North Dakota is located in the Midwestern area of the United States and is primarily a farming state. Prior to European contact, the region was inhabited by six groups of Indians including the Yankton Sioux, the Mandan, the Hidatsa, the Arikara, the Chippewa and the Lakota.
As early as 1682, the area of land drained by the Mississippi River system was claimed by Rene Robert Cavelier for France. This included the Southwestern region of North Dakota. Several years later in 1713, the region changed hands when the French gave it to Britain.
Sieur de La Verendrye, a French-Canadian trader, was the first white person to explore North Dakota. He led an exploration party from Canada and reached the Mandan villages in 1738. In 1762, Spain acquired the land west of the Mississippi from France but gave it back to the French in 1800. Ownership of the region was transferred yet again in 1803 when the United States bought it from France via the Louisiana Purchase. The next year (1804), Lewis and Clark were sent by President Jefferson to the Louisiana Territory for the purpose of exploration. They built Fort Mandan along the east bank of the Missouri River in October 1804.
Eight years later in 1812, the settlement of Pembina was formed by several Scottish and Irish families from Canada. They began leaving the area in 1818 when the United States gained the Northeastern part of North Dakota via a treaty with Britain. Those who chose to stay, left in 1823 when a survey confirmed that Pembina was a part of the United States.
The Dakota Territory was formed by Congress on March 2, 1861 and William Jayne was appointed governor. Two years later (1863), the Territory was opened to settlers who were given land if they agreed to live on it and improve it. Poor transportation and a fear of Indian attacks contributed to the slow growth of the Territory until the late 1800’s when the railroads entered the region and began marketing the land.
By 1875, farming on a large scale began when the settlers started large wheat farms in the Red River Valley. These farms were profitable and attracted the cattle companies from the Southern plains. However, in the 1890’s, the price of wheat fell so the once large and profitable farms were divided into smaller lots and sold to newcomers.
The population centers of North Dakota developed in the far corners of the Territory in the 1870s. Because the railroad companies had laid their tracks in an east-west direction, transportation between these two northern and southern centers was difficult. To compound the problem, the two groups had very little in common and each wanted their own separate government. This led them to petition congress to separate the Territory into two parts. Congress granted their request and in February, 1899, the boundary between North and South Dakota was created.
North Dakota entered the Union as the 39th state on November 2, 1889 and South Dakota followed as the 40th state. There was some dispute as to which state should be admitted first but because North Dakota appears first alphabetically before South Dakota, it was listed first as the 39th state.
Following statehood, the population of North Dakota grew rapidly but the farmers resented the political powers of the out-of-state banks and corporations in Minnesota. This resentment led to the forming of the Nonpartisan League in 1915. The purpose of the League was to lend support to the farmers and attract banks to farming areas that would make loans at cost to the farmers. In order to protect the farmland from the banks and corporations, anti-corporate laws were passed. These laws are still in effect today, thus, nearly all of the farms in North Dakota are family-owned farms.
Sources:
North Dakota travel & history- http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1520.html
State history guide resources- http://www.shgresources.com/nd/timeline/
North Dakota historical overview: Dakota Territory and statehood http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award97/ndfahtml/ngp_nd_terr.html
