Religion in North Dakota
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North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota
Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...
. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, South Dakota 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 Fargo usually refers to: * Fargo, North Dakota, United States * ''Fargo'' (1996 film), a crime film by the Coen brothers * ''Fargo'' (TV series), an American black comedy–crime drama anthology television series Fargo may also refer to: Othe ...
, 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 The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...
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 grasslands, ...
, temperate savanna,
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, m ...
, 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 The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
and
Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...
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 pioneer American pioneers were European American and African American settlers who migrated westward from the Thirteen Colonies and later United States to settle in and develop areas of North America that had previously been inhabited or used by Nati ...
s, with the Homestead Act of 1862 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, 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 The Bakken Formation () is a rock unit from the Late Devonian to Early Mississippian age occupying about of the subsurface of the Williston Basin, underlying parts of Montana, North Dakota, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The formation was initi ...
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). 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 res ...
(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 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 loca ...
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 Dakota (pronounced , Dakota language: ''Dakȟóta/Dakhóta'') are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultures of the Sioux people, and are typically divided into ...
: the Lakota, the
Santee Santee may refer to: People * Santee Dakota, a subgroup of the Dakota people, of the U.S. Great Plains * Santee (South Carolina), a Native American people of South Carolina Places * Lake Santee, Indiana, a reservoir and census-designated place * ...
and the Yanktonai. The Assiniboine and the
Plains Cree Plains Cree may refer to: * Plains Cree language * Plains Cree people Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically liv ...
undertook southward journeys to the village Indians, either for trade or for war. The
Shoshone Indians The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho * Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah * Goshute: western Utah, easter ...
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 The Sheyenne River is one of the major tributaries of the Red River of the North, meandering U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 8, 2011 across eastern North Dakota, Uni ...
(
Biesterfeldt Site The Biesterfeldt Site (Shahienawoju in Lakota, and designated by the Smithsonian trinomial 32RM1) is an archaeological site near Lisbon, North Dakota, United States, located along the Sheyenne River. The site is the only documented village of eart ...
) for decades in the 18th century. Due to attacks by Crees, Assiniboines and
Chippewas The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
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 The Cannonball River ( lkt, Íŋyaŋwakağapi Wakpá) is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in southwestern North Dakota in the United States. It rises in the Little Missouri National Grassland, in the badlands north of Ami ...
. 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 French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fr ...
trader Pierre Gaultier, sieur de La Vérendrye, who led an exploration and trading party to the Mandan 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, Montana, and Washington, titled the
Enabling Act of 1889 The Enabling Act of 1889 (, chs. 180, 276–284, enacted February 22, 1889) is a United States statute that permitted the entrance of Montana and Washington into the United States of America, as well as the splitting of Territory of Dakota ...
, 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 Representative ...
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 advoca ...
("NPL") around the time of World War I. The NPL ran candidates on the Republican ticket (but merged into the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
after World War II). 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 The Soo Line Railroad is the primary United States railroad subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway , one of seven U.S. Class I railroads, controlled through the Soo Line Corporation. Although it is named for the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sa ...
). 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-faced art-deco 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, Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Minot Air Force Base, Air Force base approximately north of ...
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 o ...
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 to the north. The geographic center of North America is near the town of Center. Bismarck is the capital of North Dakota, and
Fargo Fargo usually refers to: * Fargo, North Dakota, United States * ''Fargo'' (1996 film), a crime film by the Coen brothers * ''Fargo'' (TV series), an American black comedy–crime drama anthology television series Fargo may also refer to: Othe ...
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 Richardson's ground squirrel (''Urocitellus richardsonii''), also known as the dakrat or flickertail, is a North American ground squirrel in the genus ''Urocitellus''. Like a number of other ground squirrels, they are sometimes called prairie do ...
) that live in the central part of the state. North Dakota is in the U.S. region known as the
Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...
. The state shares the Red River of the North with Minnesota to the east. South Dakota is to the south, Montana is to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba 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 the Car ...
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 The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...
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, m ...
, which are to the west of the Missouri River. The state's high point, White Butte at , and Theodore Roosevelt National Park are in the Badlands. The region is abundant in
fossil fuel A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels m ...
s including natural gas,
crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...
and
lignite Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...
