The US state of Minnesota is located within the Midwestern United States. The state of Minnesota is the twelfth biggest state within the union, and the twenty-first most densely inhabited state with 5.3 million inhabitants. The state, the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory was admitted to the Union on the 11th of May, the year 1858, as the thirty-second state. Known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes, the name of the state comes from a Dakota word that means "sky-tinted water." Those waters, together with parks, wilderness areas and forests, provide residents and visitors different outdoor recreational opportunities.
Almost 60 percent of Minnesota's residents live within the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area called the "Twin Cities", the center of business, education and industry, and home to an internationally known arts community. The remainder of the state consists of western prairies now given over to intensive agriculture; deciduous forests in the southeast, now cleared, farmed and settled; and North Woods, which is less populated and, used for forestry, recreation and mining.
Once primarily a producer of raw materials, Minnesota's economy has transformed during the last 200 years to emphasize services and finished products. Probably the most significant characteristic of the economy is its diversity; the relative outputs of its business sectors closely match the United States as a whole. The economy of Minnesota had a gross domestic product of $262 billion during the year 2008. 33 of the United States' top 1,000 publicly traded businesses, according to 2008 revenues, are headquartered in Minnesota, including United Health Group, Target, General Mills, 3M Medtronic, U.S. Bancorp, Ameriprise, Hormel, Land O' Lakes, Best Buy, Valspar and SuperValu. Private businesses based within Minnesota State consist of Cargill, the biggest privately owned corporation in the US, and Carlson Companies, the parent company of Radisson Hotels.
The earliest industries within the state were agriculture and fur trading. St. Anthony Falls helped to power the flour mills around Minneapolis City during its formative years. In the agricultural sector, less than 1 percent of the inhabitants is working, as it still remains vital to Minnesota's economy. This sector ranks 6th in the nation in the value of agricultural products sold. The state of Minnesota is the U.S.'s biggest producer of sugar beets, sweet corn, and green peas for processing, and farm-raised turkeys. Forestry continues to be strong, as well as pulpwood processing, logging and forest products manufacturing and paper production. Minnesota State was well-known for its soft-ore mines, which produced a huge portion of the globe's iron ore for over a century. Although the high-grade ore is presently depleted, taconite mining continues, utilizing processes locally developed so as to save the industry. In 2004, Minnesota State produced 75 percent of the country's usable iron ore. The mining boom created the port of Duluth that continues to be vital for shipping coal, agricultural products and ore. The manufacturing sector now includes biomedical and technology businesses along with the older food processors and heavy industry. The country's first indoor shopping mall was Edina's Southdale Center and its largest is Bloomington's Mall of America.