Minnesota was inhabited by native peoples of Canada and the northern United States.
Anishinaabe ( or Anishinabe , plural : Anishinaabeg ) is the autonym for a group of culturally related indigenous peoples of Canada and the United States that include the Odawa , Ojibwe , Potawatomi , Oji-Cree , Mississaugas , and Algonquin peoples . They traditionally have lived in the Northeast Woodlands and Subarctic . Minnesota . Until European settlement , Minnesota was inhabited by the Dakota and Ojibwe/Anishinaabe . The Odawa ( also Ottawa or Odaawaa [ oʊˈdɒwə ] ) , said to mean `` traders , '' have long had territory that crossed the current borders of the United States , where they are federally recognized as Native American tribes , and Canada , where there are numerous recognized First Nations bands .