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 Red River Valley is a region in central North America that is drained by the Red River of the North; it is part of both Canada and the United States. Forming the border between Minnesota and North Dakota when these territories were admitted ...
, the bottom of glacial Lake Agassiz. Its fertile soil, drained by the meandering Red River flowing northward into Lake Winnipeg, 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 Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in the middle latitudes (40 to 55 north), within large landmasses where prevailing winds blow overland bringing som ...
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 of ...
. 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, Vermont, and Wyoming 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 In demographics, the center of population (or population center) of a region is a geographical point that describes a centerpoint of the region's population. There are several ways of defining such a "center point", leading to different geogr ...
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, Iceland,
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 country located on ...
, Germany and the United Kingdom. Much of this settlement gravitated throughout the western side of the
Red River Valley The Red River Valley is a region in central North America that is drained by the Red River of the North; it is part of both Canada and the United States. Forming the border between Minnesota and North Dakota when these territories were admitted ...
, 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, 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 United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...
, the racial and ethnic composition of North Dakota was 88.7%
non-Hispanic white Non-Hispanic whites or Non-Latino whites are Americans who are classified as "white", and are not of Hispanic (also known as "Latino") heritage. The United States Census Bureau defines ''white'' to include European Americans, Middle Eastern Amer ...
, 5.4% Native American, 1.2% Black or African American, 1.0%
Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 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 culture ...
. At the 2019
American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is a demographics survey program conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the decennial census, such as ancestry, citizenship, educati ...
, 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 as their
primary language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...
. 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 **Ger ...
, 1.37% (8,432) spoke Spanish, and 0.30% (1,847) spoke Norwegian. Other languages spoken included Serbo-Croatian (0.19%),
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
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 The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan American think tank (referring to itself as a "fact tank") based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the w ...
determined 77% of the adult population was
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
in 2014. In contrast with many southern U.S. states,
mainline Protestant The mainline Protestant churches (also called mainstream Protestant and sometimes oldline Protestant) are a group of Protestant denominations in the United States that contrast in history and practice with evangelical, fundamentalist, and charis ...
ism was the largest form of Protestantism practiced (28%). The largest mainline Protestant denomination in North Dakota was the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant Lutheran church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. , it has approxim ...
, 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 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), also known as the Missouri Synod, is a traditional, confessional Lutheran denomination in the United States. With 1.8 million members, it is the second-largest Lutheran body in the United States. The LC ...
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 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 religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
being the largest non-Christian religion. Other faiths such as
Unitarians Unitarian or Unitarianism may refer to: Christian and Christian-derived theologies A Unitarian is a follower of, or a member of an organisation that follows, any of several theologies referred to as Unitarianism: * Unitarianism (1565–present) ...
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 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, and 30% was Catholic. Other religious groups represented were Methodists (7%),
Baptists Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...
(6%), the
Assemblies of God The Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 144 autonomous self-governing national groupings of churches that together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination."Assemblies of God". ...
(3%), Presbyterians (1.27%), and
Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...
(1%). Christians with unstated or other denominational affiliations, including other
Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (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 Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing includes many forms of processing foods, from grinding grain to make raw flour to home cooking to complex industr ...
, 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 Me ...
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 The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the United States Department of Commerce is a U.S. government agency that provides official economy of the United States, macroeconomic and industry statistics, most notably reports about the gross domestic ...
, 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 ownersh ...
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 o ...
. 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 An oil boom is a period of large inflow of income as a result of high global oil prices or large oil production in an economy. Generally, this short period initially brings economic benefits, in terms of increased GDP growth, but might later lead ...
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 km2); 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 Durum wheat (), also called pasta wheat or macaroni wheat (''Triticum durum'' or ''Triticum turgidum'' subsp. ''durum''), is a Polyploid, tetraploid species of wheat. It is the second most cultivated species of wheat after common wheat, although ...
