Editing History of Minnesota (section)

==European exploration==

[[File:Old Trading Post on St. Louis River, Duluth, MN.jpg|thumb|right|Ruins of old [[Fond du Lac (Duluth)|Fond du Lac]] trading post on the [[Saint Louis River (Lake Superior tributary)|Saint Louis River]] in 1907]]

=== 17th century ===
In the late 1650s, [[Pierre Esprit Radisson]] and [[Médard des Groseilliers]], while following the southern shore of Lake Superior (which would become northern Wisconsin), were probably the first Europeans to meet Dakota Native Americans .<ref>{{cite web| work=TimePieces |title= Late 1650s: Dakota meet Europeans| url=http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=494| publisher=Minnesota Historical Society| access-date=February 17, 2007| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222023502/http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=494| archive-date=February 22, 2012}}</ref> The north shore of the lake was explored in the 1660s. Among the first to do this was [[Claude Allouez]], a missionary on [[Madeline Island]]. He made an early map of the area in 1671.<ref>{{cite web| work=TimePieces|title= Late 1660s: Exploring the North Shore| url=http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=493| publisher=Minnesota Historical Society| access-date=February 17, 2007| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222023506/http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=493| archive-date=February 22, 2012}}</ref>

Around this time, the Ojibwa Native Americans reached Minnesota as part of a westward migration. Having come from a region around Maine, they had experience dealing with European traders. They sold furs and purchased guns. Tensions rose between the Ojibwa and Dakota in the ensuing years.<ref>{{cite web| work= TimePieces|title= Late 1600s: Ojibwe arrive| url=http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=511| publisher=Minnesota Historical Society| access-date=February 17, 2007| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222023513/http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=511| archive-date=February 22, 2012}}</ref>

In 1671, France signed a treaty with a number of tribes to allow trade. Shortly thereafter, French trader [[Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut]], arrived in the area and began trading with the local tribes. Du Lhut explored the western area of Lake Superior, near his namesake, the city of Duluth, and areas south of there. He helped to arrange a peace treaty between the Dakota and Ojibwa tribes in 1679.<ref>{{cite web| work=TimePieces|title= 1679: Dakota & Ojibwe Treaty| url=http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=512| publisher=Minnesota Historical Society| access-date=February 17, 2007| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222023523/http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=512| archive-date=February 22, 2012}}</ref>

[[File:Father Hennepin at the Falls of St. Anthony.jpg|thumb|left|A painting of Father Hennepin 'discovering' Saint Anthony Falls]]
Father [[Louis Hennepin]], with companions [[Michel Aco]] and [[Antoine Auguelle]] (a.k.a. Picard Du Gay), headed north from the area of modern [[Illinois]] after coming into that area with an exploration party headed by [[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle]]. They were captured by a Dakota tribe in 1680. While with the tribe, they came across and named the [[Saint Anthony Falls|Falls of Saint Anthony]]. Soon, Du Lhut was able to obtain through negotiation the release of Hennepin's party. Hennepin returned to Europe and wrote a book, ''Description of Louisiana'', published in 1683, about his travels; many portions, including the part about Saint Anthony Falls, were strongly embellished. As an example, he described the falls as having a drop of 50 to 60 feet (15–18 m), when they were really only about {{convert|16|ft}}.{{sfn|Lass|1998|pp=58–60}} [[Pierre-Charles Le Sueur]] explored the [[Minnesota River]] to the [[Blue Earth County, Minnesota|Blue Earth]] area around 1700. He thought the blue earth was a source of copper, and he told stories about the possibility of mineral wealth, but there actually was no copper in it.{{sfn|Lass|1998|pp=60–61}}

=== 18th century ===
Explorers searching for the fabled [[Northwest Passage]] and large inland seas in North America continued to pass through the state. In 1721, the French built [[Fort Beauharnois]] on [[Lake Pepin]]. In 1731, the [[Grand Portage]] trail was first traversed by a European, [[Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye|Pierre La Vérendrye]]. He used a map written down on a piece of birch bark by Ochagach, an [[Assiniboine people|Assiniboine]] guide.<ref>{{cite web| work=TimePieces|title= 1731: The Grand Portage Trail| url=http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=500| publisher=Minnesota Historical Society| access-date=February 17, 2007| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222023528/http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=500| archive-date=February 22, 2012}}</ref> The [[North West Company]], which traded in fur and competed with the [[Hudson's Bay Company]], was established along the Grand Portage in 1783–1784.<ref>{{cite web| work=TimePieces |title= 1784: North West Fur Co.| url=http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=490| publisher=Minnesota Historical Society| access-date=February 17, 2007| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222023541/http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=490| archive-date=February 22, 2012}}</ref>

[[Jonathan Carver]], a shoemaker from Massachusetts, visited the area in 1767 as part of another expedition. He and the rest of the exploration party were only able to stay for a relatively short period, due to a lack of supplies. They headed back east to [[Fort Michilimackinac]], where Carver wrote journals about the trip, though others would later claim the stories were largely [[plagiarize]]d. The stories were published in 1778, but Carver died before the book earned him much money. [[Carver County, Minnesota|Carver County]] and [[Carver's Cave]] ([[Wakan Tipi]]) are named for him.<ref>{{cite web | last=Browne | first=Leanne | url=http://www.carvercountyhistoricalsociety.org/about_us/historypages/JonathanCarver.htm | title=History – Who was Jonathan Carver? | publisher=Carver County Historical Society | access-date=September 19, 2006 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930190242/http://www.carvercountyhistoricalsociety.org/about_us/historypages/JonathanCarver.htm | archive-date=September 30, 2007 }}</ref>

