The Rum River cuts through the county and was the site of many early European settlements.

It was a common route to the Mille Lacs Lake, the spiritual homeland of the Ojibwe people.

[8] Organized in 1857, the county's southern border eventually met Minneapolis and has become a predominantly suburban area following the construction of Interstate 35W.

The county is home to local Twin Cities destinations such as the Heights Theater in Columbia Heights and Northtown Mall and the National Sports Center in Blaine.Anoka County was organized by an act of the Minnesota Territorial Legislature on May 23, 1857, the year prior to Minnesota's admission to the Union.

The boundaries were mainly the same as they are now, except for a small part of the southeastern tip along the Mississippi River and at the south, formerly known as Manomin County.

It was a small portion that connected to Ramsey and occupied one-third of the congressional township.

The first European descendants to explore what is now Anoka County were Franciscan friar Louis Hennepin and his party.

They settled on the Rum River and more people were attracted to the area now called Anoka.

[11] Otherwise the terrain's highest point is along the western part of the north boundary line, at 1,083 ft (330 m) ASL.

[13] [10] Anoka County has a hot-summer humid continental climate zone (Dfa in the Köppen climate classification),[15] typical of southern parts of the Upper Midwest, and is situated in USDA plant hardiness zone 4b.

On a national level, Anoka County has voted for the Republican presidential candidate from 2000 onward, though with the margins remaining within 3% outside of 2004 and 2016.