(58%), hard red spring wheat (48%), oats (17%), and combined wheat of all types (15%). It is the second leading producer of buckwheat (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 Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...
seed, 53% of
sunflower seed The sunflower seed is the seed of the sunflower ('' Helianthus annuus''). There are three types of commonly used sunflower seeds: linoleic (most common), high oleic, and sunflower oil seeds. Each variety has its own unique levels of monounsat ...
s, 18% of safflower seeds, and 62% of
mustard seed Mustard seeds are the small round seeds of various mustard plants. The seeds are usually about in diameter and may be colored from yellowish white to black. They are an important spice in many regional foods and may come from one of three diff ...
. 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 The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu and ...
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 A season is a division of the year marked by changes in weather, ecology, and the amount of daylight. The growing season is that portion of the year in which local conditions (i.e. rainfall, temperature, daylight) permit normal plant growth. Whil ...
. 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 Red River Valley is a region in central North America that is drained by the Red River of the North; it is part of both Canada and the United States. Forming the border between Minnesota and North Dakota when these territories were admitted ...
. The state is also the largest producer of honey, dry edible peas and beans, lentils, and the third-largest producer of potatoes. North Dakota's Top Agricultural Commodities (according to the USDA )


Energy

The
energy industry The energy industry is the totality of all of the industries involved in the production and sale of energy, including fuel extraction, manufacturing, refining and distribution. Modern society consumes large amounts of fuel, and the energy indu ...
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 Anthracite, also known as hard coal, and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the hig ...
,
bituminous coal Bituminous coal, or black coal, is a type of coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen or asphalt. Its coloration can be black or sometimes dark brown; often there are well-defined bands of bright and dull material within the seams. It ...
and
subbituminous coal Sub-bituminous coal is a lower grade of coal that contains 35–45% carbon. The properties of this type are between those of lignite, the lowest grade of coal, and those of bituminous coal, the second-highest grade of coal. Sub-bituminous coal i ...
) in other U.S. states. Oil was discovered near
Tioga Tioga may refer to: United States communities *Tioga, California, former name of Bennettville, California *Tioga, Colorado *Tioga, Florida * Tioga, Iowa *Tioga, Louisiana *Tioga, New York, a town in Tioga County *Tioga County, New York, a county at ...
in 1951, generating of oil a year by 1984. Recoverable oil reserves have jumped dramatically recently. The oil reserves of the
Bakken Formation The Bakken Formation () is a rock unit from the Late Devonian to Early Mississippian age occupying about of the subsurface of the Williston Basin, underlying parts of Montana, North Dakota, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The formation was initi ...
may hold up to of oil, 25 times larger than the reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. 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 North Dakota oil boom refers to the period of rapidly expanding oil extraction from the Bakken Formation in the state of North Dakota that lasted from the discovery of Parshall Oil Field in 2006, and peaked in 2012, but with substantially less g ...
. The Williston,
Tioga Tioga may refer to: United States communities *Tioga, California, former name of Bennettville, California *Tioga, Colorado *Tioga, Florida * Tioga, Iowa *Tioga, Louisiana *Tioga, New York, a town in Tioga County *Tioga County, New York, a county at ...
, Stanley and
Minot Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Minot Air Force Base, Air Force base approximately north of ...
-
Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...
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 The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...
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 The Maah Daah Hey Trail is a 144-mile (232 km) non-motorized single track trail in North Dakota, United States, that reaches from USFS Burning Coal Vein Campground 30 miles south of Medora to the USFS CCC campground 16 miles south of Watford ...
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, Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Minot Air Force Base, Air Force base approximately north of ...
, billed as North America's largest Scandinavian festival; the
Medora Musical The ''Medora Musical'' is a musical revue produced each summer at the open-air Burning Hills Amphitheater near Medora, North Dakota. The musical is a look back at the "Wild West" days of the region and includes references to Theodore Roosevelt, w ...
; 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 The Oscar-Zero Missile Alert Facility near Cooperstown, North Dakota, US was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. Also known as Oscar-Zero MAF and as O-0 MAF, it exemplifies Utilitarian architecture. The NRHP listing incl ...
.


Health care

North Dakota has six level-II trauma centers, 44
hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...
s, 52 rural health clinics, and 80 nursing homes. Major provider networks include Sanford,
St. Alexius Saint Alexius of Rome or Alexius of Edessa ( el, Ἀλέξιος, ''Alexios''), also Alexis, was a fourth-century Greek monk who lived in anonymity and is known for his dedication to Christ. There are two versions of his life that are known, a Sy ...