=== 19th century ===
In 1817, Major [[Stephen Harriman Long]] headed a military excursion up the Mississippi River to the [[Falls of St. Anthony]] near the confluence with the [[Minnesota River]]. As a result of his recommendations, the Army established [[Fort Snelling]] to guard against Indian incursions against settlers in the [[Upper Mississippi Valley]]. Long recorded his experiences of the expedition in a journal, which was first published as ''Voyage in a Six-Oared Skiff to the Falls of St. Anthony'', by the Minnesota Historical Society in 1860.<ref name=ColumbEE>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Stephen_Harriman_Long.aspx |title=The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, sixth edition |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia.com |year=2008 |access-date=2011-08-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Long |first=Stephen Harriman |author-link=Stephen Harriman Long |title=Voyage in a Six-Oared Skiff to the Falls of Saint Anthony In 1817 |year=1889 |url=https://archive.org/details/voyageinsixoared00longrich/ |location= |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society |page= |isbn=}}</ref>

In 1822 the [[Earl of Selkirk]] acquired a controlling interest in the [[Hudson's Bay Company]]. Through the Company he acquired {{convert|116,000|sqmi}} of land that today (2021) make up [[Manitoba]] and the northern portions of North Dakota and Minnesota. Until 1818 the [[Red River Valley]] was considered part of [[British North America]], and several colonization plans were mounted to the region, such as the [[Red River Colony]]. The boundary where the Red River crossed the 49th parallel was not marked until 1823, when Long returned to the region to conduct another survey expedition.<ref name=CorpsHist1>{{cite web |url         = http://www.topogs.org/History.htm |title       = A History of...(1818-1863) part 1 (Reestablishment) |publisher   = U.S. Corps of Topographical Engineers website, quoting from Beers, Henry P. "A History of the U.S. Topographical Engineers, 1813-1863." 2 pts. The Military Engineer 34 (Jun 1942): pp.287-91 & (Jul 1942): pp.348-52. |access-date  = 2011-08-06 |url-status     = dead |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20140926122419/http://www.topogs.org/History.htm |archive-date = 2014-09-26}}</ref> When several hundred settlers abandoned the Red River Colony in the 1820s, they entered United States territory along the Red River Valley, going south to Fort Snelling.{{sfn|Lass|1998|pp=114–15}} The region had been occupied by [[Métis people (Canada)|Métis people]], the children of voyageurs and Native Americans, since the middle of the 17th century.{{sfn|Risjord|2005|p=41}}

Several efforts were made to find the source of the [[Mississippi River]]. The true source was found in 1832 when [[Henry Schoolcraft]] was guided by a group of Ojibwa headed by ''[[Ozaawindib]]'' ("Yellow Head") to a lake in northern Minnesota. Schoolcraft named it [[Lake Itasca]], combining the [[Latin]] words ''ver'''itas''''' ("truth") and '''''ca'''put'' ("head"). The native name for the lake was ''Omashkooz'', meaning [[elk]].<ref>{{cite web| work=TimePieces |title= 1832: Mississippi source| url=http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=453| publisher=Minnesota Historical Society| access-date=February 17, 2007| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222023553/http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=453| archive-date=February 22, 2012}}</ref>{{sfn|Radzilowski|2006|p= 55}} Other explorers of the area include [[Zebulon Pike]] in 1806,{{sfn|Lass|1998|pp=82–83}} [[Stephen Harriman Long|Major Stephen Long]] in 1817, and [[George William Featherstonhaugh]] in 1835.{{sfn|Lass|1998|p=91}} Featherstonhaugh conducted a geological survey of the [[Minnesota River Valley]] and wrote an account, entitled ''A Canoe Voyage up the Minnay Sotor''.{{sfn|Lass|1998|pp=91–92}}

[[Joseph Nicollet]] scouted the area in the late 1830s, exploring and mapping the [[Upper Mississippi River]] basin, the [[St. Croix River (Wisconsin–Minnesota)|St. Croix River]], and the land between the Mississippi and [[Missouri River]]s. He and [[John C. Frémont]] left their mark in the southwest part of the state, carving their names in the [[catlinite|pipestone]] quarries near [[Winnewissa Falls]] (an area now part of [[Pipestone National Monument]], in [[Pipestone County, Minnesota|Pipestone County]]).<ref>{{cite web| work=TimePieces |title= 1830s: Upper Mississippi maps| url=http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=457| publisher=Minnesota Historical Society| access-date=February 17, 2007| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222023611/http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=457| archive-date=February 22, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.mnhs.org/places/historycenter/programs/players/joseph.html | title=Joseph Nicollet | access-date=July 6, 2006|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060906113723/http://www.mnhs.org/places/historycenter/programs/players/joseph.html |archive-date = September 6, 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]] never explored the state, but he did help to make it popular. In 1855 he published ''[[The Song of Hiawatha]]'', which contains references to many places in Minnesota. The story is based on Ojibwa legends carried back east by other explorers and traders (particularly those collected by [[Henry Rowe Schoolcraft]]).<ref>{{cite web| work=TimePieces |title= 1855: The Song of Hiawatha| url=http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=438| publisher=Minnesota Historical Society| access-date=February 17, 2007| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222023020/http://events.mnhs.org/Timepieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=438| archive-date=February 22, 2012}}</ref>