Minnesota: A History of the Land

Prominent members of Minnesota's Native American community describe their long relationship with the land. Europeans arrived with a new way of looking at the land: the land survey, which carved the natural world into squares that could be bought and sold. The fur trade era and early lumbering are brought to life with historic reenactments and photographs. Early entrepreneurs failed to understand the geology of St. Anthony Falls.

Voices from the past and stunning nature videography re-create the natural world Euro-Americans first encounter. Find out what happens to North America’s most abundant wildlife species as commercial hunters and the railroad arrive in Minnesota.