Minnesota (;
locally ) is a
state in the
Midwestern United States. Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd state on May 11, 1858, created from the eastern half of the
Minnesota Territory. The name comes from the
Dakota word for "clear blue water". Owing to its large number of lakes, the state is informally known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes". Its official motto is
L'Étoile du Nord (French:
Star of the North). Minnesota is the
12th largest in area and the
21st most populous of the U.S. States; nearly 60 percent of its residents live in the
Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area (known as the "Twin Cities"), the center of transportation, business, industry, education, and government and home to an internationally known arts community. The remainder of the state consists of western
prairies now given over to intensive agriculture;
deciduous forests in the southeast, now partially cleared, farmed and settled; and the less populated
North Woods, used for mining, forestry, and recreation.
