IV.

History

The first identified Native Americans of the area that is now Minnesota were the Dakota branch of the Sioux nation. In the 16th century the Ojibwa, or Chippewa, who were concentrated on the northern part of the Atlantic coast, began a mass westward migration. In the next century they started to invade the traditional home of the Dakota Sioux. For the next 200 years the two peoples were in a constant state of war; the coming of whites was considered of minor importance by the Sioux, who were more concerned with the Ojibwa encroachment.

A.

Early Explorers

The first Europeans known to have seen the region were the French fur traders and explorers Médard Chouart, Sieur des Groselliers, and Pierre Esprit Radisson. In 1679 the French explorer Daniel Greysolon, sieur Duluth, led an expedition into what is now northern Minnesota, built a fort on the shores of Lake Superior, and claimed the entire region in the name of France.

B.

British and American Influence

French influence in the area waned after 1763, when a part of Minnesota was ceded to Great Britain by France under the terms of the treaty that ended the French and Indian War (1754-1763). In 1783, following the American War of Independence, the area between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River became part of the newly established United States. The land west of the Mississippi became US property as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. British trading companies continued to dominate the Minnesota fur trade, however, and the US government made no effort to establish settlements in the region until 1805, when the American soldier Zebulon M. Pike was sent with a small party to extend federal authority over the area.

Although the British and Canadian fur traders resisted the spread of US authority, they were forced to leave the region after the War of 1812. In 1815 a US statute restricted fur-trading to US citizens, and the American Fur Company of John Jacob Astor replaced the British-owned Northwest Company as the principal trading power in Minnesota.

C.

Development Towards Statehood

Some settlers moved into the region after 1815, and federal troops were sent to protect them and to guard the territorial borders. The first military installation, Fort St Anthony (later renamed Fort Snelling), was built in 1819, and the first large settlement, Mendota, grew up near it. With the establishment in 1834 of the main trading post of the American Fur Company at Mendota, the fort, which was also a centre for trade with Native Americans and a gathering place for Christian missionaries, became the leading settlement of the American North-west. In 1837 the Native Americans sold the US government a triangle of land between the Mississippi and St Croix rivers. Soon afterwards the first timber camps began operation in the area, and settlers from the eastern states began to arrive in great numbers.

On August 26, 1848, a group of Minnesotans convened at Stillwater to plan the organization of the territory of Minnesota. In 1849 the territory was created with the same boundaries as the present-day state, except for the western frontier; the land west of the Mississippi and White Earth rivers was considered Native American tribal property.

In 1851 several treaties were concluded with the Sioux, who surrendered title to more than 11 million hectares (28 million acres) of land and retained only a narrow strip along the Minnesota River. Thereafter thousands of settlers poured into the area. Minnesota was admitted to the Union on May 11, 1858. Between 1850 and 1860 the population grew from 5,354 to more than 172,000.

The Sioux, resenting what they considered unfair treatment by traders and Native American agents of the federal government, and angered by the arrogant trespassing of homesteaders, rose in revolt in 1862. More than 500 settlers and US soldiers were killed before the Sioux were defeated decisively at the Battle of Woods Lake in September 1862. The Sioux were deprived of title to their reservation lands, and on December 26, 1862, Mankato was the site of the mass hanging of 38 Sioux convicted of killing whites—the largest execution in the United States. Minnesota was one of the first states to send volunteers for the Union in the American Civil War.

D.

Post-Civil War Growth

By 1870 Minnesota was a boom state; the population was almost 500,000, and the area under cultivation exceeded 400,000 hectares (1 million acres), more than half of which was planted with wheat. Minneapolis soon became one of the great flour-milling centres of the world. Construction needs within the state plus the demand for wood in the east made forestry the major industry. Railways were extended to serve industries and new towns and villages. Sponsored by the state and by Minnesota industries, offices were opened in the Atlantic states and in Europe to attract settlers.

Mining operations began in 1884 in the Vermilion Range, and some years later in the Mesabi Range. By the end of World War I Minnesota accounted for about 70 per cent of all US iron-ore production.

In the late 19th century the large wheat production of Minnesota and other Midwestern states began to depress prices in the wheat market. Minnesota farmers began to grow corn and other cattle-feed crops in order to avoid losses.

E.

The 20th Century

Minnesota became a centre for agrarian and labour political movements during the first decades of the 20th century. Several groups combined to form the Farmer-Labor Party in 1922. In 1936 the party won both Minnesota seats in the United States House of Representatives, almost all state offices, and control of the Minnesota House of Representatives. The Farmer-Labor Party subsequently lost its dominant position to the Republican Party. In 1944 the Democratic and Farmer-Labor parties formed a coalition that has since been highly successful in state politics.

Although Minnesota had previously provided more than half the nation’s iron ore, both the supply and the demand for high-grade ore dropped suddenly in the early 1950s. This resulted in the iron industry’s development of low-grade taconite ore, in which producers invested more than US$1 billion by 1970. Taconite wastes threatened Lake Superior’s ecological balance, however, and in the late 1970s producers were ordered to relocate dumping sites. In the meantime, other industries had become prominent. Computer and computer-related manufacturing increased by 21 per cent between 1986 and 1990, accounting for US$2.8 billion in salaries to Minnesota workers.

During the 1980s, the state expanded education and transport facilities and acted to improve pollution control and land-use management. Minnesota in 1987 became the first state in the United States to require employers to offer parental leave to both the mother and the father of a newborn child. Minnesota was one of the leading agricultural states in the early 1990s, but it was dealt a serious blow by the flooding of the Mississippi and other rivers of the Midwest in 1993.