North Dakota () is a
U.S. state in the
Upper Midwest, named after the
indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of
Saskatchewan and
Manitoba
Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
to the north and by the U.S. states of
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...
to the east,
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...
to the south, and
Montana to the west. It is believed to host the geographic center of North America,
Rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
, and is home to the tallest man-made structure in the
Western Hemisphere, the
KVLY-TV mast.
North Dakota is the
19th largest state, but with a population of less than 780,000
as of 2020, it is the
4th least populous and
4th most sparsely populated. The capital is
Bismarck while the largest city is
Fargo, which accounts for nearly a fifth of the state's population; both cities are among the fastest-growing in the U.S., although half of all residents live in rural areas. The state is part of the
Great Plains region, with broad
prairies,
steppe
In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes.
Steppe biomes may include:
* the montane grasslands and shrublands biome
* the temperate gras ...
, temperate
savanna
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland- grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground ...
,
badlands
Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded."Badlands" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 47. They are characterized by steep slopes, mi ...
, and farmland being defining characteristics.
What is now North Dakota was inhabited for thousands of years by various Native American tribes, including the
Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara along the
Missouri River; the
Ojibwa and
Cree in the northeast; and several Sioux groups (the
Assiniboine,
Yankton,
Wahpeton, and
Teton) across the rest of the state. European explorers and traders first arrived in the early 18th century, mostly in pursuit of lucrative furs. The United States acquired the region in the early 19th century, gradually settling it amid
growing resistance by increasingly displaced natives.
The
Dakota Territory, established in 1861, became central to
American pioneers, with the
Homestead Act of 1862
The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than of public land, or nearly 10 percent of ...
precipitating significant population growth and development. The traditional fur trade declined in favor of farming, particularly of wheat; the subsequent Dakota Boom from 1878 to 1886 saw giant farms stretched across the rolling prairies, with the territory becoming a key breadbasket and regional economic engine. The
Northern Pacific and
Great Northern Great Northern may refer to:
Transport
* One of a number of railways; see Great Northern Railway (disambiguation).
* Great Northern Railway (U.S.), a defunct American transcontinental railroad and major predecessor of the BNSF Railway.
* Great ...
railway companies competed for access to lucrative grain centers; farmers banded together in political and socioeconomic alliances that were core to the broader
Populist Movement of the Midwest.
North Dakota was
admitted to the Union on November 2, 1889, along with neighboring
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...
, as the 39th and 40th states. President
Benjamin Harrison shuffled the statehood papers before signing them so that no one could tell which became a state first; consequently, the two states are officially numbered in alphabetical order. Statehood marked the gradual winding down of the pioneer period, with the state fully settled by around 1920. Subsequent decades saw a rise in radical agrarian movements and economic cooperatives, of which one legacy is the
Bank of North Dakota, the only state-run bank in the U.S.
Beginning in the mid 20th century, North Dakota's rich
natural resources became more critical to economic development; into the 21st century,
oil extraction from the
Bakken formation in the northwest has played a
major role in the state's prosperity. Such development has led to unprecedented population growth (along with high birth rates) and reduced unemployment, with North Dakota having the
second lowest unemployment rate in the U.S. (after
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
).
It ranks relatively well in metrics such as infrastructure, quality of life, economic opportunity, and public safety.
History
Pre-colonial history
Native American people lived in what is now North Dakota for thousands of years before the coming of Europeans. The known tribes included the
Mandan people
The Mandan are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains who have lived for centuries primarily in what is now North Dakota. They are enrolled in the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. About half of the Mandan still re ...
(from around the 11th century),
[Wood, W. Raymond and Thomas D. Thiessen: ''Early Fur Trade On The Northern Plains. Canadian Traders Among the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians, 1738–1818.'' Norman and London, 1987, p. 5.] while the first
Hidatsa
The Hidatsa are a Siouan people. They are enrolled in the federally recognized Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Their language is related to that of the Crow, and they are sometimes considered a paren ...
group arrived a few hundred years later. They both assembled in villages on tributaries of the Missouri River in what would become west-central North Dakota.
Crow Indians
The Crow, whose autonym is Apsáalooke (), also spelled Absaroka, are Native Americans living primarily in southern Montana. Today, the Crow people have a federally recognized tribe, the Crow Tribe of Montana, with an Indian reservation locate ...
traveled the plains from the west to visit and trade with the related Hidatsas
after the split between them, probably in the 17th century.
Later came divisions of the
Dakota people: the
Lakota, the
Santee and the
Yanktonai. The
Assiniboine and the
Plains Cree undertook southward journeys to the village Indians, either for trade or for war.
The
Shoshone Indians in present-day Wyoming and Montana may have carried out attacks on Indian enemies as far east as the Missouri. A group of
Cheyennes lived in a village of earth lodges at the lower
Sheyenne River (
Biesterfeldt Site) for decades in the 18th century.
Due to attacks by Crees, Assiniboines and
Chippewas armed with fire weapons, they left the area around 1780 and crossed Missouri some time after. A band of the few
Sotaio Indians lived east of Missouri River and met the uprooted Cheyennes before the end of the century. They soon followed the Cheyennes across Missouri and lived among them south of
Cannonball River.
Eventually, the Cheyenne and the Sutaio became one tribe and turned into mounted buffalo hunters with ranges mainly outside North Dakota. Before the middle of the 19th century, the
Arikara entered the future state from the south and joined the Mandan and Hidatsa. With time, a number of Indians entered into treaties with the United States. Many of the treaties defined the territory of a specific tribe.
European exploration and colonization
The first European to reach the area was the
French-Canadian trader
Pierre Gaultier, sieur de La Vérendrye, who led an exploration and trading party to the
Mandan
The Mandan are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains who have lived for centuries primarily in what is now North Dakota. They are enrolled in the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. About half of the Mandan still re ...
villages in 1738 guided by Assiniboine Indians.
From 1762 to 1802, the region formed part of
Spanish Louisiana.
Settlement and statehood
European Americans settled in Dakota Territory only sparsely until the late 19th century, when railroads opened up the region. With the advantage of grants of land, they vigorously marketed their properties, extolling the region as ideal for agriculture.
Differences between the northern and southern part caused resentments between the settlers. The northern part was seen by the more populated southern part as somewhat disreputable, "too much controlled by the wild folks, cattle ranchers, fur traders” and too frequently the site of conflict with the indigenous population. The northern part was generally content with remaining a territory. However, following the territorial capital being moved from
Yankton in the southern part to Bismarck, the southern part began to call for division. Finally, at the 1887 territorial election, the voters approved splitting the territory into two. The division was done by the seventh standard parallel.
Congress passed an omnibus bill for statehood for North Dakota,
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...
,
Montana, and
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, titled the
Enabling Act of 1889, on February 22, 1889, during the administration of President
Grover Cleveland. His successor,
Benjamin Harrison, signed the proclamations formally admitting North Dakota and South Dakota to the Union on November 2, 1889.
The rivalry between the two new states presented a dilemma of which was to be admitted first. Harrison directed Secretary of State
James G. Blaine
James Gillespie Blaine (January 31, 1830January 27, 1893) was an American statesman and Republican politician who represented Maine in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1863 to 1876, serving as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representati ...
to shuffle the papers and obscure from him which he was signing first. The actual order went unrecorded, thus no one knows which of the Dakotas was admitted first.
However, since ''North Dakota'' alphabetically appears before ''South Dakota'', its proclamation was published first in the Statutes At Large.
20th and 21st centuries
Unrest among wheat farmers, especially among Norwegian
immigrants, led to a populist political movement centered in the
Non Partisan League
The Nonpartisan League (NPL) was a left-wing political party founded in 1915 in North Dakota by Arthur C. Townley, a former organizer for the Socialist Party of America. On behalf of small farmers and merchants, the Nonpartisan League advocat ...
("NPL") around the time of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
. The NPL ran candidates on the Republican ticket (but merged into the
Democratic Party after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
). It tried to insulate North Dakota from the power of out-of-state banks and corporations.
In addition to founding the state-owned
Bank of North Dakota and
North Dakota Mill and Elevator
The North Dakota Mill and Elevator is the largest flour mill in the United States. It is located in the city of Grand Forks, North Dakota. Established by the state government when it was led by Nonpartisan League representatives, it is the only ...
(both still in existence), the NPL established a state-owned railroad line (later sold to the
Soo Line Railroad). Anti-corporate laws virtually prohibited a corporation or bank from owning title to land zoned as farmland. These laws, still in force today, after having been upheld by state and federal courts, make it almost impossible to foreclose on farmland, as even after foreclosure, the property title cannot be held by a bank or mortgage company.
Furthermore, the Bank of North Dakota, having powers similar to a Federal Reserve branch bank, exercised its power to limit the issuance of subprime mortgages and their collateralization in the form of derivative instruments, and so prevented a collapse of housing prices within the state in the wake of 2008's financial crisis.
