Minnesota

The mighty Mississippi River, the waterway that shaped half of America, starts at Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota as a knee-deep stream just 18 feet wide. You can walk right across it.

From there, it flows 2,552 miles to the Gulf of Mexico.

The Dakota and Ojibwe peoples lived across this land for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. French fur traders were the first Europeans to explore the area in the 1600s.

An Ojibwe guide named Ozawindib led explorer Henry Schoolcraft to Lake Itasca in 1832 to confirm the river's source.

Minnesota became the 32nd state in 1858. Three years later, it was the first state to offer troops when the Civil War broke out.

At Gettysburg in 1863, 262 men of the 1st Minnesota charged a Confederate assault to buy time for reinforcements. Only 47 walked away. It was one of the worst losses of any unit in the entire war.

Back home, the U.S. government had been breaking promises to the Dakota people for years. Starving on reservations that kept getting smaller, some Dakota warriors fought back in 1862.

When the fighting ended, the government put 38 Dakota men to death in Mankato. Nothing like it had ever happened before in the United States.

Minnesota's name comes from the Dakota word for "cloudy water." The state has more than 11,000 lakes, and its rivers flow in three directions: north to Hudson Bay, east to the Atlantic, and south to the Gulf of Mexico.

At Itasca State Park, you can wade across the Mississippi headwaters and brag that you walked across the river without a bridge. In Minneapolis, the Mill City Museum is built into the ruins of what was once the world's largest flour mill.

Drive up the North Shore along Lake Superior to Split Rock Lighthouse, one of the most photographed spots in the state. And if you need a break from history, the Mall of America in Bloomington has more than 400 stores and its own indoor theme park.