, 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 healt ...
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 Protection ...
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 The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota: /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations peoples in North America. The modern Sioux consist of two major divisions based on language divisions: the Dakota and ...
" or "Oceti Sakowin", meaning the seven council fires), the
Blackfoot The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bla ...
, the Cheyenne, the Chippewa (known as Ojibwe in Canada), and the Mandan. There are six
Indian reservation An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...
s in North Dakota-- Spirit Lake Tribe,
Standing Rock Indian Reservation The Standing Rock Reservation ( lkt, Íŋyaŋ Woslál Háŋ) lies across the border between North and South Dakota in the United States, and is inhabited by ethnic "Hunkpapa and Sihasapa bands of Lakota Oyate and the Ihunktuwona and Pabaksa ...
, 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 A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations communities. Powwows today allow Indigenous people to socialize, dance, sing, and honor their cultures. Powwows may be private or pu ...
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 Jingle dress is a First Nations and Native American women's pow wow regalia and dance. North Central College associate professor Matthew Krystal notes, in his book, ''Indigenous Dance and Dancing Indian: Contested Representation in the Global Era' ...
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 Icelanders ( is, Íslendingar) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nation who are native to the island country of Iceland and speak Icelandic. Icelanders established the country of Iceland in mid 930 AD when the Althing (Parliament) met for ...
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 North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' i ...
, a local attraction featuring art, architecture, and cultural artifacts from all five Nordic countries. The Icelandic State Park in
Pembina County Pembina County is a county in the U.S. state of North Dakota. At the 2020 census its population was 6,844. The county seat is Cavalier. History For thousands of years, various indigenous peoples inhabited the area along the Pembina and Red r ...
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 Norwegian Americans ( nb, Norskamerikanere, nn, Norskamerikanarar) are Americans with ancestral roots in Norway. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the latter half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the ...
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 , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
grew dissatisfied in the nineteenth century because of economic problems and because of the revocation of religious freedoms for Mennonites and Hutterites, 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 The Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra is a community orchestra based out of Bismarck, North Dakota, and performs in the Belle Mehus Auditorium. References External linksBismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra website Bismarck–Mandan Musical ...
,
Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra The Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra (FMSO) is a community orchestra based in Fargo, North Dakota serving the Fargo–Moorhead metropolitan area. The orchestra employs local and regional musicians in performances of classical and modern symphonic ...
,
Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra The Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra (GGFSO) is a community orchestra based in Grand Forks, North Dakota that began operation in 1908. One of eighteen American orchestras to have surpassed their centennial year, the symphony employs local an ...
,
Minot Symphony Orchestra The Minot Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is a program of Minot State University in Minot, North Dakota. Although a separate agency, the university's music department oversees the handling of the orchestra. Maestro Efrain Amaya, a professor of music at Min ...
and
Great Plains Harmony Chorus Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...
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 Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
guitarist Jonny Lang, country music singer
Lynn Anderson Lynn Renée Anderson (September 26, 1947 – July 30, 2015) was an American country singer and television personality. Her crossover signature recording, "Rose Garden," was a number one hit in the United States and internationally. She charte ...
, jazz and traditional pop singer and songwriter
Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress, over a career spanning seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalis ...
, 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 show, '' The Ed Schultz Show'', 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 ''American Top 40'' (previously abbreviated to ''AT40'') is an internationally syndicated, independent song countdown radio program created by Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds, and Ron Jacobs. The program is currently hosted by Ryan Seacr ...
'' from 1988 to 1995. Josh Duhamel is an
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
-winning actor known for his roles in ''
All My Children ''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 20 ...
'' and '' Las Vegas''.
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 The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...
, 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 Lea ...
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 The Marauders are the athletic teams that represent the University of Mary, located in Bismarck, North Dakota, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Marauders compete as members of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference for all 16 va ...
and Minot State Beavers. Fargo is home to the USHL ice hockey 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 2012–13. ...
. 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, 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 An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting l ...