The original
North Dakota State Capitol in Bismarck burned to the ground on December 28, 1930. It was replaced by a
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...
-faced
art-deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
skyscraper that still stands today.
A round of federal investment and construction projects began in the 1950s, including the
Garrison Dam and the
Minot
Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the ...
and
Grand Forks
Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city ...
Air Force bases.
Western North Dakota saw a boom in oil exploration in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as rising petroleum prices made development profitable.
This boom came to an end after petroleum prices declined.
In recent years, the state has had lower rates of unemployment than the national average, and increased job and population growth.
Much of the growth has been based on development of the
Bakken oil fields in the western part of the state.
Estimates as to the remaining amount of oil in the area vary, with some estimating over 100 years' worth.
For decades, North Dakota's annual murder and violent crime rates were regularly the lowest in the United States. In recent years, however, while still below the national average, crime has risen sharply. In 2016, the violent crime rate was three times higher than in 2004, with the rise occurring mostly in the late 2000s, coinciding with the oil boom era. This happened at a time when the national violent crime rate declined slightly. Workers in the oil boom towns have been blamed for much of the increase.
Geography
North Dakota is located in the
Upper Midwest region of the United States. It lies at the center of the
North American continent and borders
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
to the north. The geographic center of North America is near the town of
Center.
Bismarck is the capital of North Dakota, and
Fargo is the largest city.
Soil is North Dakota's most precious resource. It is the base of the state's great agricultural wealth. North Dakota also has enormous mineral resources. These mineral resources include billions of tons of lignite coal. In addition, North Dakota has large oil reserves. Petroleum was discovered in the state in 1951 and quickly became one of North Dakota's most valuable mineral resources. In the early 2000s, the emergence of hydraulic fracturing technologies enabled mining companies to extract huge amounts of oil from the Bakken shale rock formation in the western part of the state.
North Dakota's economy is based more heavily on farming than the economies of most other states. Many North Dakota factories process farm products or manufacture farm equipment. Many of the state's merchants also rely on agriculture.
Farms and ranches cover nearly all of North Dakota. They stretch from the flat Red River Valley in the east, across rolling plains, to the rugged Badlands in the west. The chief crop, wheat, is grown in nearly every county. North Dakota harvests more than 90 percent of the nation's canola and flaxseed. It is also the country's top producer of barley and sunflower seeds and a leader in the production of beans, honey, lentils, oats, peas, and sugar beets.
Few white settlers came to the North Dakota region before the 1870s because railroads had not yet entered the area. During the early 1870s, the Northern Pacific Railroad began to push across the Dakota Territory. Large-scale farming also began during the 1870s. Eastern corporations and some families established huge wheat farms covering large areas of land in the Red River Valley. The farms made such enormous profits they were called bonanza farms. White settlers, attracted by the success of the bonanza farms, flocked to North Dakota, rapidly increasing the territory's population. In 1870, North Dakota had 2,405 people. By 1890, the population had grown to 190,983.
North Dakota was named for the Sioux people who once lived in the territory. The Sioux called themselves Dakota or Lakota, meaning allies or friends. One of North Dakota's nicknames is the Peace Garden State. This nickname honors the
International Peace Garden, which lies on the state's border with Manitoba, Canada. North Dakota is also called the Flickertail State because of the many flickertail ground squirrels (
Richardson's ground squirrel) that live in the central part of the state.
North Dakota is in the U.S. region known as the
Great Plains. The state shares the
Red River of the North with
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...
to the east.
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...
is to the south,
Montana is to the west, and the Canadian provinces of
Saskatchewan and
Manitoba
Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
are to the north. North Dakota is near the middle of
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
with a stone marker in
Rugby, North Dakota marking the "Geographic Center of the North American Continent". With an area of , of which is land, North Dakota is the 19th largest state.
The western half of the state consists of the hilly
Great Plains as well as the northern part of the
Badlands
Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded."Badlands" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 47. They are characterized by steep slopes, mi ...
, which are to the west of the
Missouri River. The state's high point,
White Butte
White Butte is the highest natural point in the U.S. state of North Dakota. At an elevation of 3,506 ft (1,069 m), it is a prominent butte in Slope County, in the Badlands of the southwestern part of the state. It is located east of U.S. ...
at , and
Theodore Roosevelt National Park are in the Badlands. The region is abundant in
fossil fuels including
natural gas,
crude oil and
lignite coal. The
Missouri River forms
Lake Sakakawea, the third largest artificial lake in the United States, behind the
Garrison Dam.
The central region of the state is divided into the
Drift Prairie and the
Missouri Plateau. The eastern part of the state consists of the flat
Red River Valley, the bottom of glacial
Lake Agassiz
Lake Agassiz was a large glacial lake in central North America. Fed by glacial meltwater at the end of the last glacial period, its area was larger than all of the modern Great Lakes combined.
First postulated in 1823 by William H. Keating, i ...
. Its fertile soil, drained by the meandering
Red River flowing northward into
Lake Winnipeg
Lake Winnipeg (french: Lac Winnipeg, oj, ᐑᓂᐸᑲᒥᐠᓴᑯ˙ᑯᐣ, italics=no, Weenipagamiksaguygun) is a very large, relatively shallow lake in North America, in the province of Manitoba, Canada. Its southern end is about north of ...
, supports a large agriculture industry.
Devils Lake, the largest natural lake in the state, is also found in the east.
Most of the state is covered in
grassland; crops cover most of eastern North Dakota but become increasingly sparse in the center and farther west. Natural trees in North Dakota are found usually where there is good drainage, such as the ravines and valley near the Pembina Gorge and Killdeer Mountains, the Turtle Mountains, the hills around Devils Lake, in the dunes area of McHenry County in central North Dakota, and along the Sheyenne Valley slopes and the Sheyenne delta. This diverse terrain supports nearly 2,000 species of plants.
Climate
North Dakota has a
continental climate with warm summers and cold winters. The temperature differences are significant because of its far inland position and being roughly equal distance from the North Pole and the Equator. The variation between monthly highest and lowest temperatures range from 94 °F (52 °C) in June to 138 °F (76 °C) in March.
Demographics
Population
At the 2021 estimate North Dakota's population was 774,948 on July 1, 2021, a 0.53% decrease since the
2020 United States census
The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to off ...
.
This makes North Dakota the U.S. state with the largest percentage in population growth since 2011. North Dakota is the fourth least-populous state in the country; only
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...
,
Vermont
Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...
, and
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to t ...
have fewer residents.
From fewer than 2,000 people in 1870, North Dakota's population grew to near 680,000 by 1930. Growth then slowed, and the population has fluctuated slightly over the past seven decades, hitting a low of 617,761 in the 1970 census, with 642,200 in the 2000 census.
Except for
Native Americans, the North Dakota population has a lesser percentage of minorities than in the nation as a whole.
As of 2011, 20.7% of North Dakota's population younger than age1 were minorities. The
center of population of North Dakota is in
Wells County, near
Sykeston.
Race and ethnicity
''Note: Births in table don't add up, because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving a higher overall number''.
''Since 2016, data for births of
White Hispanic origin are not collected, but included in one Hispanic group; persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.''
Throughout the mid-19th century, Dakota Territory was still dominated by Native Americans; warfare and disease reduced their population at the same time Europeans and Americans were settling in the area. Throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century, North Dakota, along with most of the Midwest U.S., experienced a mass influx of newcomers from both the eastern United States and immigrants from Europe. North Dakota was a known popular destination for immigrant farmers and general laborers and their families, mostly from
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...
,
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
and the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
. Much of this settlement gravitated throughout the western side of the
Red River Valley, as was similarly seen in South Dakota and in a parallel manner in Minnesota. This area is well known for its fertile lands. By the outbreak of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, this was among North America's richest farming regions. But a period of higher rainfall ended, and many migrants weren't successful in the arid conditions. Many family plots were too small to farm successfully.
From the 1930s until the end of the 20th century, North Dakota's population gradually declined, interrupted by a couple of brief increases. Young adults with university degrees were particularly likely to leave the state. With the advancing process of mechanization of agricultural practices, and environmental conditions requiring larger landholdings for successful agriculture, subsistence farming proved to be too risky for families. Many people moved to urban areas for jobs.
Since the late 20th century, one of the major causes of migration from North Dakota is the lack of skilled jobs for college graduates. Expansion of economic development programs has been urged to create skilled and high-tech jobs, but the effectiveness of such programs has been open to debate. During the first decade of the 21st century, the population increased in large part because of jobs in the oil industry related to development of
unconventional tight oil (shale oil) fields. Elsewhere, the Native American population has increased as some reservations have attracted people back from urban areas.
