North Dakota Counties

North Dakota (/ˌnɔrθ dəˈkoʊtə/ ) is a state located in the Midwestern and Western regions and in the Great Plains of the United States of America. It is bordered on the west by Montana, on the east by Minnesota, on the south by South Dakota, and on the north by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. North Dakota, the 39th state, was admitted to the Union in 1889. North Dakota is the 19th largest state by area in the US; it is the 48th most populous, with just over 640,000 residents as of 2006. North Dakota was carved out of the northern half of the Dakota Territory and admitted to the Union as the 39th state on November 2, 1889.The year 2005 marked the bicentennial celebration of the Lewis and Clark expedition which began in Illinois and passed through North Dakota on the way to the Pacific Northwest, with help from a Shoshone Indian girl, Sakakawea, as their guide. North Dakota's 53 counties cover approximately 70,655 square miles (183,000 square kilometers).