Minnesota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United
States. The 12th-largest state by area in the U.S., it is the
21st most populous, with just over five million residents. Minnesota
was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory
and admitted to the Union as the 32nd state on May 11, 1858. The
state is known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes", and those
lakes and the other waters for which the state is named, together
with state and national forests and parks, offer residents and
tourists a variety of outdoor recreational opportunities.