According to the
2010 U.S. census, the racial and ethnic composition of North Dakota was 88.7%
non-Hispanic white, 5.4%
Native American, 1.2%
Black or African American, 1.0%
Asian, 0.1%
Pacific Islander, 0.5% some other race, and 0.2% from
two or more races
2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultur ...
. At the 2019
American Community Survey, North Dakota's racial and ethnic makeup was 83.6% non-Hispanic white, 2.9% Black or African American, 5.0% Native American and Alaska Native, 1.4% Asian, 0.4% Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, 0.1% some other race, 2.7% multiracial, and 4.0%
Hispanic or Latin American of any race.
North Dakota is one of the top resettlement locations for refugees proportionally. According to the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, in 2013–2014 "more than 68 refugees" per 100,000 North Dakotans were settled in the state. In fiscal year 2014, 582 refugees settled in the state. Fargo Mayor Mahoney said North Dakota accepting the most refugees per capita should be celebrated given the benefits they bring to the state. In 2015, Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, the state's only resettlement agency, was "awarded $458,090 in federal funding to improve refugee services". 29.8% of immigrants in North Dakota are from Africa leading to a rapid increase in the black proportion of the population in recent decades from 0.6% in 2000 to 3.9% in 2020.
Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 3,323 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 21,110 people.
Of the residents of North Dakota in 2009, 69.8% were born in North Dakota, 27.2% were born in a different state, 0.6% were born in Puerto Rico, U.S. Island areas, or born abroad to American parent(s), and 2.4% were born in another country. The age and gender distributions approximate the national average. In 2019, 4.1% were foreign-born residents.
Languages
In 2010, 94.86% (584,496) of North Dakotans over 5 years old spoke
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
as their
primary language. 5.14% (31,684) of North Dakotans spoke a language other than English. 1.39% (8,593) spoke
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
, 1.37% (8,432) spoke
Spanish, and 0.30% (1,847) spoke
Norwegian. Other languages spoken included
Serbo-Croatian (0.19%),
Chinese and
Japanese (both 0.15%), and
Native American languages and
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
(both 0.13%). In 2000, 2.5% of the population spoke German in addition to English, reflecting early 20th century immigration.
Religion
The
Pew Research Center determined 77% of the adult population was
Christian in 2014.
In contrast with many southern U.S. states,
mainline Protestantism was the largest form of Protestantism practiced (28%). The largest mainline Protestant denomination in North Dakota was the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the
United Methodist Church was the second largest. Evangelical Protestants, forming the second largest Protestant branch (22%), were also dominated by Lutherans; the
Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod was the largest Evangelical denomination. Among the Christian population of North Dakota, the Roman Catholic Church was the single largest Christian denomination. According to the
Public Religion Research Institute
The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) is an American nonprofit, nonpartisan research and education organization that conducts public opinion polls on a variety of topics, specializing in the quantitative and qualitative study of politic ...
in 2020, 75% of the adult population were Christian, with mainline Protestantism remaining the majority and
evangelical Protestantism
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "born again", in which an individual experi ...
at 18% of the population.
Per the Pew Research Center in 2014, non-Christian religions accounted for 3% of the adult population, with
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...
being the largest non-Christian religion. Other faiths such as
Unitarians and
New Agers collectively made up 1% of the practicing population. At the 2014 survey, 20% were unaffiliated with any religion, and 2% of North Dakotans were atheist; 13% of the population practiced nothing in particular.
The 2020 Public Religion Research Institute's survey determined 22% were unaffiliated with any religion.
The largest church bodies by number of adherents in 2010 were the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
with 167,349; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America with 163,209; and the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod with 22,003.
In 2006, North Dakota had the most churches per capita of any state.
Additionally, North Dakota had the highest percentage of church-going population of any state in 2006.
A 2001 survey indicated 35% of North Dakota's population was
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...
, and 30% was Catholic. Other religious groups represented were
Methodists (7%),
Baptists (6%), the
Assemblies of God (3%),
Presbyterians (1.27%), and
Jehovah's Witnesses (1%). Christians with unstated or other denominational affiliations, including other
Protestants and
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
(LDS Church), totaled 3%, bringing the total Christian population to 86%. There were an estimated 920 Muslims and 730 Jews in the state in 2000. Three percent of respondents answered "no religion" on the survey, and 6% declined to answer.
Economy
Agriculture is North Dakota's largest industry, although petroleum,
food processing, and technology are also major industries. Its growth rate is about 4.1%. According to the
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis the economy of North Dakota had a gross domestic product of $55.180 billion in the second quarter of 2018. The per capita income for the state was $34,256, when measured from 2013 to 2017 by the United States Department of Commerce.
The three-year
median household income from 2013 to 2017 was $61,285.
According to
Gallup
Gallup may refer to:
* Gallup, Inc., a firm founded by George Gallup, well known for its opinion poll
* Gallup (surname), a surname
*Gallup, New Mexico, a city in New Mexico, United States
** Gallup station, an Amtrak train in downtown Gallup, New ...
data, North Dakota led the U.S. in job creation in 2013 and has done so since 2009. The state has a
Job Creation Index score of 40, nearly 10 points ahead of its nearest competitors.
North Dakota has added 56,600 private-sector jobs since 2011, creating an annual growth rate of 7.32 percent.
According to statistics released in December 2020, by the
Bureau of Economic Analysis, North Dakota had the highest rate of annual growth in personal consumption expenditures of all 50 states, from 2009-2018.
During this time period, annual nominal personal income growth averaged 6% per year, compared to the U.S. average of 4.4%. North Dakota's personal income growth is tied to various private business sectors such as agriculture, energy development, and construction.
North Dakota also had the highest growth in personal expenditures on housing and utilities of all states, reflecting the sharply increased demand for housing in the 2010s.
Just over 21% of North Dakota's total 2013 gross domestic product (GDP) of $49.77 billion comes from natural resources and mining.
North Dakota is the only state with a
state-owned
State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public owne ...
bank, the
Bank of North Dakota in
Bismarck, and a state-owned
flour mill, the
North Dakota Mill and Elevator
The North Dakota Mill and Elevator is the largest flour mill in the United States. It is located in the city of Grand Forks, North Dakota. Established by the state government when it was led by Nonpartisan League representatives, it is the only ...
in
Grand Forks
Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city ...
. These were established by the NPL before World War II.
As of 2012, Fargo is home to the second-largest campus of
Microsoft with 1,700 employees, and
Amazon.com employs several hundred in Grand Forks.
, the state's
unemployment rate is among the lowest in the nation at 2.4 percent. With the exception of a five-month period in 2020, the unemployment rate remained below five percent, each month since 1987. At end of 2010, the state per capita income was ranked 17th in the nation, the biggest increase of any state in a decade from rank 38th. The reduction in the unemployment rate and growth in per capita income is attributable to the
oil boom in the state.
Due to a combination of oil-related development and investing in technology and service industries, North Dakota has had a budget surplus every year since the 2008 market crash.
Since 1976, the highest that North Dakota's unemployment rate has reached is just 6.2%, recorded in 1983. Every U.S. state except neighboring South Dakota has had a higher unemployment rate during that period.
Agriculture
North Dakota's earliest industries were
fur trading and agriculture. Although less than 10% of the population is employed in the agricultural sector, it remains a major part of the state's economy. With industrial-scale farming, it ranks 9th in the nation in the value of crops and 18th in total value of agricultural products sold. Large farms generate the most crops. The share of people in the state employed in agriculture is comparatively high: , only two to three percent of the population of the United States is directly employed in agriculture. North Dakota has about 90% of its land area in farms with of cropland, the third-largest amount in the nation. Between 2002 and 2007, total cropland increased by about a million acres (4,000 km
2); North Dakota was the only state showing an increase. Over the same period, were shifted into soybean and corn monoculture production, the largest such shift in the United States.
[United States Department of Agriculture (December 2009)]
''2007 Census of Agriculture''
. 1. Part 51. pp. 276–293, pp. 345–355, p. 434, pp. 474–489. Agriculturalists are concerned about too much monoculture, as it makes the economy at risk from insect or crop diseases affecting a major crop. In addition, this development has adversely affected habitats of wildlife and birds, and the balance of the ecosystem.
The state is the largest producer in the U.S. of many cereal grains, including
barley (36% of U.S. crop),
durum wheat (58%), hard red spring wheat (48%),
oats (17%), and combined wheat of all types (15%). It is the second leading producer of
buckwheat
Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum''), or common buckwheat, is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. The name "buckwheat" is used for several other species, such as ''Fagop ...
(20%). , corn became the state's largest crop produced, although it is only 2% of total U.S. production.
The
Corn Belt extends to North Dakota but is more on the edge of the region instead of in its center. Corn yields are high in the southeast part of the state and smaller in other parts of the state. Most of the cereal grains are grown for livestock
feed.
