Minnesota
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9correct to beat the crowd
This Minnesota trivia quiz has 127 free questions with answers on the Land of 10,000 Lakes (14,420 of them, in fact). It starts with the basics any Minnesotan should get (the capital, the state bird, where the Mississippi begins, the Mall of America) and moves into history: statehood in 1858, the Dakota War and the Mankato hangings, the flour mills that fed the nation and the iron ore that went out through Duluth. Then it gets to the things Minnesota gave everyone else: Spam from Austin, Post-it notes from 3M, the Honeycrisp apple, water skiing, Bob Dylan and Prince, Peanuts and Lake Wobegon, four Super Bowl losses, two World Series won entirely at home, the Lynx dynasty and the twelve Minnesotans on the Miracle on Ice team. Politics gets a look in too, from the DFL and Hubert Humphrey to a wrestler in the governor's mansion and a governor on a presidential ticket. Easy questions suit visitors and school groups; the later ones will test people who know the Northwest Angle from the Iron Range. Every answer was checked against a reference page and shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 127 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital city of Minnesota?
Saint Paul
Saint Paul is one of Minnesota's 'Twin Cities' and serves as the state capital. It is located on the east bank of the Mississippi River.
Q 02What is Minnesota's best-known state nickname?
The Land of 10,000 Lakes
Minnesota is widely known as 'The Land of 10,000 Lakes,' a nickname that highlights its vast number of lakes, though the actual count is even higher.
Q 03In what year did Minnesota officially become the 32nd U.S. state?
1858
Minnesota was admitted to the Union as the 32nd state on May 11, 1858, following several territorial organizations.
Q 04What is the highest natural point in Minnesota?
Eagle Mountain
Eagle Mountain, in northern Cook County, rises 2,301 feet, yet the state's lowest point on the shore of its great northeastern lake is only 13 miles away.
Q 05Which Minnesota city hosts the Mall of America, one of the largest US malls?
Bloomington
The Mall of America in Bloomington, just south of Minneapolis, covers about 5.6 million square feet and ranks among the largest shopping malls in the United States.
Q 06Which famous medical institution has its main campus located in Rochester, Minnesota?
Mayo Clinic
Founded in Rochester in 1864 by English immigrant William Worrall Mayo, it grew into Minnesota's largest private employer.
Q 07What is the official state bird of Minnesota?
Common Loon
Common Loon calls echo across the state's many lakes; it was designated in 1961 and also appears on the state seal and the Minnesota quarter.
Q 08The Mississippi begins its journey from its headwaters at which Minnesota body of water?
Lake Itasca
Lake Itasca, located within Itasca State Park, is recognized as the official source of the Mississippi River.
Q 09What is the official state flower of Minnesota?
Showy Lady's Slipper
The showy lady's slipper orchid, adopted in 1902 and protected since 1925, is illegal to pick or uproot anywhere in the state.
Q 10What does Minnesota's state motto, 'L'Étoile du Nord,' mean in English?
The Star of the North
'L'Étoile du Nord' is a French phrase that translates to 'The Star of the North,' reflecting Minnesota's status as the northernmost contiguous state in the U.S.
Q 11Which body of water forms Minnesota's northeastern border and is also its lowest elevation point?
Lake Superior
The shoreline sits at 601 feet, and the state's highest point is only 13 miles away; the lake also gives Minnesota a water boundary with Michigan.
Q 12Which million-acre Minnesota wilderness adjoins Ontario's Quetico Provincial Park?
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), located in the Superior National Forest, is a vast wilderness renowned for its water-based recreational opportunities like canoeing.
Q 13The name 'Minnesota' comes from a Dakota word usually translated as what?
Clear blue water
Q 21How many Dakota men were hanged at Mankato in December 1862 after the six-week Dakota War?
38
It remains the largest mass execution in US history; Governor Ramsey had put a $25 bounty on Dakota scalps.
Q 22Which isolated corner of Minnesota is the only part of the lower 48 states north of the 49th parallel?
