Minnesota

Minnesota is a midwestern U.S. state,famously home to more than 10,000 lakes, including Lake Itasca, headwaters of the Mississippi River.Minnesota is the12th largest in areaand the21st most populousof the U.S. states; nearly 60 percent of its residents live in theMinneapolis–Saint Paulmetropolitan area(known as the "Twin Cities"), the center of transportation, business, industry, education, and government and home to an internationally known arts community. The remainder of the state consists of westernprairiesnow given over to intensive agriculture;deciduousforests in the southeast, now partially cleared, farmed and settled; and the less populatedNorth Woods, used for mining, forestry, and recreation.