The state is the leading producer of many oilseeds, including 92% of the U.S.
canola crop, 94% of
flax seed, 53% of
sunflower seeds, 18% of
safflower seeds, and 62% of
mustard seed. Canola is suited to the cold winters and it matures fast. Processing of canola for oil production produces canola meal as a by-product. The by-product is a high-protein animal feed.
Soybeans are also an increasingly important crop, with additional planted between 2002 and 2007.
Soybeans are a major crop in the eastern part of the state, and cultivation is common in the southeast part of the state. Soybeans were not grown at all in North Dakota in the 1940s, but the crop has become especially common since 1998. In North Dakota soybeans have to mature fast, because of the comparatively short
growing season. Soybeans are grown for livestock feed.
North Dakota is the second leading producer of
sugarbeets, which are grown mostly in the
Red River Valley. The state is also the largest producer of honey, dry edible peas and beans,
lentil
The lentil (''Lens culinaris'' or ''Lens esculenta'') is an edible legume. It is an annual plant known for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each. As a food crop, the largest p ...
s, and the third-largest producer of potatoes.
North Dakota's Top Agricultural Commodities (according to the USDA )
Energy
The
energy industry is a major contributor to the economy. North Dakota has both coal and oil reserves. On average, the state's production of oil production grew at average annual rate of 48.4% from 2009-2018. During these years, oil production increased each year from 2009 to 2015, with 2016 marked by a slight decline and a return to growth since.
Shale gas is also produced.
Lignite coal reserves in Western North Dakota are used to generate about 90% of the electricity consumed, and electricity is also exported to nearby states. North Dakota has the second largest lignite coal production in the U.S. However, lignite coal is the lowest grade coal. There are larger and higher grade coal reserves (
anthracite,
bituminous coal and
subbituminous coal) in other U.S. states.
Oil was discovered near
Tioga in 1951, generating of oil a year by 1984. Recoverable oil reserves have jumped dramatically recently. The oil reserves of the
Bakken Formation may hold up to of oil, 25 times larger than the reserves in the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR or Arctic Refuge) is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska, United States on traditional Gwich'in lands. It consists of in the Alaska North Slope region. It is the largest national wildli ...
. A report issued in April 2008 by the U.S. Geological Survey estimates the oil recoverable by current technology in the Bakken formation is two orders of magnitude less, in the range of to , with a mean of .
The northwestern part of the state is the center of the
North Dakota oil boom. The
Williston,
Tioga,
Stanley and
Minot
Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the ...
-
Burlington communities are having rapid growth that strains housing and local services. , the state is the 2nd-largest oil producer in the U.S., with an average of per day.
The
Great Plains region, which includes the state of North Dakota, has been referred to as "the Saudi Arabia of wind energy". Development of wind energy in North Dakota has been cost effective because the state has large rural expanses and wind speeds seldom go below .
Tourism
North Dakota is considered the least visited state, owing, in part, to its not having a major tourist attraction.
Nonetheless, tourism is North Dakota's third largest industry, contributing more than $3 billion into the state's economy annually. Outdoor attractions like the 144-mile (232-km)
Maah Daah Hey Trail and activities like fishing and hunting attract visitors. The state is known for the Lewis & Clark Trail and being the winter camp of the Corps of Discovery. Areas popular with visitors include
Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the western part of the state. The park often exceeds 475,000 visitors each year.
Regular events in the state that attract tourists include ''
Norsk Høstfest
Norsk Høstfest (Norwegian language: "''Norwegian Autumn Festival''") is an annual festival held each fall in Minot, North Dakota, US. It is North America's largest Scandinavian festival.
History
The event is held on the North Dakota State Fair gr ...
'' in
Minot
Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the ...
, billed as North America's largest
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and S ...
n festival; the
Medora Musical; and the
North Dakota State Fair. The state also receives a significant number of visitors from the neighboring Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, particularly when the exchange rate is favorable.
International tourists now also come to visit the
Oscar-Zero Missile Alert Facility.
Health care
North Dakota has six level-II
trauma centers, 44
hospitals, 52 rural health
clinics, and 80
nursing homes. Major provider networks include
Sanford Sanford may refer to:
People
*Sanford (given name), including a list of people with the name
*Sanford (surname), including a list of people with the name
Places United States
* Sanford, Alabama, a town in Covington County
* Sanford, Colorado ...
,
St. Alexius,
Trinity, and
Altru.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota Noridian Mutual Insurance Company is an insurer headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota, United States. It offers health, dental, and life insurance, under several brands, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota, which is the largest health ...
is the largest medical insurer in the state. North Dakota expanded
Medicaid in 2014, and its
health insurance exchange
In the United States, health insurance marketplaces, also called health exchanges, are organizations in each state through which people can purchase health insurance. People can purchase health insurance that complies with the Patient Protecti ...
is the federal site,
HealthCare.gov.
North Dakota law requires pharmacies, other than hospital dispensaries and pre-existing stores, to be majority-owned by pharmacists. Voters rejected a proposal to change the law in 2014.
Culture
American Indian Nations
In the 21st century, North Dakota has an increasing population of Native Americans, who in 2010 made up 5.44% of the population. By the early 19th century the territory was dominated by Siouan-speaking peoples, whose territory stretched west from the Great Lakes area. The word "Dakota" is a Sioux (Lakota/Dakota) word meaning "allies" or "friends".
The primary historic tribal nations in or around North Dakota, are the Lakota and the Dakota ("
The Great Sioux Nation" or "Oceti Sakowin", meaning the seven council fires), the
Blackfoot, the
Cheyenne, the
Chippewa (known as
Ojibwe in Canada), and the
Mandan
The Mandan are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains who have lived for centuries primarily in what is now North Dakota. They are enrolled in the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. About half of the Mandan still re ...
. There are six
Indian reservations in North Dakota--
Spirit Lake Tribe,
Standing Rock Indian Reservation,
Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate,
Fort Berthold Indian Reservation,
Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation, and
The Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation.
Pow wows
Social gatherings known as "
powwows" (or wacipis in Lakota/Dakota) continue to be an important part of Native American culture and are held regularly throughout the state. Throughout Native American history, powwows were held, usually in the spring, to rejoice at the beginning of new life and the end of the winter cold. These events brought Native American tribes together for singing and dancing and allowed them to meet with old friends and acquaintances, as well as to make new ones. Many powwows also held religious significance for some tribes. Today, powwows are still a part of the Native American culture and are attended by Natives and non-Natives alike. In North Dakota, the United Tribes International Powwow held each September in the capital of
Bismarck, is one of the largest powwows in the United States.
A
pow wow is an occasion for parades and Native American dancers in regalia, with many dancing styles presented. It is traditional for male dancers to wear regalia decorated with beads, quills, and eagle feathers; male
grass dance
The grass dance or Omaha dance is a style of modern Native American men's pow wow dancing originating in the warrior societies on the Northern Great Plains. Unlike most forms of pow wow dancing, the grass dance regalia generally has no feathers b ...
rs wear colorful fringe regalia, and male
fancy dance
Fancy dance, Pan-Indian dancing, Fancy Feather or Fancy War Dance is a style of dance some believe was originally created by members of the Ponca tribe in the 1920s and 1930s, in an attempt to preserve their culture and religion. It is loosely bas ...
rs wear brightly colored feathers. Female dancers dance much more subtly than male dancers. Fancy female dancers wear cloth, beaded moccasins, and jewelry, while the
jingle dress dancer wears a dress made of metal cones. Inter-tribal dances during the powwow, allow everyone (even spectators) to take part in the dancing.
Norwegian and Icelandic influences
Around 1870 many European immigrants from Norway settled in North Dakota's northeastern corner, especially near the Red River.
Icelanders also arrived from Canada.
Pembina was a town of many
Norwegians when it was founded; they worked on family farms. They started Lutheran churches and schools, greatly outnumbering other denominations in the area. This group has unique foods such as ''
lefse'' and ''
lutefisk''. The continent's largest Scandinavian event, ''
Norsk Høstfest
Norsk Høstfest (Norwegian language: "''Norwegian Autumn Festival''") is an annual festival held each fall in Minot, North Dakota, US. It is North America's largest Scandinavian festival.
History
The event is held on the North Dakota State Fair gr ...
'', is celebrated each September in
Minot's North Dakota State Fair Center, a local attraction featuring art, architecture, and cultural artifacts from all five Nordic countries. The Icelandic State Park in
Pembina County and an annual Icelandic festival reflect immigrants from that country, who are also descended from Scandinavians.
Old World folk customs have persisted for decades in North Dakota, with the revival of techniques in weaving, silver crafting, and wood carving. Traditional turf-roof houses are displayed in parks; this style originated in Iceland. A
stave church is a landmark in Minot.
Norwegian-Americans constitute nearly one-third or 32.3% of Minot's total population and 30.8% of North Dakota's total population.
