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Manitoba
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Dictionary Man·i·to·ba (măn'ĭ-tō'bə) (Abbr. MB or Man.)
A province of south-central Canada. It was admitted to the confederation in 1870. Originally part of a 1670 grant to the Hudson's Bay Company, it was largely settled by immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Winnipeg is the capital and the largest city. Population: 1,170,000.
Man'i·to'ban adj. & n. Encyclopedia Manitoba (mănĭtō'bə) , province (1991 pop. 1,091,942), 250,934 sq mi (650,930 sq km), including 39,215 sq mi (101,580 sq km) of water surface, W central Canada.
Geography
Easternmost of the Prairie Provinces, Manitoba is bounded on the N by Nunavut (with a northeast shoreline on Hudson Bay), on the E by Ontario, on the S by Minnesota and North Dakota, and on the W by Saskatchewan. The south and central part of Manitoba was once covered by Pleistocene Lake Agassiz; as its waters receded into Hudson Bay, it left behind numerous lakes (the largest being Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Winnipegosis) and rivers (including the Nelson, Churchill, and Hayes) that flow northeast into the bay. In some places underlying rock formations were swept bare; in others they were covered with rich deposits of black loam. An expanse of almost uninhabited tundra surrounds the port of Churchill.
Extending south from Churchill and east from Lake Winnipeg, the topography is that of the Canadian Shield; limited areas have been cleared for general farming and dairying, and mineral and timber resources have been partly developed. Southern Manitoba is dominated by lakes, with Lake Winnipeg paralleled in the west by Winnipegosis and Manitoba. Most of the province's population is concentrated in the river valleys south of these lakes. To the west and north of the Red River valley, the land rises in an escarpment extending into the plateaus of the Pembina, Turtle, Riding, Duck, and Porcupine mountains. Much of this heavily forested area has been set off as reserves, and the Riding Mt. area is a national park.
Winnipeg is the capital and the largest city, accounting for over half of the province's population in its metropolitan area. Other important cities are Brandon, Thompson, Portage la Prairie, and Selkirk.
Economy and Higher Education
In S Manitoba are expanses of wheat, barley, oats, rye, and flax. The well-settled Souris Plains in the southwest are especially famous for their wheat fields. Canada's wheat industry originated in Manitoba, whose bread wheat has set standards for the world. Grain is shipped from Churchill (the only port in the Prairie Provinces) during the three ice-free months of the year. Although agriculture has been continually extended—especially in mixed farming, dairying, and poultry and stock raising—manufacturing has nevertheless displaced it as the leading industry in the province. Foods, printed materials, clothing, electrical items, chemicals, furniture, leather, and transportation equipment are major products.
Continuing developments in mining, pulp and paper manufacturing, and extensive hydroelectric production promise to preserve Manitoba's industrial growth. In the southwest, near Brandon, are large oil reserves, and the municipal districts of Flin Flon and The Pas, on the Saskatchewan River, are gateways to the rich mineral deposits (chiefly nickel, copper, and zinc) and timberlands of the central west; the mines at Thompson provide most of Manitoba's nickel. Beluga whales are still caught by native fishermen at Churchill, Lake Winnipeg has important fisheries, and Manitoba ranks third among the provinces in the production of (now chiefly farm-raised) fur.
Brandon Univ. is at Brandon, and the Univ. of Manitoba and the Univ. of Winnipeg are at Winnipeg.
History and Politics
The history of Manitoba began along Hudson Bay. The search for the elusive Northwest Passage to the Pacific drew such explorers as Henry Hudson, Thomas Button, Pierre Radisson, and Médard Chouart des Groseilliers, some of whom returned to England laden with beaver furs. To exploit this fur wealth, Charles II granted (1670) the Hudson's Bay Company propriety over all the lands draining into Hudson Bay. This vast area included the present-day province of Manitoba, then occupied by the Assiniboin, the Ojibwa, and the Cree. The company established a trading post at Port Nelson and soon extended its operations south to the strategic Red River valley. In 1717, Fort Prince of Wales was built at the mouth of the Churchill River (rebuilt in stone 1732–71, it is now in Fort Prince of Wales National Historic Park).
Manitoba was explored and posts were established by the French as well as by the British; their rival claims were resolved when England's conquest of Canada in the French and Indian Wars was confirmed by the Treaty of Paris in 1763. Scotsmen took over much of the French fur trade, organized the North West Company, and challenged the monopoly of the Hudson's Bay Company. A crisis came when the earl of Selkirk established the Red River Settlement at present-day Assiniboine in North West Company territory. The resulting violence deterred colonization until the merger of the two companies in 1821. From then until 1870, when the Hudson's Bay Company sold its vast domain to the newly created confederation of Canada, that company was in sole control, and settlement of the area increased.
Prearrangements for the transfer of the land to the new dominion government led to conflict between government representatives and Métis (people of mixed European–indigenous Canadian ancestry), who had long enjoyed almost total autonomy under the Hudson's Bay Company's rule. Fearing political persecution and the loss of their land, they staged (1869) the Red River Rebellion under the leadership of Louis Riel. The rebellion was nominally successful and the Métis were granted land and cultural rights, but after Manitoba was organized as a province in 1870, most of the Métis were harassed into moving farther west.
