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Minneapolis
is the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and
is the county seat of Hennepin County. The city lies
on both banks of the Mississippi River, just north of
the river's confluence with the Minnesota River, and
adjoins Saint Paul, the state's capital. Known as the
Twin Cities, these two cities form the core of Minneapolis-St.
Paul, the sixteenth largest metropolitan area in the
United States, with about 3.2 million residents. The
U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population at
369,051 people in 2006. Minneapolis and the state
of Minnesota celebrate their sesquicentennials in 2008.
The city is abundantly rich in water with
twenty lakes and wetlands, the Mississippi riverfront,
creeks and waterfalls, many connected by parkways in the
Chain of Lakes and the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway. Minneapolis
was once the world's flour milling capital and a hub
for timber, and today is the primary business center
between Chicago, Illinois, and Seattle, Washington. America's
most literate city, Minneapolis has cultural organizations
that draw creative people and audiences to the city for
theater, visual art, writing and music. The community's
diverse population has a long tradition of charitable support
through progressive public social programs and through
private and corporate philanthropy.
The name Minneapolis is attributed to
the city's first schoolmaster, who combined mni, the
Dakota word for water, and polis, the Greek word for
city.Minneapolis is nicknamed the City of Lakes and
the Mill City.
Geography and climate
Glacial meltwaters formed Saint Anthony Falls near
Fort Snelling about ten thousand years ago. Rushing
water undercut sandstone and collapsed limestone, moving
the falls eight miles (13 km) to the northwest.Minneapolis
history and the city's economic growth are tied to water,
the city's defining physical characteristic, which was
sent to the region during the last ice age. Fed by receding
glaciers and Lake Agassiz ten thousand years ago, torrents
of water from a glacial river undercut the Mississippi
and Minnehaha riverbeds, creating waterfalls important
to modern Minneapolis. Lying on an artesian aquifer and
otherwise flat terrain, Minneapolis has a total area
of 58.4 sq mi (151.3 km²) and of this 6% is water.Water
is managed by watershed districts that correspond to
the Mississippi and the city's three creeks. Twelve lakes,
three large ponds and five unnamed wetlands are within
Minneapolis.
Lake Harriet frozen in winter. Ice blocks deposited in
valleys by retreating glaciers created the lakes of
Minneapolis.The city center is located just south
of 45° N latitude.[28] The city's lowest elevation
of 686 ft (209 m) is near where Minnehaha Creek meets
the Mississippi River. The site of the Prospect Park
Water Tower is often cited as the city's highest point[29]
and a placard in Deming Heights Park denotes the highest
elevation, but a spot at 974 ft (296.8 m) in or near
Waite Park in Northeast Minneapolis is corroborated
by Google Earth as the highest ground.
Minneapolis has a continental climate
typical of the Upper Midwestern United States. Winters
can be cold and dry, while summer is comfortably warm
although at times it can be hot and humid. On the Köppen
climate classification, Minneapolis falls in the warm
summer humid continental climate zone. The city
experiences a full range of precipitation and related
weather events, including snow, sleet, ice, rain, thunderstorms,
tornadoes, and fog. The warmest temperature ever recorded
in Minneapolis was 108 °F (42.2 °C) in July
1936, and the coldest temperature ever recorded was
-41 °F (-40.6 °C),
in January 1888. The snowiest winter of record was 1983–84,
when 98.4 in (2.5 m) of snow fell.[30]
Because of its northerly location
in the United States and lack of large bodies of water
to moderate the air, Minneapolis is sometimes subjected
to cold Arctic air masses, especially during late December,
January & February.
The average annual temperature of 45.4 °F (7 °C)
gives the Minneapolis–St.Paul metropolitan area
the coldest annual mean temperature of any major metropolitan
area in the continental U.S.
Dakota tribes, mostly the Mdewakanton,
as early as the 16th century were known as permanent
settlers near their sacred site of St. Anthony Falls.
New settlers arrived during the 1850s and 1860s in Minneapolis
from New England, New York and Canada, and during the
mid-1860s, Scandinavians from Sweden, Finland, Norway,
Denmark, and Iceland began to call the city home. Migrant
workers from Mexico and Latin America also interspersed.
Later, immigrants came from Germany, Italy, Greece, Poland,
and southern and eastern Europe. Jews from Russia and
eastern Europe settled primarily on the north side of
the city before moving in large numbers to the western
suburbs in the 1950s and 1960s. Asians came from
China, the Philippines, Japan, and Korea. Two groups
came for a short while during U.S. government relocations,
Japanese during the 1940s, and Native Americans during
the 1950s. From 1970 onward, Asians arrived from Vietnam,
Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand. Beginning in the 1990s,
a large Latino population arrived, along with refugees
from Africa, especially from Somalia.Into the 21st
century, Minneapolis continues its heritage of welcoming
newcomers. The metropolitan area is an immigrant gateway
with a 127% increase in foreign-born residents between
1990 and 2000."
U.S. Census Bureau estimates in 2006 show the population
of Minneapolis to be 369,051, a 3.5% drop since the 2000
census. The population grew until 1950 when the census
peaked at 521,718, and then declined as people moved
to the suburbs until about 1990. The number of African-Americans,
Asians, and Hispanics is growing. Non-whites are now
about one fifth of the city's residents. Compared
to the U.S. national average in 2005, the city has fewer
white, Hispanic, senior, and unemployed people, while
it has more people aged over 18 and more with a college
degree.[38] Minneapolis has the fourth highest percent
of people who are gay, lesbian or bisexual, with 12.5%.
Compared to a peer group of metropolitan areas in 2000,
Minneapolis-Saint Paul is decentralizing, with individuals
moving in and out frequently and a large young and white
population and low unemployment. Racial and ethnic minorities
lag behind white counterparts in education, with 15%
of black and 13% of Hispanic people holding bachelor's
degrees compared to 42% of the white population. The
standard of living is on the rise, with incomes among
the highest in the Midwest, but median household income
among black people is below that of white by over $17,000.
Regionally, home ownership among black and Hispanic residents
is half that of white though Asian homeownership doubled.
In 2000, the poverty rates included whites at 4.2%, blacks
at 26.2%, Asians at 19.1%, American Indians at 23.2%,
and Hispanics or Latinos at 18.1%.
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