Northwest Angle
NORTHWEST ANGLE
NORTHWEST ANGLE, a projection of land extending north of the forty-ninth parallel on the northern boundary of Minnesota. This 130-square-mile area, separated from the rest of Minnesota by the Lake of the Woods, is the northernmost territory in the contiguous United States. Ignorance of the region's geography caused this curious projection of the international boundary in 1783, when the Definitive Treaty of Peace attempted to fix the United States–Canadian border. Subsequent explorations forced modifications of the line in the Convention of 1818, which were further revised in negotiations conducted in 1824,1825, and 1842. Boundary surveys continued, however, until a final treaty fixed the boundary in 1925.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Parsons, John E. West on the 49th Parallel: Red River to the Rockies, 1872–1876. New York: Morrow, 1963.
T. C.Blegen/c. w.
See alsoCanada, Relations with ; Convention of 1818 with England ; Surveying ; Paris, Treaty of (1783) .