Manitoba

Manitoba is one of Canada's provinces and was the fifth province to join Canada (in 1870). Its population is about 1�150�000 (Manitobans). The word "Manitoba" is etymologically related to the native word that means "Spirit," and similar to the idea of a Great Spirit. Manitoba is in the heart of the Hudson Bay watershed, which was once known as Rupert's Land. Within Manitoba's borders, Lake Winnipeg is the largest fresh water lake in Southern Canada. Manitoba also has some of the last intact and pristine boreal forests left in the entire world, along with Northwestern Ontario. The rich soils along the major rivers provided excellent land for farms and settlements.

Its capital is Winnipeg. Other towns and cities include Brandon,Thompson, Gilbert Plains, Neelin, Churchill, The Pas, and Portage la Prairie. See also a List of communities in Manitoba.

The Manitoban climate is often hot and sunny in the summer, with cold and sunny winters, and the southern latitudes support extensive agriculture. The northern reaches of the province range through coniferous forests, muskeg, and up to tundra in the far north. The eastern and northern regions are Canadian Shield bedrock.

History

Manitoba was settled by various native groups over thousands of years, including the Cree, Ojibwa and Assiniboine tribes. The first area to be exposed after the last ice age was in the southwestern corner. The Turtle Mountains are rolling hills and higher elevations that native peoples used for over eight thousand years. There is archaeological evidence of a wide trading network of copper, flint, obsidian, shells, and other types of rocks. Petroforms that are thousands of years old can be found in various locations. In addition, mounds were built throughout the area, mainly near waterways. The major rivers and lakes in the area provided excellent transportation routes in all directions, and major floods were avoided in the many higher elevations found throughout the land. The rich soil along the Red River was used for farming prior to European contact. There are many clues left behind about the many kinds of humans that lived in the various areas for thousands of years. A detailed chronology would require volumes of information that cannot be adequately addressed here.

The first Europeans to reach present-day Manitoba came along with Thomas Button, who explored and helped to map the Nelson River area in 1612. Button was the first to travel far enough south to report seeing Bison or Buffalo. Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de la V�rendrye explored and helped to map the Winnipeg River and the Red River Valley in the 1730s as part of opening the area for French exploration and fur trading. An important French-Canadian population (Franco-Manitobains) still lives in Manitoba, especially in the Saint-Boniface district of Winnipeg. The Metis were a distinct group that combined European ways with native ways.

The territory was won by Britain in 1763 as part of the French and Indian War and became part of Rupert's Land, the immense monopoly territory of the Hudson's Bay Company.

The founding of the first European agricultural community in 1811 by Lord Selkirk, within the area that is now Winnipeg, resulted in conflict between the European colonists and the Metis who lived near there. A battle in 1816 saw 20 colonists killed by the M�tis, including the Governor. Upper Fort Garry was part of the only European settlement in the west, where the vast majority of humans were native.

When Rupert's Land was ceded to Canada in 1869 (it would become the Northwest Territories), a lack of attention to Metis concerns would lead their leader Louis Riel to establish a provisional government. Negotiations between this government and the Canadian government resulted in the creation of the province of Manitoba and its entry into Confederation in 1870. Manitoba originally had the only major settlement in Western Canada.

Originally the province was only 1/18 of its current size - it was known as the "postage stamp province." It grew progressively, absorbing land from the Northwest Territories until it attained its current size by reaching 60�N in 1912. It was once the fourth largest city in Canada, and the largest city in the west. Once known as the gateway to the west.

Manitoba

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