North Dakota : Ask Biography

US State

Nickname

Peace Garden State,
Roughrider State, Flickertail State, Norse Dakota, The 701, Heaven

Motto

Liberty and Union, Now and Forever, One and Inseparable

Official languages

English

Demonym

North Dakotan

Capital

Bismarck

Largest city

Fargo

Area

Area Ranked

19th

Total

70700 sq mi 183272 km²

Width

210 mi 340 km

Length

340 mi 545 km

% water

2.4

Population

Pop. Rank

48th

Total

(2010) 672,591

Density

9.3 /sq mi 3.58 /km²

Elevation

Highest point

White Butte
3510 ft 1069 m

Mean

1903 ft 580 m

Lowest point

Red River
750 ft 229 m

Other information

Admission to Union

November 2, 1889 (39th)

Governor

Jack Dalrymple (R)

Lieutenant Governor

Drew Wrigley (R)

Legislature

Legislative Assembly

Upper house

Senate

Lower house

House of Representatives

U.S. Senators

Kent Conrad (D)
John Hoeven (R)

U.S. House delegation

Rick Berg (R)

Timezone

most of state - Central: UTC-6/-5

southwest - Mountain: UTC-7/-6

Time zone

Central: UTC-6/-5

Home | State | North Dakota

North Dakota c-enaudio=en-us-North Dakota.oggˌnɔrθ_dəkˈoʊtə is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S. It is also the third least populous, with 672,591 residents according to the 2010 census. North Dakota was carved out of the Dakota Territory and admitted to the Union on November 2, 1889, simultaneously with South Dakota.

The state capital is Bismarck and the largest city is Fargo. The primary public universities are located in Grand Forks and Fargo. The U.S. Air Force operates Air Force Bases at Minot AFB and Grand Forks AFB.

For more than a decade, the state has had a strong economy, with unemployment lower than the national average, job and population growth, and low housing vacancies. Much of the growth has been based on development of the Bakken oil shale fields in the western part of the state, but it has also had growth in the technology and service sectors. Flooding in June 2011 has caused extensive damage to Minot and threatened Bismarck, the capital city.