North Dakota is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large portion of the population and historically dominated the territory..
North Dakota was admitted to the Union on November 2, 1889, along with its neighboring state, South Dakota. They were the 39th and 40th states admitted to the union. President Benjamin Harrison shuffled the statehood papers before signing them so that no one could tell which became a state first. For convenience, the two states are officially numbered in alphabetical order.