The History

The name Manitoba likely comes from the Cree words "Manitou bou," which mean "the narrows of the Great Spirit." These words applied to Lake Manitoba, which narrows to less than a kilometre at its centre. The waves hitting the loose surface rocks of its north shore produce curious bell-like and wailing sounds, which the first Aboriginal peoples believed came from a huge drum beaten by the spirit Manitou. The Assiniboine Indians were the first inhabitants of Manitoba. Other First Nations included the nomadic Cree, who followed the herds of bison and caribou on their seasonal migrations.

In their search for the rich Orient through the Northwest Passage, Europeans reached Manitoba through Hudson Bay. Unlike most of the rest of Canada, the northern parts of the province were explored before the south. In 1612, Captain Thomas Button wintered two ships at the mouth of the Nelson River, on Hudson Bay. Later, a party led by La Vérendrye explored the Red and Winnipeg rivers in the years 1733-38 and built several outposts. Early European interest in Manitoba centred on the fur trade.

In 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company was created, and King Charles II of England granted it a large tract of land named Rupert's Land. The company set up fur-trading posts to exploit the country's wealth. During the 18th century, intense rivalry for fur-trade supremacy developed between the Montreal-based North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company.

In 1812, the first European agricultural settlement was established in the area around the junction of the Red and Assiniboine rivers by Lord Selkirk, a Scottish nobleman who sent a number of Scottish Highlanders to settle land he had secured from the Hudson's Bay

Company. He called the area Assiniboia. The Selkirk colony suffered through floods and problems arising from unfamiliarity with the environment and rivalries within the fur trade. Nevertheless, the settlement survived. In 1836, the Selkirk family transferred Assiniboia to the Hudson's Bay Company.

In the late 1860s, the Dominion of Canada, anxious to expand into the great northwest, offered to buy the land from the Hudson's Bay Company. Negotiations for the transfer of sovereignty of the Hudson's Bay Company lands to Canada followed, but with little regard to the wishes of the inhabitants. During the lengthy negotiations, this lack of consultation and the movement of American and Canadian settlers into the territory led the Métis (people of mixed Aboriginal and European blood) to fear for the preservation of their land rights and culture. The Métis, under the leadership of Louis Riel, opposed the Canadian proposals in an insurgency known as the Red River Rebellion. Riel succeeded in establishing a locally-elected, provisional government in December 1869. Delegates of this provisional government negotiated terms with the new federal government of Canada, making Manitoba a province of the Dominion of Canada on July 15, 1870.

The new "postage stamp" province (so named because of its square shape and small size) consisted then of 36 000 km2; surrounding the Red River Valley. However, the province did not remain that small; its boundaries were expanded in 1881 and again in 1912.

Bolstered by its central location as the entry point to western Canada, Manitoba grew quickly during its first 50 years as a province. With the help of the railway, thousands of settlers from eastern Canada and from countries all over the world made Manitoba their home.