Norwegian Minnesotan
| Total population | |
|---|---|
|
868,361 16.5% of the Minnesotan population |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Minneapolis | 42,469 |
| Saint Paul | 25,537 |
| Rochester | 15,038 |
| Duluth | 13,919 |
| Moorhead | 13,712 |
| Bloomington | 13,214 |
| Plymouth | 12,618 |
| Coon Rapids | 11,163 |
| Maple Grove | 11,038 |
| Eagan | 10,128 |
| Languages | |
| American English, Norwegian | |
| Religion | |
| Lutheran with Catholic and other Protestant minorities | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Norwegian American | |
A Norwegian Minnesotan is a Norwegian American (a person with Norwegian ancestry) in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of 2009, 868,361 Minnesotans claim Norwegian ancestry, 16.5% of Minnesota's population, or 18.7% of the total Norwegian American population.
Many Norwegian settlers arrived and lived in various other locations in the United States before permanently settling in Minnesota. The first Norwegian emigrants to come to the United States often settled in the eastern Mid-west. The first Norwegian settlement in Minnesota was Norwegian Ridge, in what is now Spring Grove, Minnesota. As more and more new immigrants came to America there was a rapid increase in population at the original Norwegian settlements (which was helped along by a high birth rate). Thus, as more and more Norwegian settlers arrived in America, the original Norwegian settlements would move westward where land was plentiful and less expensive and where new settlements could be created.
Norwegian settlement in Minnesota increased after the American Civil War and the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, especially to the Minnesota River Valley, where land was taken through the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux. Following the war, the majority of Dakota people were expelled from Minnesota and European settlement increased rapidly.
Because the land of Minnesota was subdued by force from the American Indians, land was cheap for the European immigrants who came here. Before long, the immigrant population exploded in Minnesota. Norwegians settled all over the state, but they established the first permanent settlements in the southeast. The first Norwegian settlement in Minnesota was Norwegian Ridge, in what is now Spring Grove, Minnesota, in Houston County, Minnesota. Another such settlement was the 1851 colony in Goodhue County, Minnesota. They soon settled in Fillmore County as well. By 1860, half of Minnesota's 12,000 Norwegians resided in Goodhue, Fillmore, and Houston Counties. Ten years later, these three counties were home to nearly 25,000 of Minnesota's 50,000 Norwegian residents. By 1880, there were Norwegian settlements in the counties of Goodhue County, Minnesota, Fillmore, Houston, Freeborn, Steele, and Waseca. Norwegians also made settlements in Blue Earth, Brown, and Watonwan Counties (the "Linden Settlement"), Lac qui Parle County, the Park Region in west-central Minnesota, and the prairies of southwestern Minnesota.
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Wikipedia