Germans from Russia
Ethnic Germans who had settled in Russia for several generations since the reign of
Catherine the Great grew dissatisfied in the nineteenth century because of economic problems and because of the revocation of religious freedoms for
Mennonites and
Hutterite
Hutterites (german: link=no, Hutterer), also called Hutterian Brethren (German: ), are a communal ethnoreligious branch of Anabaptists, who, like the Amish and Mennonites, trace their roots to the Radical Reformation of the early 16th centu ...
s, in particular the revocation of exemption from military service in 1871. Most Mennonites and Hutterites migrated to America in the late 1870s. By 1900, about 100,000 had immigrated to the U.S., settling primarily in North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, and Nebraska. The south-central part of North Dakota became known as "the German-Russian triangle". By 1910, about 60,000 ethnic Germans from Russia lived in Central North Dakota. These individuals were Lutherans, Mennonites, Hutterites and Roman Catholics who had kept most of their German customs of the time when their ancestors immigrated to Russia. They were committed to agriculture. Traditional iron cemetery grave markers are a famous art form practiced by ethnic Germans.
Fine and performing arts
North Dakota's major
fine art museums and venues include the
Chester Fritz Auditorium,
Empire Arts Center The Empire Arts Center is a non-profit, multi-purpose arts facility located in downtown Grand Forks, North Dakota United States. Renovated in 1998 due to damage from the 1997 Red River flood, the Empire is a circa 1919 movie house renovated into a ...
, the
Fargo Theatre
The Fargo Theatre is an art deco movie theater in downtown Fargo, North Dakota, United States. Construction on the building began in the fall of 1925 and the theatre opened on March 15, 1926. It was restored in 1999 to its historic appearance an ...
,
North Dakota Museum of Art, and the
Plains Art Museum. The
Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra,
Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra,
Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra,
Minot Symphony Orchestra and
Great Plains Harmony Chorus are full-time professional and semi-professional musical ensembles who perform concerts and offer educational programs to the community.
Entertainment
North Dakotan musicians of many genres include
blues guitarist
Jonny Lang,
country music singer
Lynn Anderson,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
and
traditional pop singer and songwriter
Peggy Lee,
big band leader
Lawrence Welk, and pop singer
Bobby Vee. The state is also home to
Indie rock June Panic
June Panic (born 1976/1977) is an American singer-songwriter from Grand Forks, North Dakota. He has collaborated with musicians such as Heidi Gluck and LonPaul Ellrich (formerly of Marmoset).
Musical career
June Panic first began performing and ...
(of Fargo, signed to
Secretly Canadian).
Hollywood and TV Star Angie Dickinson was born in Kulm and moved to Burbank, Ca as a ten year old.
Ed Schultz was known around the country as the host of
progressive talk radio
Progressive talk radio is a talk radio format devoted to expressing left-leaning, liberal or progressive viewpoints of news and issues as opposed to conservative talk radio. In the United States, the format has included syndicated and independe ...
show, ''
The Ed Schultz Show
''The Ed Schultz Show'' was a progressive talk radio program hosted by Ed Schultz. It was formerly broadcast from KFGO in Fargo, North Dakota. It was heard on a network of over 100 stations, including seven of the ten largest radio markets. It ...
'', and ''
The Ed Show'' on
MSNBC.
Shadoe Stevens
Shadoe Stevens (; ) is an American radio host, voiceover actor, and television personality. He was the host of ''American Top 40'' from 1988 to 1995. He currently hosts the internationally syndicated radio show ''Top of the World,'' and co-hosts ...
hosted ''
American Top 40'' from 1988 to 1995.
Josh Duhamel is an
Emmy Award-winning actor known for his roles in ''
All My Children'' and ''
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...
''.
Nicole Linkletter
Nicole Linkletter Nathanson (born February 27 1985) is an American fashion model and the winner of Cycle 5 of ''America's Next Top Model''. Her prizes were a contract with Ford Models, a $100,000 contract with CoverGirl, and her photo appearing ...
and
CariDee English were winning contestants of
Cycles 5 and
7, respectively, of ''
America's Next Top Model''.
Kellan Lutz has appeared in movies such as ''
Stick It'', ''
Accepted'', ''
Prom Night'', and ''
Twilight''.
Cuisine
Sports
Bismarck was home of the
Dakota Wizards of the
NBA Development League, and currently hosts the
Bismarck Bucks
The Bismarck Bucks are an indoor American football team based in Bismarck, North Dakota. The Bucks joined Champions Indoor Football (CIF) as an expansion team in 2016, and began play for the 2017 season. The team moved to the Indoor Football Leagu ...
of the
Indoor Football League.
North Dakota has two NCAA Division I teams, the
North Dakota Fighting Hawks and
North Dakota State Bison, and two Division II teams, the
Mary Marauders and
Minot State Beavers.
Fargo is home to the
USHL ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...
team the
Fargo Force
The Fargo Force is a Tier I junior ice hockey team in the Western Conference of the United States Hockey League (USHL). The Force have won one league championship in 2018 and was awarded USHL Organization of the Year for 2008–09 and 2012–1 ...
. Fargo is also the home of the
Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks of the
American Association American Association may refer to:
Baseball
* American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891
* American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997
* American Association of Profe ...
.
The
North Dakota High School Activities Association features more than 25,000 participants.
Outdoor activities such as hunting and fishing are hobbies for many North Dakotans.
Ice fishing
Ice fishing is the practice of catching fish with lines and fish hooks or spears through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of water. Ice fishers may fish in the open or in heated enclosures, some with bunks and amenities.
Shelters
Long ...
,
skiing, and
snowmobiling
A snowmobile, also known as a Ski-Doo, snowmachine, sled, motor sled, motor sledge, skimobile, or snow scooter, is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. It is designed to be operated on snow and ice and does not ...
are also popular during the winter months. Residents of North Dakota may own or visit a cabin along a lake. Popular sport fish include
walleye,
perch, and
northern pike.
The western terminus of the
North Country National Scenic Trail is on
Lake Sakakawea, where it abuts the
Lewis and Clark Trail.
Media
The state has 10 daily newspapers, the largest being ''
The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead''. Other weekly and monthly publications (most of which are fully supported by advertising) are also available. The most prominent of these is the
alternative weekly ''
High Plains Reader
The ''High Plains Reader'' is an alternative newspaper serving the Fargo metropolitan area, with an estimated readership of 20,000 to 30,000 weekly between print and online readers. The tabloid was founded in 1994 by Ian Swanson, Peter Ryan, and ...
''.
The state's oldest radio station,
WDAY-AM, was launched on May 23, 1922. North Dakota's three major
radio markets center around
Fargo,
Bismarck, and
Grand Forks
Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city ...
, though stations broadcast in every region of the state. Several new stations were built in
Williston in the early 2010s. North Dakota has 34 AM and 88 FM radio stations.
KFGO in Fargo has the largest audience.
Broadcast television in North Dakota started on April 3, 1953, when KCJB-TV (now
KXMC-TV) in Minot started operations. North Dakota's television
media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...
s are
Fargo-
Grand Forks
Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city ...
(117th largest nationally), including the eastern half of the state, and
Minot
Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the ...
-
Bismarck (152nd), making up the western half of the state. There are currently
31 full-power television stations, arranged into 10 networks, with 17
digital subchannels.
Public broadcasting
Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...
in North Dakota is provided by Prairie Public, with statewide
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
and
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a tr ...
networks affiliated with
PBS and
NPR.
Public access television stations open to community programming are offered on cable systems in
Bismarck,
Dickinson,
Fargo, and
Jamestown.
Education
Higher education
The state has 11 public colleges and universities, five
tribal community colleges, and four private schools. The largest institutions are
North Dakota State University and the
University of North Dakota.
The higher education system consists of the following institutions:
North Dakota University System (public institutions):
:*
Bismarck State College
Bismarck State College (BSC) is a public college in Bismarck, North Dakota. It is the third largest college in the North Dakota University System with 3,781 students as of September 2016. Established in 1939, it is a comprehensive community c ...
in
Bismarck
:*
Dickinson State University
Dickinson State University (DSU) is a public university in Dickinson, North Dakota. It is part of the North Dakota University System. It was founded in 1918 as Dickinson State Normal School and granted full university status in 1987.
History
D ...
in
Dickinson
:*
Lake Region State College
Lake Region State College (LRSC) is a public junior college in Devils Lake, North Dakota. It was founded in 1941 as an extension of the public school system and first known as Devils Lake Junior College and Business School. Several name changes ...
in
Devils Lake
:*
Mayville State University in
Mayville
:*
Minot State University
Minot State University (MSU or MiSU) is a public university in Minot, North Dakota. Founded in 1913 as a normal school, Minot State University is the third-largest university in North Dakota, offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
...
in
Minot
Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the ...
