The flag of North Dakota was introduced on 11th of March in 1911. It shows a plain blue bunting and in the centre elements of the coat of arms of the USA: a soaring bald eagle with an olive branch and a bundle of arrows in its talons. In its beak it holds a red banner with the national motto of the USA: "E pluribus unum" → "Out of many, one". Above the eagle, a stylised rising sun as a symbol of the birth of a new nation and thirteen golden stars. They stand for the thirteen founding colonies of the USA. Below the eagle is a red banner with the name of the state. The flag goes back to the flag of the First North Dakota Infantry Regiment of the US Army, which was used in the Spanish-US-American War in 1898, but without the red ribbon with the name of the country. The official proportions of the flag are 33:26, but in practice the flag is often produced in a ratio of 3:5.
1738–1742 · a French expedition under Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye explores the land, and later insignificant French colonization, to French-Louisiana
1763 · Peace of Paris, France has to cede the Louisiana Colony to Spain and United Kingdom, large areas (including present-day North and South Dakota) become Spanish possession
1st of October 1800 · Treaty of San Ildefonso, Spain has to cede back the Louisiana Territory to France and has to withdraw to the borders of 1763
1803 · France sells Louisiana to the USA
1804–1806 · the US-american Lewis and Clark Expedition ranges the area
26th of March 1804 · today's North Dakota is part of the Orleans Territory
7th of December 1812 · today's North Dakota is part of the Missouri Territory
15th of November 1818 · Great Britain cedes the Red River Valley (the north-east of today's North Dakota) to the United States, to the Missouri Territory
1838–1846 · the areas east of the Missouri River are part of the Iowa Territory
1849–1858 · the areas east of the Missouri River are part of the Minnesota Territory
1854–1861 · the areas west of the Missouri River are part of the Nebraska Territory
2nd of March 1861 · founding of the Dakota Territory, capital is Yankton
1863 · Indian War
1872 · founding of Edwinton (today's Bismarck)
1873 · renaming of Edwinton in Bismarck, in honor of the German Chancellor
1881 · first division plans for the Dakota Territory
1883 · Bismarck becomes the capital of the Dakota Territory
2nd of November 1889 · North Dakota becomes the 39th state of the USA
The name "Dakota" comes from the vocabulary of the Sioux Indians. It described the easternmost of the three Sioux tribes in the region. The other two tribes had been the Nakota and the Lakota. Dakota means "friend" or "ally".
