As Minnesota celebrates the 150th anniversary of statehood, the Norwegian Statehood Pioneer Project will recognize those Norwegian pioneers who were here when the state was born and contributed to the development of its institutions and culture. Norwegians began settling in southeastern Minnesota in the early 1850's. In the decades that followed, many of those pioneers and their descendants migrated north and west and helped establish new communities throughout Minnesota. Over 850,000 Minnesotans list Norwegian as their primary ethnic heritage - more Norwegian-Americans than in any other state in the union. The influence of Minnesota's Norwegian pioneers didn't stop at Minnesota's borders - many moved on to the Dakotas, Montana, Washington. and Oregon. The earliest Norwegian Minnesotans built a history and heritage that touches descendants throughout the United States!