:*
Dakota College at Bottineau
Dakota College at Bottineau (DCB) is a public community college in Bottineau, North Dakota. Founded in 1906 as a forestry school, Dakota College's 35-acre campus is home to the North Dakota Forest Service Headquarters. It offers Associate of Appli ...
in
Bottineau
:*
North Dakota State University in
Fargo
:*
North Dakota State College of Science
The North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS) is a public college in Wahpeton, North Dakota. It is part of the North Dakota University System. Founded in 1903 by provision of the state constitution, the State College of Science offers deg ...
in
Wahpeton &
Fargo
:*
University of North Dakota in
Grand Forks
Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city ...
:*
Valley City State University in
Valley City
:*
Williston State College in
Williston
Tribal institutions:
:*
Cankdeska Cikana Community College in
Fort Totten
:*
Fort Berthold Community College in
New Town
:*
Sitting Bull College in
Fort Yates
:*
Turtle Mountain Community College in
Belcourt
:*
United Tribes Technical College
United Tribes Technical College (UTCC) is a private tribal land-grant community college in Bismarck, North Dakota. In 2012, UTTC had an enrollment 885 students, 635 full-time undergraduates, and 250 part-time undergraduates.
History
The UTTC wa ...
in
Bismarck
Private institutions:
:*
University of Mary
The University of Mary (UMary or simply Mary) is a private, Benedictine university near Bismarck, North Dakota. It was established in 1959 as Mary College.
The university is the largest degree-granting institution in western North Dakota. It h ...
in
Bismarck
:*
University of Jamestown
, mottoeng = Light and Truth
, established =
, type = Private university
, religious_affiliation = Christian
, endowment = $45 million
, staff =
, faculty =
, president = Polly Peterson
, ...
in
Jamestown
:*
Rasmussen College
Rasmussen University is a private for-profit university with multiple locations throughout the United States. It offers associate's, bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees at 23 campuses in Minnesota, Illinois, North Dakota, Florida, Wisconsin ...
in
Fargo
:*
Trinity Bible College
Trinity Bible College and Graduate School (TBCGS) is a private bible college and graduate school in Ellendale, North Dakota. It is affiliated with the Assemblies of God USA.
History
The school was first founded in Devils Lake in 1948, but after ...
in
Ellendale
Primary and secondary education
There were 142 schools in North Dakota cities and 4,722
one room schools in the state in 1917. The urban schools had 36,008 students, and 83,167 students attended the one room schools. 1,889 of the one room schools closed between 1929 and 1954. In 1954 North Dakotan cities had 513 schools while 2,447 one room schools were in the state. At that time the urban schools had 94,019 students while the one room schools had 25,212 students.
The Nation's Report Card ranks North Dakota fifteenth in the country in K-12 education based on standardized test scores.
Emergency services
The North Dakota Department of Emergency Services provides 24/7 communication and coordination for more than 50 agencies. In addition, "it administers federal disaster recovery programs and the Homeland Security Grant Program". In 2011, the Department selected Geo-Comm, Inc. "for the Statewide Seamless Base Map Project", which will facilitate "identifying locations 9–1–1 callers" and route emergency calls based on locations. In 1993 the state adopted the
Burkle addressing system The Burkle addressing system is a system of assigning road names and addresses over a large, rural geographical area. It is used in the state of North Dakota for rural addresses to be used for the 911 system as well as mail delivery to rural prope ...
numbering rural roads and buildings to aid in the delivery of emergency services.
Transportation
Transportation in North Dakota is overseen by the
North Dakota Department of Transportation
The North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT) is a part of the government of the U.S. state of North Dakota. NDDOT oversees the state's transportation system. This includes planning both new construction and reconstruction projects on road ...
. The major
Interstate highways are
Interstate 29 and
Interstate 94, with I-29 and I-94 meeting at
Fargo, with I-29 oriented north to south along the eastern edge of the state, and I-94 bisecting the state from east to west between Minnesota and Montana. A unique feature of the North Dakota Interstate Highway system is virtually all of it is paved in concrete, not
blacktop
Asphalt concrete (commonly called asphalt, blacktop, or pavement in North America, and tarmac, bitumen macadam, or rolled asphalt in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) is a composite material commonly used to surface roads, parkin ...
, because of the extreme weather conditions it must endure.
BNSF and the
Canadian Pacific Railway operate the state's largest rail systems. Many branch lines formerly used by BNSF and Canadian Pacific Railway are now operated by the
Dakota, Missouri Valley and Western Railroad and the
Red River Valley and Western Railroad.
North Dakota's principal airports are the
Hector International Airport (FAR) in Fargo,
Grand Forks International Airport
Grand Forks International Airport is a public airport five miles (8 km) northwest of Grand Forks, in Grand Forks County, North Dakota, United States. GFK has no scheduled passenger flights out of the country but has an "international" t ...
(GFK),
Bismarck Municipal Airport (BIS),
Minot International Airport
Minot International Airport is in Ward County, North Dakota, United States, two miles north of the city of Minot, which owns it. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a ''primary commercial service'' a ...
(MOT) and
Williston Basin International Airport
Williston Basin International Airport is an airport serving Williston, a city in the U.S. state of North Dakota. It is located 9 nautical miles (17km) northwest of the city.
Williston Basin Airport has two runways and a terminal building. ...
(XWA) in Williston.
Amtrak's
Empire Builder runs through North Dakota, making stops at
Fargo (2:13 am westbound, 3:35 am eastbound),
Grand Forks
Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city ...
(4:52 am westbound, 12:57 am eastbound),
Minot
Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the ...
(around 9 am westbound and around 9:30 pm eastbound), and four other stations. It is the descendant of the famous line of the same name run by the
Great Northern Railway, which was built by the tycoon
James J. Hill and ran from
St. Paul to
Seattle.
Intercity bus service is provided by
Greyhound and
Jefferson Lines.
Public transit
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...
in North Dakota includes daily
fixed-route bus systems in Fargo, Bismarck-Mandan, Grand Forks, and Minot,
paratransit service in 57 communities, along with multi-county rural transit systems.
Law and government
As with the federal government of the United States, political power in North Dakota state government is divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.
The
Constitution of North Dakota
The Constitution of North Dakota is the most basic legal document in the U.S. state of North Dakota. It consists of a preamble and fourteen articles.
Amendments to the North Dakota Constitution have always required the approval of a majority of vo ...
and the
North Dakota Century Code The North Dakota Century Code is the collection of all the statutes passed by the North Dakota Legislative Assembly since the state's admission to the Union. It also includes the North Dakota Constitution.
The numbering system for the Century Code ...
form the formal law of the state; the ''North Dakota Administrative Code'' incorporates additional rules and policies of state agencies.
In a 2020 study, North Dakota was ranked as the 8th easiest state for citizens to vote in.
Executive
The executive branch is headed by the elected
governor. The current governor is
Doug Burgum, a
Republican who took office December 15, 2016, after his predecessor,
Jack Dalrymple did not seek reelection. The current
Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota
The lieutenant governor of North Dakota is a political office in North Dakota. The lieutenant governor's duty is to preside as President of the Senate, and is responsible for legislative relations, the state budget and agribusiness development. I ...
is
Brent Sanford
Brent Sanford (born December 23, 1971) is an American politician serving as the 38th lieutenant governor of North Dakota since 2016. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was Mayor of Watford City from 2010 to 2016.
Career
Sanford gra ...
, who is also the
President of the Senate. The offices of governor and lieutenant governor have four-year terms, which are next up for election in 2024. The governor has a cabinet consisting of appointed leaders of various state government agencies, called commissioners. The other elected constitutional offices are
secretary of state,
attorney general,
state auditor, and
state treasurer
In the state governments of the United States, 48 of the 50 states have the executive position of treasurer. New York abolished the position in 1926; duties were transferred to New York State Comptroller. Texas abolished the position of Texas ...
.
Legislative
The
North Dakota Legislative Assembly
The North Dakota Legislative Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of North Dakota. The Legislative Assembly consists of two chambers, the lower North Dakota House of Representatives, with 94 representatives, and the upper North ...
is a
bicameral body consisting of the
Senate and the
House of Representatives. The state has 47 districts, each with one senator and two representatives. Both senators and representatives are elected to four-year terms. The state's legal code is named the
North Dakota Century Code The North Dakota Century Code is the collection of all the statutes passed by the North Dakota Legislative Assembly since the state's admission to the Union. It also includes the North Dakota Constitution.
The numbering system for the Century Code ...
.
Judicial
North Dakota's court system has four levels, one of which is dormant. Municipal courts serve the cities. Decisions from municipal courts are generally appealable to district court. Most cases start in the
district courts, which are courts of general jurisdiction. There are 42 district court judges in seven judicial districts. Appeals from final district court decisions are made to the
North Dakota Supreme Court
The North Dakota Supreme Court is the highest court of law in the state of North Dakota. The Court rules on questions of law in appeals from the state's district courts.
