Blank Minnesota map

What the outline shows

The map shows the state's outer boundary. The north is the Canadian border: the 49th parallel in the west, then the Northwest Angle jutting north into Lake of the Woods, then the Rainy River and a chain of lakes east to Lake Superior. The northeast edge is the Lake Superior shore, from the Pigeon River to Duluth. The east edge with Wisconsin follows the St. Louis, St. Croix and Mississippi rivers. The south edge with Iowa is straight, and the west edge with the Dakotas is the Red River in the north and a surveyed line with a jog south of it. Nothing is drawn inside. Capital marks Saint Paul, on the Mississippi next to Minneapolis, in the southeast quarter.

Portrait or landscape

Minnesota is about 400 miles from the Iowa line to the Northwest Angle and about 350 miles across at the widest, near the top. Taller than wide, so portrait is the better print. It keeps the Northwest Angle at the top of the page, the Arrowhead region along Lake Superior in the top right, and the narrower southern part with the Twin Cities in the lower half. Landscape crops the Angle close to the page edge. The state is narrower at the south than the north, which leaves margin space beside the lower part for a key.

Five classroom exercises

1. Mark Lake Itasca, the source of the Mississippi, in the north-central part of the state, and draw the river's course south to the Twin Cities, then along the Wisconsin border.
2. Draw the Red River of the North flowing north along the North Dakota border to Canada, and explain why it drains to Hudson Bay rather than the Gulf of Mexico.
3. Draw the Minnesota River from the South Dakota line southeast to Mankato, then northeast to join the Mississippi at Saint Paul.
4. Shade the Northwest Angle and explain that it results from an error in an 18th-century treaty map.
5. Place Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Rochester, Duluth and Bloomington, and mark Duluth at the western end of Lake Superior.

How to recognise the Minnesota outline

• A tall shape with a flat top, straight left and bottom edges, and a wavy right edge.
• A small piece sticking up from the top edge in the northwest: the Northwest Angle.
• A sharp point in the northeast, the Arrowhead, running along Lake Superior toward Canada.
• The east side bulges outward in the middle where the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers meet.

Answer key and related maps

• Minnesota map — the labeled version with capital, cities and borders; use it as the answer key.
• Printable Minnesota map — the same outline with cities, county lines and the capital printed on.
• Minnesota county map — all 87 counties with their seats.
• Saint Paul — the capital, paired with Minneapolis.
• Neighbours: Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota.
• Mississippi River and Great Lakes maps.
• All blank state maps and the printable US maps index.