''
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 WDAY (970 Hertz, kHz "News-Talk 970 AM and 93.1 FM") is North Dakota's oldest radio station, having first Sign-on, signed on in 1922. WDAY is Community of license, licensed to Fargo, North Dakota, owned by Forum Communications Company, Forum Com ...
, was launched on May 23, 1922. North Dakota's three major radio markets center around
Fargo Fargo usually refers to: * Fargo, North Dakota, United States * ''Fargo'' (1996 film), a crime film by the Coen brothers * ''Fargo'' (TV series), an American black comedy–crime drama anthology television series Fargo may also refer to: Othe ...
, 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 o ...
, 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 KFGO may refer to: * KFGO (AM), a radio station (790 AM) licensed to Fargo, North Dakota, U.S. * KFGO-FM, a radio station (104.7 FM) licensed to Hope, North Dakota, U.S. * KRWK KRWK (101.9 FM, known as "101.9 Jack FM", is a radio station servin ...
in Fargo has the largest audience.
Broadcast television Broadcast television systems (or terrestrial television systems outside the US and Canada) are the encoding or formatting systems for the transmission and reception of terrestrial television signals. Analog television systems were standardized b ...
in North Dakota started on April 3, 1953, when KCJB-TV (now KXMC-TV) in Minot started operations. North Dakota's television media markets are
Fargo Fargo usually refers to: * Fargo, North Dakota, United States * ''Fargo'' (1996 film), a crime film by the Coen brothers * ''Fargo'' (TV series), an American black comedy–crime drama anthology television series Fargo may also refer to: Othe ...
-
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 o ...
(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, Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Minot Air Force Base, Air Force base approximately north of ...
- 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 In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compressi ...
. Public broadcasting in North Dakota is provided by Prairie Public, with statewide television and radio networks affiliated with PBS and NPR. Public access television stations open to community programming are offered on cable systems in Bismarck, Dickinson,
Fargo Fargo usually refers to: * Fargo, North Dakota, United States * ''Fargo'' (1996 film), a crime film by the Coen brothers * ''Fargo'' (TV series), an American black comedy–crime drama anthology television series Fargo may also refer to: Othe ...
, 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 co ...
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 Di ...
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, Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Minot Air Force Base, Air Force base approximately north of ...
:*
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 Fargo usually refers to: * Fargo, North Dakota, United States * ''Fargo'' (1996 film), a crime film by the Coen brothers * ''Fargo'' (TV series), an American black comedy–crime drama anthology television series Fargo may also refer to: Othe ...
:*
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 degre ...
in Wahpeton &
Fargo Fargo usually refers to: * Fargo, North Dakota, United States * ''Fargo'' (1996 film), a crime film by the Coen brothers * ''Fargo'' (TV series), an American black comedy–crime drama anthology television series Fargo may also refer to: Othe ...
:* 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 o ...
:*
Valley City State University Valley City State University (VCSU) is a public university in Valley City, North Dakota. It is part of the North Dakota University System. Founded in 1890 as Valley City State Normal School, a two-year teachers' college, it was authorized to confe ...
in Valley City :*
Williston State College Williston State College (WSC) is a public community college in Williston, North Dakota. It is part of the North Dakota University System. Founded in 1961, WSC provides general, vocational, and technical education. For most of its history the col ...
in Williston Tribal institutions: :*
Cankdeska Cikana Community College Cankdeska Cikana Community College is a public tribal land-grant community college in Fort Totten, North Dakota, on the Spirit Lake Reservation. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. The college is named after Paul "Littl ...
in Fort Totten :*
Fort Berthold Community College Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College is a Public college, public Tribal colleges and universities, tribal Land-grant university, land-grant community college in New Town, North Dakota. It is chartered by the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthol ...
in
New Town New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
:*
Sitting Bull College Sitting Bull College is a public tribal land-grant college in Fort Yates, North Dakota. It was founded in 1973 by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in south-central North Dakota. The SBC campuses are located ...
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 w ...
in Bismarck Private institutions: :* University of Mary in Bismarck :* University of Jamestown 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 Fargo usually refers to: * Fargo, North Dakota, United States * ''Fargo'' (1996 film), a crime film by the Coen brothers * ''Fargo'' (TV series), an American black comedy–crime drama anthology television series Fargo may also refer to: Othe ...
