How did the state of Minnesota get its name?

Answer 1

Bert Rose named the Vikings because many people in the surrounding area were from scandanavian heritage.

Historically, the Homestead Act of 1862 provided the opportunity for settlers to get free of very cheap land in the Great Plains area of the United States. To stimulate use of their railroad lines, railroad companies sent recruiters to Europe and promised free transportation to Swedish (and other) immigrants who wanted to start a new life in America, settle near, and use the railroad's lines. The promise of free land and other claims (often false or exaggerated) lured many Europeans to the Great Plain. They tended to settle down in areas where others from their country or that spoke the same language lived. The Scandanavian people settled largely in Nebraska and Minnesota.

ALSO!!!

Perhaps the most intriguing debris left by Nordic litterbugs are runestones, mighty slabs of rock with cryptic marks carved into them. Alexandria, Minnesota, has the Kensington Runestone, and the story goes that it was found under the roots of an aspen tree by Olaf Ohman, an illiterate local farmer, in 1898. Real or Forgery?

Locals believe that the marks are a runic inscription describing a Viking expedition in 1362. The Smithsonian Institution was less enthusiastic about the runestone's authenticity, but they couldn't disprove it, either. And what about the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Indians that missionaries later reported, living in huts "in the Viking style"?

Answer 2

It's is called the Vikings because of the Scandanavian heritage of Minnesotans. The original Vikings were brutal raiders from the Scandanavian region of Europe. The name also reflects the brute and strength of the football team!

Answer 3

The Vikings spoke Old Norse, so people of that time period called them "Norsemen," which literally meant "Men from the North." Translated from Old Norse, however, the word "viking" means "pirate" or "raider." To go "a-viking" means to go exploring.

Answer 4

The origin of Minnesota came from the Dakota people, of the Sioux tribe, referencing the Minnesota River or Mnisota. "Mni" Mni means water and together Mnisota means somewhat clouded water. The Native Americans demonstrated this by pouring milk into water and calling it Mnisota.

Answer 5

From the term "a viking", which means to go raiding.

Answer 6

It was named this because of Minnesota's high Scandinavian population, and they would be first to discover Minnesotan football like the real Vikings discovered America.

Answer 7

The name is in honor of the large Scandinavian population that first made the state.