Minnehaha

Minnehaha is a fictional Native American woman documented in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1855 epic poem The Song of Hiawatha. She is the lover of the titular protagonist Hiawatha and comes to a tragic end. The name, often said to mean "laughing water", literally translates to "waterfall" or "rapid water" in Dakota.

The figure of Minnehaha inspired later art works such as paintings, sculpture and music. The Death of Minnehaha is a frequent subject for paintings. Minnehaha Falls and her death scene inspired themes in the 'New World' symphony by Antonín Dvořák. Longfellow's poem was set in a cantata trilogy, The Song of Hiawatha in 1898–1900 by the African-English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Longfellow's poem also inspired Hugo Kaun's symphonic poems "Minnehaha" and "Hiawatha" composed in 1901.

The character's name has been bestowed upon things, especially in the Great Lakes region of the United States. A ship bearing the name Minnehaha wrecked off the western shore of Lake Michigan in 1893, only 48 years after Longfellow's poem was published.

A Minnehaha Bay adjoins the small town of Sturgeon Falls in Ontario, Canada. Minnesota claims Minnehaha Falls, Minnehaha Park, Minnehaha Creek, Minnehaha Academy, and a boat bearing her name once operated by Twin City Rapid Transit on Lake Minnetonka, which has now been restored and is currently operated by Museum of Lake Minnetonka. Minnehaha Avenue and Hiawatha Avenue run parallel to each other from downtown Minneapolis, while another Minnehaha Avenue runs through Saint Paul.

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