:*
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 s ...
in Ellendale


Primary and secondary education

There were 142 schools in North Dakota cities and 4,722
one room schools One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...
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 The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what U.S. students know and can do in various subjects. NAEP is a congressionally mandated project administered by the ...
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 proper ...
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 The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...
are Interstate 29 and
Interstate 94 Interstate 94 (I-94) is an east–west Interstate Highway connecting the Great Lakes and northern Great Plains regions of the United States. Its western terminus is just east of Billings, Montana, at a junction with I-90; its eastern ter ...
, with I-29 and I-94 meeting at
Fargo Fargo usually refers to: * Fargo, North Dakota, United States * ''Fargo'' (1996 film), a crime film by the Coen brothers * ''Fargo'' (TV series), an American black comedy–crime drama anthology television series Fargo may also refer to: Othe ...
, 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 The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
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 The Dakota, Missouri Valley and Western Railroad started operations in September 1990 operating over 360 miles (580 km) of former Soo Line Railroad track in Montana and North Dakota. The railroad operates approximately 523 miles ...
and the
Red River Valley and Western Railroad Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...
. 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" ti ...
(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'' ...
(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. I ...
(XWA) in Williston. Amtrak's Empire Builder runs through North Dakota, making stops at
Fargo Fargo usually refers to: * Fargo, North Dakota, United States * ''Fargo'' (1996 film), a crime film by the Coen brothers * ''Fargo'' (TV series), an American black comedy–crime drama anthology television series Fargo may also refer to: Othe ...
(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 o ...
(4:52 am westbound, 12:57 am eastbound),
Minot Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Minot Air Force Base, Air Force base approximately north of ...
(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 James Jerome Hill (September 16, 1838 – May 29, 1916) was a Canadian-American railroad director. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwes ...
and ran from St. Paul to Seattle. Intercity bus service is provided by Greyhound and Jefferson Lines. Public transit 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 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 gr ...
, who is also the
President of the Senate President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's succession for its top executive office: for e ...
. 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 In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
,
state auditor State auditors (also known as state comptrollers, state controllers, state examiners, or inspectors general) are fiscal officers lodged in the executive or legislative branches of U.S. state governments who serve as external auditors, financial ...
, 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 is a
bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature, one divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single grou ...
body consisting of the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
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 te ...
. 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, Hidatsa, Lakota, and Ojibwe, and later by the Sanish and
Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...
. 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 The Standing Rock Reservation ( lkt, Íŋyaŋ Woslál Háŋ) lies across the border between North and South Dakota in the United States, and is inhabited by ethnic "Hunkpapa and Sihasapa bands of Lakota Oyate and the Ihunktuwona and Pabaksa ...
; * 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 Nor ...
; 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 power ...
are John Hoeven ( R) and Kevin Cramer (R). The state has one
at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...
congressional district represented by Representative Kelly Armstrong ( 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 Fargo usually refers to: * Fargo, North Dakota, United States * ''Fargo'' (1996 film), a crime film by the Coen brothers * ''Fargo'' (TV series), an American black comedy–crime drama anthology television series Fargo may also refer to: Othe ...
,
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 o ...
, and
Minot Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Minot Air Force Base, Air Force base approximately north of ...
. Appeals are heard by the
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (in case citations, 8th Cir.) is a United States federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States district courts: * Eastern District of Arkansas * Western Distr ...
based in
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
.


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 Part ...
. , 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 George Albert Sinner (May 29, 1928 – March 9, 2018) was an American politician who served as the 29th governor of North Dakota from 1985 to 1992. He served two four-year terms and was the most recent governor of North Dakota from his party, t ...
. The Republican Party presidential candidate usually carries the state by a considerable margin; in
2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...
, Donald Trump won over 65% of the vote. Of all the Democratic presidential candidates since 1892, only Grover Cleveland (1892, one of three votes), Woodrow Wilson (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.


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 A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a govern ...
