Wayzata is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, a western suburb of Minneapolis. Wayzata came into existence in the center of Chief Shakopee's Indian village. The first people to settle on the land around Lake Minnetonka were the Mdewakanton Dakota, a major division of the Sioux nation. They treasured the "Big Water" as an endowed hunting and fishing ground and protected this land from the rival Chippewa tribe, who were known as Ojibway. While these natives had been living off the land for many years prior, in 1803 the land was claimed by France, who sold it to the United... States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. The nearest Euro-American settlement then was Fort Snelling, and it wasn't until the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux was signed in 1851 that the lands west of the Mississippi River were opened for land claims to be filed. Although today the Sioux are no longer living on the land, their legacy lives on in the name of the city. The name Wayzata is derived from the American Indian word Waziyata, which had almost a mystical connotation to the Sioux tribes who originally inhabited the area.
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| County: | Hennepin County |
| State: | Minnesota |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Population: | 3,967 |
| Area: | 3.2 sq. mi. |
| Also known as: | Wayzata, Minnesota, Hennepin County / Wayzata city |