between them, the twin hub where most of the state gathers along the river country.

What is Minnesota like?

Minnesota takes its character from water and cold, a northern state of the United States shaped by its 10,000 lakes and long winters. The lakes run through its life. Summer draws people out to the water and the forests of the north, to fishing and cabins along the Land of 10,000 Lakes, while the deep winters turn life indoors across the Twin Cities and the prairie towns.

The cities hold the culture. Minneapolis and Saint Paul, the Twin Cities, gather the political and cultural life of the state, while Duluth keeps the character of a northern lake port. Farmland fills the south.

Out on the prairie and farmland, Rochester and Mankato mark a quieter, more rural Minnesota than the forests and lake country of the north. Water ties it together. The seasons run to extremes.

From the forests and lakes of the north around Duluth to the farmland of the south around Rochester, the culture of Minnesota keeps returning to the water of its 10,000 lakes and the long grip of its winters. The Twin Cities anchor the whole of it.

What is the history of Minnesota?

Minnesota joined the United States in 1858, taking its place among the northern states of the country. Water shaped the settlement. Growth followed the rivers and the 10,000 lakes inland as the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul rose at the meeting of the waters, while farming spread south across the prairie and farmland toward Rochester.

That statehood year still holds.

What is the climate of Minnesota?

Minnesota lies in a temperate but sharply seasonal band of the United States, where the northern lakes and forests feel the full swing of the year. Winters bite hard and long. Deep cold and heavy snow grip the north around Duluth for months, while the short summers turn warm across the Twin Cities and the prairie and farmland of the south.

The lakes freeze over.

How do you get to Minnesota?

Minnesota is reached mainly through the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, the transport hub at its centre. Routes fan out from there. From the Twin Cities, roads run north toward Duluth and the Canadian border with Manitoba and Ontario, west across the prairie toward North Dakota and South Dakota, and south through the farmland toward Iowa and Rochester.

Water lies all around.