The North Star State has definite significance in America thanks to its metropolitan Minneapolis-St. Paul area and extensive open space that includes the 10,000 lakes touted by the state’s license plates. Other facts about Minnesota that most people know include that it’s a state that survives harsh winters and also occupies a large amount of land compared with most American states.
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But there’s also a sense of mystery about Minnesota, which is in a part of the country associated with rural living and frigid temperatures. Here are five facts about Minnesota that you might not have known.
1. Minnesota has a chunk of land that is only accessible by boat if you don’t want to go into Canada.
The Northwest Angle, according to minnesotafunfacts.com, is a piece of land given to the United States due to a surveying error made in 1783 and that wasn’t discovered until after the American-Canadian border was established. If you want to go there by road you must go through Canadian customs and then back through American customs.
2. The license plate for Minnesota touts 10,000 lakes, but that’s a conservative estimate.
According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, there are 11,842 lakes in the state. Four counties out of 87 don’t have any lakes and they are all located in the southern part of the state.
3. The world can thank Minnesota for many common products and brands people use every day. The site refers to masking and scotch tape, Wheaties cereal, Bisquick pancake mix, HMO health plans, the bundt pan, Aveda beauty products and Green Giant vegetables - all inventions or brands that came from the North Star State.
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4. Minnesota may not have any ocean beaches, but the state has an overly significant amount of shoreline.
According to the University of Minnesota, Duluth, the state had 90,000 miles of shoreline. That is more than California, Hawaii and Florida combined. Also, it is 2,342 freshwater miles from the Atlantic Ocean to the city of Duluth, in the northern reaches of the state bordering Wisconsin.
5. Minnesota is a shopper’s paradise. According to the Minnesota Secretary of State, Minnesota is home to the first climate-controlled shopping center and also the largest mall in the nation. The Southdale Mall in Edina was opened in 1956 as the first enclosed, climate-controlled mall, while the Mall of America in Bloomington is the largest mall in the United States.
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