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 English common law, real property, real estate, immovable property or, solely in the US and Canada, realty, is land which is the property of some person and all structures (also called improvements or fixtures) integrated with or affixe ...
in North Dakota pay property tax 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 Lynn Renée Anderson (September 26, 1947 – July 30, 2015) was an American country singer and television personality. Her crossover signature recording, "Rose Garden," was a number one hit in the United States and internationally. She charte ...
, country music singer. * Sam Anderson, actor. *
Carmen Berg __NOTOC__ The following is a list of Playboy Playmates of 1987. ''Playboy'' magazine names its Playmate of the Month each month throughout the year. January Luann Laureen Lee (born January 28, 1961) is an American model, singer and actress. Lua ...
, Playboy Playmate, July 1987. *
Brian Bohrer Brian Lester Bohrer (born August 15, 1960) is a pastor and author. History Brian L. Bohrer was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota, on a military base. His father was in the United States Air Force and was from Paw Paw, West Virginia. His mother ...
, 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 undergrad ...
, American writer, academic and former military officer * James Buchli, former NASA
astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
. * 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 powe ...
, 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'', whi ...
, American blues-rock guitarist and singer. * Angie Dickinson,
Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
-winning television and film actress. * Josh Duhamel,
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
-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 Ha ...
,
aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...
,
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 Carid ...
''. * Louise Erdrich, Native American author of novels, poetry, and children's books. * Darin Erstad, 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 Indian ...
, Former MLB Designated Hitter for the Cleveland Indians. * Richard Hieb, former NASA
astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
. * Clint Hill, United States Secret Service 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, former basketball coach who won 11
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
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 Gordon Wendell Kahl (January 8, 1920 – June 3, 1983) was an American member of the far right Posse Comitatus movement who was involved in two fatal shootouts with law enforcement officers in the United States in 1983.Tony Spilde''Changing li ...
, 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 Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * Pop (Gas al ...
. * Louis L'Amour, author of primarily Western fiction. * Jonny Lang, Grammy-winning
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
guitarist and singer. *
Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress, over a career spanning seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalis ...
, jazz 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 In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude. At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the naked eye, except when it is silhouetted against the Sun during a solar eclipse. ...
''. Former male fashion model. *
Roger Maris Roger Eugene Maris (September 10, 1934 – December 14, 1985) was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He is best known for setting a new MLB single-season home run record with 61 ...
, right fielder in Major League Baseball and former single season home run record holder. * Connor McGovern, professional football player for the Denver Broncos and the
New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...
. *
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 contest ...
, Miss America 2018. * Thomas McGrath, poet and political activist. *
Michael H. Miller Michael Harold "Mike" Miller (born June 4, 1952) is a former vice admiral in the United States Navy, and was the first active-duty officer to direct the White House Military Office. He was the 61st Superintendent of the United States Naval Acad ...
, 61st Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy * Griffin Neal, professional football player for the New Orleans Saints. *
Mancur Olson Mançur Lloyd Olson Jr. (; January 22, 1932 – February 19, 1998) was an American economist and political scientist who taught at the University of Maryland, College Park. His most influential contributions were in institutional economics, and i ...
, 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 Sacagawea ( or ; also spelled Sakakawea or Sacajawea; May – December 20, 1812 or April 9, 1884)Sacagawea
...
, who joined
Lewis and Clark Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * "Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohead ...
on their expedition. * Ed Schultz, host of '' The Ed Schultz Show''. * 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 ''American Top 40'' (previously abbreviated to ''AT40'') is an internationally syndicated, independent song countdown radio program created by Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds, and Ron Jacobs. The program is currently hosted by Ryan Seacr ...
''. * Bobby Vee, pop music singer. * Lawrence Welk, musician,
accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
player,
bandleader A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or ...
, and television impresario. * Carson Wentz, professional football player for the
Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...
.


See also

*
Index of North Dakota-related articles Index (or its plural form indices) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Index (''A Certain Magical Index''), a character in the light novel series ''A Certain Magical Index'' * The Index, an item on a Halo megastru ...
*
Outline of North Dakota The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of North Dakota: North Dakota – 39th state of the United States, having been admitted to the union on November 2, 1889. The state capital is Bismar ...
* '''' * ''''


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