Each of the five justices are elected on a no-party ballot for ten year t ...
. An intermediate court of appeals was provided for by statute in 1987, but the North Dakota Court of Appeals has only heard 65 cases since its inception. The North Dakota Court of Appeals is essentially dormant, but capable of meeting if the North Dakota Supreme Court's case load necessitates the reestablishment of intermediate review.
Indian tribes and reservations
Historically, North Dakota was populated by the
Mandan
The Mandan are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains who have lived for centuries primarily in what is now North Dakota. They are enrolled in the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. About half of the Mandan still re ...
,
Hidatsa
The Hidatsa are a Siouan people. They are enrolled in the federally recognized Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Their language is related to that of the Crow, and they are sometimes considered a paren ...
,
Lakota, and
Ojibwe, and later by the
Sanish and
Métis. Today, five federally recognized tribes within the boundaries of North Dakota have independent, sovereign relationships with the federal government and territorial reservations:
*
Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation,
Fort Berthold Reservation;
*
Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate,
Lake Traverse Indian Reservation;
*
Standing Rock Sioux,
Standing Rock Indian Reservation;
*
Spirit Lake Tribe,
Spirit Lake Reservation
The Spirit Lake Tribe (in Santee Dakota: ''Mniwakaƞ Oyate'', also spelt as ''Mni Wakan Oyate'', formerly known as Devils Lake Sioux Tribe) is a federally recognized tribe based on the Spirit Lake Dakota Reservation located in east-central Nort ...
; and
*
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians,
Turtle Mountain Reservation
Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation (Ojibwe language: ''Mikinaakwajiwing'') is a reservation located in northern North Dakota, United States. It is the land base for the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. The population of the Turtle Moun ...
.
Federal
North Dakota's
United States Senators
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and p ...
are
John Hoeven (
R) and
Kevin Cramer (R). The state has one
at-large congressional district
Congressional districts, also known as electoral districts and legislative districts, electorates, or wards in other nations, are divisions of a larger administrative region that represent the population of a region in the larger congressional bod ...
represented by
Representative Kelly Armstrong
Kelly Michael Armstrong (born October 8, 1976) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for North Dakota's at-large congressional district since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the North Dako ...
(
R).
Federal court cases are heard in the
United States District Court for the District of North Dakota
The United States District Court for the District of North Dakota (in case citations, D.N.D.) is the United States District Court or the Federal district court, whose jurisdiction is the state of North Dakota. The court is headquartered out of ...
, which holds court in
Bismarck,
Fargo,
Grand Forks
Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city ...
, and
Minot
Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the ...
. Appeals are heard by the
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals based in
St. Louis, Missouri.
Politics
MIT's Election Performance Index ranked North Dakota #1 in overall election administration policy and performance in the 2018, 2014, 2012, 2010, and 2008 elections.
The major political parties in North Dakota are the
Democratic-NPL and the
Republican Party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
* Republican Party (Liberia)
*Republican Party ...
. , the
Constitution Party and the
Libertarian Party are also organized parties in the state.
At the state level, the
governorship has been held by the Republican Party since 1992, along with a majority of the state legislature and statewide officers. Dem-NPL showings were strong in the 2000 governor's race, and in the 2006 legislative elections, but the League has not had a major breakthrough since the administration of former state governor
George Sinner.
The Republican Party presidential candidate usually carries the state by a considerable margin; in
2020,
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
won over 65% of the vote. Of all the Democratic presidential candidates since 1892, only
Grover Cleveland (1892, one of three votes),
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
(1912 and 1916),
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1932 and 1936), and
Lyndon B. Johnson (1964) received
Electoral College votes from North Dakota.
On the other hand, Dem-NPL candidates for North Dakota's federal Senate and House seats won every election between 1982 and 2008, and the state's federal delegation was entirely Democratic from 1987 to 2011. However, both of the current U.S. senators,
John Hoeven and
Kevin Cramer, are Republicans, as is the sole House member,
Kelly Armstrong
Kelly Michael Armstrong (born October 8, 1976) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for North Dakota's at-large congressional district since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the North Dako ...
.
State taxes
North Dakota has a slightly
progressive income tax structure; the five brackets of state
income tax rates are 1.1%, 2.04%, 2.27%, 2.64%, and 2.90% as of 2017. In 2005 North Dakota ranked 22nd highest by per capita state taxes. The
sales tax in North Dakota is 5% for most items.
The state allows municipalities to institute local sales taxes and special local taxes, such as the 1.75% supplemental sales tax in Grand Forks.
Excise taxes are levied on the purchase price or market value of aircraft registered in North Dakota. The state imposes a
use tax on items purchased elsewhere but used within North Dakota. Owners of
real property in North Dakota pay
property tax
A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property through inher ...
to their county, municipality, school district, and special taxing districts.
The
Tax Foundation ranks North Dakota as the state with the 20th most "business friendly" tax climate in the nation.
Tax Freedom Day arrives on April 1, 10 days earlier than the national Tax Freedom Day.
In 2006, North Dakota was the state with the lowest number of returns filed by taxpayers with an
adjusted gross income of over $1M—only 333.
IRS—Tax Stats at a Glance
Notable people
* Lynn Anderson, country music singer.
* Sam Anderson, actor.
* Carmen Berg, Playboy Playmate, July 1987.
* Brian Bohrer, minister and author.
* Paula Broadwell
Paula Dean Broadwell (née Kranz; born November 9, 1972) is an American writer, academic and former military officer. Broadwell served in the US Army on both active and reserve duty for over 20 years, including time as a military school undergradu ...
, American writer, academic and former military officer
* James Buchli, former NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...
astronaut.
* Quentin Burdick, former U.S. Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and power ...
, third longest-serving Senator among current members of this body.
* Warren Christopher, former U.S. Secretary of State, diplomat and lawyer.
* Shannon Curfman
Shannon Marie Curfman (born July 31, 1985, Fargo, North Dakota) is an American blues-rock guitarist and singer.
Career
She came to prominence in 1999, at the age of 14, with the release of her first album, '' Loud Guitars, Big Suspicions'', wh ...
, American blues-rock guitarist and singer.
* Angie Dickinson
Angeline Dickinson (née Brown; born September 30, 1931) is an American actress. She began her career on television, appearing in many anthology series during the 1950s, before gaining her breakthrough role in ''Gun the Man Down'' (1956) wit ...
, Golden Globe-winning television and film actress.
* Josh Duhamel, Emmy Award-winning actor and former male fashion model.
* Carl Ben Eielson
Carl Benjamin "Ben" Eielson (July 20, 1897 – November 9, 1929) was an American aviator, bush pilot and explorer. Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska is named in his honor.
In 1997 Carl Ben Eielson was inducted into the North Dakota Aviation ...
, aviator, bush pilot
Bush flying refers to aircraft operations carried out in the bush. Bush flying involves operations in rough terrain where there are often no prepared landing strips or runways, frequently necessitating that bush planes be equipped with abnormally ...
and explorer.
* CariDee English, winner of Cycle 7 on '' America's Next Top Model''. Host of ''Pretty Wicked
''Pretty Wicked'' is a reality show on the Oxygen Network. The series challenges 10 women to put looks aside and compete to see who is the most beautiful on the inside. The winner receives a grand prize of $50,000. The show is hosted by Caride ...
''.
* Louise Erdrich
Louise Erdrich ( ; born Karen Louise Erdrich, June 7, 1954) is an American author of novels, poetry, and children's books featuring Native American characters and settings. She is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indian ...
, Native American author of novels, poetry, and children's books.
* Darin Erstad
Darin Charles Erstad (; born June 4, 1974) is an American former professional baseball player and the former head coach of the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers baseball team. Erstad spent most of his playing career with the Los Angeles Angel ...
, MLB all-star and World Series Champion.
* Travis Hafner
Travis Lee Hafner (; born June 3, 1977) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a designated hitter and first baseman. A left-handed hitter, Hafner played for the Texas Rangers, Cleveland In ...
, Former MLB Designated Hitter
The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. The position is authorized by Major League Baseball Rule 5.11. It was adopted by the American League in 1973 and later by t ...
for the Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central division. Since , they have ...
.
* Richard Hieb, former NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...
astronaut.
* Clint Hill, United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service (USSS or Secret Service) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting U.S. political leaders, their families, and ...
agent who was in the presidential motorcade during the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
* Virgil Hill, former WBA World Cruiserweight champion and Olympic boxer.
* Phil Jackson
Philip Douglas Jackson (born September 17, 1945) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and executive. A power forward, Jackson played 12 seasons in the NBA, winning NBA championships with the New York Knicks in 1970 a ...
, former basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
coach who won 11 NBA championships in his coaching career.
