North Dakota was admitted to the Union on November 2, 1889, along with its neighboring state, South Dakota. It was either the 39th or 40th state admitted to the union. Before signing the statehood papers, President Benjamin Harrison shuffled the papers so that no one could tell which state was first.

The Peace Garden State is named in commemoration of the International Peace Garden on North Dakota's border with Manitoba, Canada. The International Peace Garden was dedicated on July 14, 1932, and the nickname was made official by the North Dakota legislature in 1957.

The western meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta) has distinctive calls described as watery or flute-like, which distinguish it from the closely related eastern meadowlark. It is the state bird of six states: Montana, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wyoming.

An attempt to drop the word North from the state name was defeated by the 1947 Legislative Assembly. Again in 1989 the Legislature rejected two resolutions intended to rename the state Dakota.

Theodore Roosevelt first visited the Dakota Territory in 1883 to hunt bison. Exhilarated by the cowboy life, and with the cattle business booming in the territory, Roosevelt invested $14,000 in hopes of becoming a prosperous cattle rancher. He established two ranches--the Elkhorn Ranch on the banks of the Little Missouri River and the more private Maltese Cross Ranch just outside the town of Medora, North Dakota.

Bismarck was founded by European-Americans in 1872 on the east bank of the Missouri River. It has been North Dakota's capital city since the state was created from the Dakota Territory and admitted to the Union.

It is bordered by three states: Montana to the west, Minnesota to the east, and South Dakota to the south. To the north, it is bordered by two Canadian provinces: Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

According to Guinness World Records, North Dakota holds the world record for the most snow angels made simultaneously in one place. The event occurred on February 17, 2007, when 8,962 snow angels were created by people on the state capitol grounds in Bismarck.

Long before Nevada became known for its "quickie" divorces, Fargo held the title as divorce capital. In 1866, the Dakota Territory legislature passed a quick and easy divorce law that allowed an an applicant for divorce to begin action immediately upon arrival in the territory. The territorial code was amended in 1877 to require three months for residency for a divorce. People seeking divorces often registered at a hotel for the required three months, left town, and returned several months later when their "residency" had been established. At that time the Northern Pacific train stopped in Fargo at noon for 10 minutes for lunch. So many people used that 10 minutes to check into a hotel, leave a bag, and return to the train that it came to be known as the "Ten Minute Divorce."

Two large granite boulders are carved with petroglyphs featuring thunderbirds, mythological creatures that are of importance in the culture of Plains Indian tribes. The age of the carvings has not been determined, but according to the North Dakota Historical Society, they could date from 1000 to about 1700.