Both rural and agricultural, with grain farms
and cattle ranches, North Dakota gets its name from the Dakota
division of the Sioux Indians who lived on the plains before the
Europeans arrived. "Dakota" means "friend."
French-Canadian soldier and fur trader Pierre Gaultier de
Varennes was the first known white explorer to visit the home of
the Dakota in 1738. North Dakota was one of the last areas of the
frontier to be settled by non-Native Americans, and even today,
it's not a highly populated state. North Dakota, whose capital is
Bismarck, joined the Union in 1889 as the 39th state.
Appropriately, the state flower is the wild prairie rose.
State Flower: Wild Prairie Rose
State Motto: Liberty and union, now and
forever: one and inseparable
State Nickname: Sioux State; Flickertail State;
Peace Garden State; Rough Rider State
State Bird: Western Meadowlark
Land area: 70,704 sq mi. - Length: 340 miles - Width: 211 miles
Largest cities (1999 est.): Fargo, 88,128;
Bismarck, 55,109; Grand Forks, 45,967; Minot, 35,673; Dickinson,
16,301; Mandan, 15,970; Jamestown, 15,100; West Fargo, 14,477;
Williston, 12,463; - Persons per square mile (1999): 9.2