St Paul

Click a letter for the index

Or search the encyclopaedia:

 

 

Go

 

Capital and river port of Minnesota, in Ramsey County, on the Mississippi River, on the opposite bank of the river to Minneapolis, with which it forms the Twin Cities area; population (2000 est) 287,200. The city is primarily a transport and trading centre. Industries include printing, oil-refining, brewing, food-processing, meat-packing, and the manufacture of electronics, chemicals, plastics, and machinery. Cray Supercomputers are based in St Paul.

History
The French explorer and missionary Father Louis Hennepin visited the area in 1680, which was originally inhabited by the Sioux and Kaposia. Fort Snelling was built on the site in 1817, on land negotiated by treaty in 1805 with the local American Indian population. The area was then settled in 1838 by Pierre Parrant, a French-Canadian trader, who called the settlement Pig's Eye. It was renamed St Paul in 1841 and became the territorial capital in 1847, and the state capital in 1859. Its main growth occurred after the arrival of the first railway in 1862; it remains a major rail centre.

The arms depict the Carpathian Mountains which traverse the Slovak Republic. The flag uses the pan-Slav colours representing liberation from foreign domination. Effective date: 3 September 1992. >>