Mother of the Mississippi and dotted by more than 4,000 square miles of water surface, Minnesota is not the "land of 10,000 lakes" as it so widely advertises—a recount indicates that the figure is closer to 12,000. Natives of the state may tell you that the lakes were stamped out by the hooves of Paul Bunyan's giant blue ox, Babe; geologists say they were created by retreating glaciers during the Ice Age. They are certainly the Minnesota vacationland's prize attraction.

Although Minnesota borders on Canada and is 1,000 miles from either ocean, it is nevertheless a seaboard state thanks to the St. Lawrence Seaway, which makes Duluth, on Lake Superior, an international port and the world's largest inland freshwater port.

Dense forests, vast grain fields, rich pastures, a large open pit iron mine, wilderness parks, outstanding hospitals and universities, high-technology corporations, and a thriving arts community—these are facets of this richly endowed state.

This is the get-away-from-it-all state: you can fish in a lake, canoe in the Boundary Waters along the Canadian border, or search out the Northwest Angle (near Baudette), which is so isolated that until recently it could be reached only by boat or plane. In winter, you can ice fish, snowmobile, or ski the hundreds of miles of downhill and cross-country areas. If you are not the outdoor type, there are spectator sports, nightlife, shopping, music, theater, and sightseeing in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul).

Explored by Native Americans, fur traders, and missionaries since the dawn of its known history, Minnesota surged ahead on the economic tides of lumber, grain, and ore. Today, the state has 79,000 farms covering 28 million acres; its agricultural production ranks high in sugar beets, butter, turkeys, sweet corn, soybeans, sunflowers, spring wheat, hogs, and peas. Manufacturing is important to Minnesota's economy. It also is a wholesale transportation hub and financial and retailing center of the Upper Midwest—the Mall of America in Bloomington is the country’s largest.

The flags of four nations have flown over Minnesota as it passed through Spanish, French, and British rule, finally becoming part of the United States in segments in 1784, 1803, and 1818. A territory in 1849, Minnesota was admitted as a state less than a decade later. The Dakota (Sioux) War was a turning point in the state's history, claiming the lives of 400 settlers and an unknown number of Native Americans in 1862. It marked the end of Sioux control in the domain they called "the land of the sky-tinted waters." The vast forests poured out seemingly unending streams of lumber and the people spun legends of Paul Bunyan, an enduring part of American folklore. With the first shipment of iron ore in 1884, Minnesota was on its way to a mine-farm-factory future.