* David C. Jones
David Charles Jones (July 9, 1921 – August 10, 2013) was a United States Air Force general and the ninth chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In this capacity, Jones served as the highest-ranking uniformed officer of the United States Armed ...
, 9th chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.
* Gordon Kahl, tax protester best known for the Medina shootout in 1983.
* Chuck Klosterman, writer, journalist, critic, humorist, and essayist whose work often focuses on pop culture.
* Louis L'Amour, author of primarily Western fiction
Western fiction is a genre of literature set in the American Old West frontier and typically set from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century. Well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey from the early 20th century and ...
.
* Jonny Lang, Grammy-winning blues guitarist and singer.
* Peggy Lee, jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
and traditional pop singer and songwriter.
* Nicole Linkletter
Nicole Linkletter Nathanson (born February 27 1985) is an American fashion model and the winner of Cycle 5 of ''America's Next Top Model''. Her prizes were a contract with Ford Models, a $100,000 contract with CoverGirl, and her photo appearing ...
, winner of Cycle 5 on " America's Next Top Model".
* Kellan Lutz, actor who portrays Emmett Cullen in '' Twilight'' and '' New Moon''. Former male fashion model.
* Roger Maris, right fielder
A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In ...
in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...
and former single season home run record holder.
* Connor McGovern, professional football player for the Denver Broncos and the New York Jets.
* Cara Mund
Cara D. Mund ( ) is an American beauty pageant titleholder from Bismarck, North Dakota. In June 2017, she was crowned Miss North Dakota 2017. On September 10, 2017, she was crowned Miss America 2018 in Atlantic City and became the first contestant ...
, Miss America 2018.
* Thomas McGrath, poet and political activist.
* Michael H. Miller, 61st Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy
* Griffin Neal, professional football player for the New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...
.
* Mancur Olson, economist.
* Alan Ritchson
Alan Michael Ritchson (born November 28, 1982) is an American actor, model, singer and songwriter. He made his acting debut as Aquaman / Arthur Curry on The CW superhero series ''Smallville'' (2005–2010), where he appeared as a guest star betw ...
, participant in 3rd season of '' American Idol'', singer, model and actor.
* Sakakawea, who joined Lewis and Clark on their expedition.
* Ed Schultz, host of ''The Ed Schultz Show
''The Ed Schultz Show'' was a progressive talk radio program hosted by Ed Schultz. It was formerly broadcast from KFGO in Fargo, North Dakota. It was heard on a network of over 100 stations, including seven of the ten largest radio markets. It ...
''.
* Eric Sevareid, CBS news journalist.
* Ann Sothern, Oscar nominated film and television actress.
* Richard St. Clair, Harvard-educated composer of modern classical music.
* Shadoe Stevens
Shadoe Stevens (; ) is an American radio host, voiceover actor, and television personality. He was the host of ''American Top 40'' from 1988 to 1995. He currently hosts the internationally syndicated radio show ''Top of the World,'' and co-hosts ...
, host of '' American Top 40''.
* Bobby Vee, pop music singer.
* Lawrence Welk, musician, accordion player, bandleader, and television impresario.
* Carson Wentz, professional football player for the Indianapolis Colts.
See also
* Index of North Dakota-related articles
* Outline of North Dakota
* ''''
* ''''
References
Bibliography
* Arends, Shirley Fischer. ''The Central Dakota Germans: Their History, Language, and Culture.'' (1989). 289 pp.
* Berg, Francie M., ed. ''Ethnic Heritage in North Dakota.'' (1983). 174 pp.
* Blackorby, Edward C. ''Prairie Rebel: The Public Life of William Lemke'' (1963), a radical leader in 1930
online edition
* Collins, Michael L. ''That Damned Cowboy: Theodore Roosevelt and the American West, 1883–1898'' (1989).
* Cooper, Jerry and Smith, Glen. ''Citizens as Soldiers: A History of the North Dakota National Guard.'' (1986). 447 pp.
* Crawford, Lewis F. ''History of North Dakota'' (3 vol 1931), excellent history in vol 1; biographies in vol. 2–3
* Danbom, David B. ''"Our Purpose Is to Serve": The First Century of the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station.'' (1990). 237 pp.
* Eisenberg, C. G. ''History of the First Dakota-District of the Evangelical-Lutheran Synod of Iowa and the Other States.'' (1982). 268 pp.
* Ginsburg, Faye D. ''Contested Lives: The Abortion Debate in an American Community'' (1989). 315 pp. the issue in Fargo
* Hargreaves, Mary W. M. ''Dry Farming in the Northern Great Plains: Years of Readjustment, 1920–1990.'' (1993). 386 pp.
* Howard, Thomas W., ed. ''The North Dakota Political Tradition.'' (1981). 220 pp.
* Hudson, John C. ''Plains Country Towns.'' (1985). 189 pp. geographer studies small towns
* Junker, Rozanne Enerson. ''The Bank of North Dakota: An Experiment in State Ownership.'' (1989). 185 pp.
* Lamar, Howard R. ''Dakota Territory, 1861–1889: A Study of Frontier Politics'' (1956).
* Lounsberry, Clement A. ''Early history of North Dakota'' (1919) excellent history by an editor of ''Bismarck Tribune''; 645p
online edition
* Lysengen, Janet Daley and Rathke, Ann M., eds. ''The Centennial Anthology of "North Dakota History: Journal of the Northern Plains"'' (1996). 526 pp. articles from state history journal covering all major topics in the state's history
* Morlan, Robert L. ''Political Prairie Fire: The Nonpartisan League, 1915–1922.'' (1955). 414 pp. NPL comes to power briefly
* Peirce, Neal R. ''The Great Plains States of America: People, Politics, and Power in the Nine Great Plains States'' (1973
excerpt and text ssearch
chapter on North Dakota
* Robinson, Elwyn B., D. Jerome Tweton, and David B. Danbom. ''History of North Dakota'' (2nd ed. 1995) standard history, by leading scholars; extensive bibliography
** Robinson, Elwyn B. ''History of North Dakota'' (1966
First edition online
* Schneider, Mary Jane. ''North Dakota Indians: An Introduction.'' (1986). 276 pp.
* Sherman, William C. and Thorson, Playford V., eds. ''Plains Folk: North Dakota's Ethnic History.'' (1988). 419 pp.
* Sherman, William C. ''Prairie Mosaic: An Ethnic Atlas of Rural North Dakota.'' (1983). 152 pp.
* Smith, Glen H. ''Langer of North Dakota: A Study in Isolationism, 1940–1959.'' (1979). 238 pp. biography of influential conservative Senator
* Snortland, J. Signe, ed. ''A Traveler's Companion to North Dakota State Historic Sites.'' (1996). 155 pp.
* Stock, Catherine McNicol. ''Main Street in Crisis: The Great Depression and the Old Middle Class on the Northern Plains.'' (1992). 305pp
online edition
* Tauxe, Caroline S. ''Farms, Mines and Main Streets: Uneven Development in a Dakota County.'' (1993). 276 pp. coal and grain in Mercer County
* Tweton, D. Jerome and Jelliff, Theodore B. ''North Dakota: The Heritage of a People.'' (1976). 242 pp. textbook history
* Wilkins, Robert P. and Wilkins, Wynona Hachette. ''North Dakota: A Bicentennial History.'' (1977) 218 pp. popular history
* Wishart, David J. ed. ''Encyclopedia of the Great Plains'', University of Nebraska Press, 2004,
complete text online
900 pages of scholarly articles
* Young, Carrie. ''Prairie Cooks: Glorified Rice, Three-Day Buns, and Other Reminiscences.'' (1993). 136 pp.
Primary sources
* Benson, Bjorn; Hampsten, Elizabeth; and Sweney, Kathryn, eds. ''Day In, Day Out: Women's Lives in North Dakota.'' (1988). 326 pp.
* Maximilian, Prince of Wied. ''Travels in the Interior of North America in the rears 1832 to 1834'' (Vols. XXII-XXIV of "Early Western Travels, 1748–1846", ed. by Reuben Gold Thwaites; 1905–1906). Maximilian spent the winter of 1833–1834 at Fort Clark.
* the University of North Dakota, Bureau of Governmental Affairs, ed., ''A Compilation of North Dakota Political Party Platforms, 1884–1978.'' (1979). 388 pp.
* WPA. ''North Dakota: A Guide to the Northern Prairie State'' (2nd ed. 1950), the classic guid
online edition
External links
*
USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of North Dakota
North Dakota State Guide, from the Library of Congress
North Dakota State Facts
�� USDA
NETSTATE Geography
*
*
{{coord, 47, -100, dim:300000_region:US-ND_type:adm1st, name=State of North Dakota, display=title
1889 establishments in the United States
Midwestern United States
States and territories established in 1889
States of the United States
U.S. states with multiple time zones
Contiguous United States