The Northwest Angle
The Northwest Angle, in Lake of the Woods County, sits north of the 49th parallel because of a 1783 treaty mapping error; by road it is reached only through Manitoba.
Q 23By 1900, Minneapolis mills led by Pillsbury and Washburn-Crosby ground what share of the nation's grain?
14.1%
By 1900 Minneapolis mills, powered by St. Anthony Falls, ground 14.1 percent of the nation's grain; Washburn-Crosby is the ancestor of General Mills.
Minnesota comes from the Dakota Mní Sóta, usually rendered 'clear blue water' or 'sky-tinted water'; the 2024 state seal carries the phrase Mni Sóta Makoce, the Dakota name for the land.
Q 14Which Minnesota city is nicknamed the 'Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas'?
Duluth
Duluth got 'Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas' from newspaperman Thomas Preston Foster in an 1868 Fourth of July speech; its Aerial Lift Bridge spans the ship canal into the Lake Superior harbor.
Q 15The Minnesota Historical Society, dedicated to preserving the state's history, was founded in what year?
1849
The Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) was established by the territorial legislature in 1849, nearly a decade before Minnesota achieved statehood.
Q 16Which of these U.S. states does NOT share a border with Minnesota?
Illinois
Illinois sits across Wisconsin and Iowa from Minnesota; the land neighbours are Wisconsin, Iowa and the two Dakotas, plus Manitoba and Ontario to the north, with a water boundary with Michigan across Lake Superior.
Q 17The Mall of America was built on the former site of what important Minnesota landmark?
Metropolitan Stadium
Both the Vikings and the Twins played there until 1982, when they moved indoors to the Metrodome.
Q 18Which professional sports league features the Minnesota Wild?
NHL
The Minnesota Wild is the professional ice hockey team representing Minnesota in the National Hockey League (NHL).
Q 19The Guthrie Theater, a prominent regional theater, is located in which Minnesota city?
Minneapolis
The Guthrie Theater opened in Minneapolis in 1963 and moved in 2006 into a Jean Nouvel-designed three-stage building overlooking the Mississippi River.
Q 20Which waterway, flowing towards Hudson Bay, forms most of Minnesota's western boundary?
Red River of the North
The Red River of the North flows north through Lake Winnipeg toward Hudson Bay and forms the Minnesota–North Dakota line; Fargo-Moorhead and Grand Forks-East Grand Forks straddle it.
Q 24Which Minnesota-based company is the largest privately owned company in the United States?
Cargill
Carlson, another private Minnesota firm, is the parent of Radisson Hotels; Target, 3M, UnitedHealth and General Mills are among the public giants.
Q 25The nation's first indoor shopping mall opened in which Minnesota suburb?
Edina
Southdale Center opened in Edina in 1956 as the nation's first fully enclosed, climate-controlled shopping mall, designed by Victor Gruen.
Q 26Aviator Charles Lindbergh spent his boyhood in which Minnesota town on the Mississippi?
Little Falls
Charles Lindbergh grew up on a farm at Little Falls; the boyhood home of the 1927 solo transatlantic flier is now a state historic site.
Q 27In 1984, Minnesota was the only state carried by which Democratic presidential nominee?
Walter Mondale
Walter Mondale, a Minnesotan, carried only his home state and the District of Columbia in 1984 as Ronald Reagan won the other 49 states.
Q 28What hyphenated suffix does Minnesota's state Democratic Party carry in its name?
Farmer-Labor
The DFL was formed in a 1944 merger of the Democratic and Farmer-Labor parties, and Hubert Humphrey was its great early figure.
Q 29Which former professional wrestler was elected governor of Minnesota in 1998 on the Reform Party ticket?
Jesse Ventura
Jesse Ventura, previously mayor of Brooklyn Park, won the 1998 governor's race on the Reform Party line with about 37 percent of the vote in a three-way contest.
Q 30Which Minnesota governor was Kamala Harris's running mate in the 2024 election?
Tim Walz
Tim Walz, a DFLer who became governor in January 2019, was chosen by Kamala Harris as her running mate in August 2024; the Harris–Walz ticket lost to Trump and Vance.