Agricultural settlement in Manitoba proceeded slowly, but when the railroads came (1870 and 1881), they provided access to grain markets on the Great Lakes, and during the 1880s the population doubled. Manitoba's area was enlarged in 1881, and in 1912 it was given its present extension to Hudson Bay. The depression of 1913 and the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 ended this period of prosperity, during which Winnipeg had served as a great transportation center. With the completion of the Hudson Bay Railway to Churchill in 1929, however, the province was in a position to use the shorter sea route eastward.
During the last part of the 19th cent. and the first part of the 20th, the Canadian government advertised for immigrants to settle the prairies, and huge numbers of Russians, Poles, Estonians, Scandinavians, Icelanders, and Hungarians responded. The largest single immigrant group was the Ukrainians, who now constitute over 11% of the population and are an important part of Manitoban culture. The province provided a multilingual school system from 1897 to 1916 but abolished it when the number of ethnic groups requesting such facilities grew too large. Further immigration came with World War I when American pacifist sects (e.g., Mennonites and Hutterites), seeking to avoid military service, set up colonies of their own in the province. Manitoba still has problems amalgamating its many ethnic groups, including the Métis, and indigenous groups suffer high unemployment and related ills.
Manitoba has alternated politically between socialist (New Democratic party) and conservative (Progressive Conservative party) governments since the 1950s. Progressive Conservative Sterling Lyon was elected in 1977 after promising to reduce the provincial debt, but he was defeated in 1981 by New Democrat Howard Pawley. Lyon's was the only one-term government in Manitoba history. Conservatives regained control of the government in 1989 under Gary Filmon, who held office until he was defeated by the New Democrat Gary Doer (in the fourth race between the two leaders) in 1999. Doer and the New Democrats were returned to power in 2003.
Manitoba sends 6 senators and 14 representatives to the national parliament.
Bibliography
See W. L. Morton, Manitoba: A History (2d ed. 1967); J. A. Jackson, The Centennial History of Manitoba (1970); Manitoba: Past and Present, ed. by D. Dawes (tr. 1971); F. McGuinness and K. S. Coates, Manitoba: The Province and the People (1987).
Geography Manitoba
Province in central Canada, bordered to the north by the Northwest Territories, to the northeast by Hudson Bay, to the east by Ontario, to the south by Minnesota and North Dakota, and to the west by Saskatchewan. Winnipeg is the capital and largest city.
Dialing Codes The telephone dialing code for: Manitoba, Canada
The country code is : 1
The local code(s) : 204
Wikipedia Manitoba This article is about the Canadian province. Manitoba is also the former stage name of electronic musician Dan Snaith, who now goes by Caribou.
Manitoba
(Flag of Manitoba)
Motto: Gloriosus et Liber (Glorious and free)
Other Canadian provinces and territories
Largest city
647,797 km² (8th)
- Land
553,556 km²
- Water
64,241 km² (14.5%)
Population (2004)
1,165,944 (5th)
- Density
1.80 /km² (8th)
Admittance into Confederation
- Date
- Order
5th
UTC-6
14
6
Abbreviations
- Postal
MB
CA-MB
Postal Code Prefix
Web site
Manitoba is one of Canada's provinces and was the fifth province to join Canada (in 1870). Its population as of January 1, 2004 was 1,165,944(Manitobans). It is the easternmost of the three Prairie Provinces.
Its capital is Winnipeg. Other towns and cities include Brandon, Thompson, Dauphin, Neelin, Churchill, The Pas, Melita, Selkirk,Birtle, and Portage la Prairie.
Geography
Manitoba is located in the longitudinal centre of Canada, though it is considered part of Western Canada. It borders Saskatchewan to the west, Ontario to the east, Nunavut to the north, and the American states of North Dakota and Minnesota to the south.
The province has a coast with Hudson Bay, and contains the very large Lakes Winnipeg, Manitoba (its namesake), and Winnipegosis. Important watercourses include the Red River, Assiniboine River, Nelson River, Hayes River and Churchill River.
The Manitoba climate is severe, though 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. There is approximately 24,000 square miles of untouched boreal forest on the eastern side of Lake Winnipeg, renowned by naturalists and sportsmen for its pristine wilderness.
Manitoba lies in the path of the Arctic Trough which funnels cold arctic air south during the winter months. This, in conjunction with the relatively unprotected prairie landscape, makes southern Manitoba a harsh climate in which to live during the icy cold, wind swept months from November through March. This has resulted in the capital of the province being nicknamed "Winterpeg".
History
Manitoba was settled by members of the Ojibwa and Assiniboine tribes. The first European to reach present-day Manitoba was Sir Thomas Button, who visited the Nelson River in 1612. Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de la Vérendrye visited the Red River Valley in the 1730s as part of opening the area for French exploration and exploitation. An important French-Canadian population (Franco-Manitobains) still lives in Manitoba, especially in the Saint-Boniface district of Winnipeg.
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.
Manitoba Legislature
The founding of the first agricultural community in 1811 by Lord Selkirk, near modern Winnipeg, resulted in conflict between the white colonists and the Métis who lived near there. The Battle of Seven Oaks in 1816 saw 20 colonists killed by the Métis, including the governor.
When Rupert's Land was ceded to Canada in 1869 (it would become the Northwest Territories), a lack of attention to Métis 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.
Originally the province was only 1/18 of its current size and square in shape - 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.
Map
See also
Manitoba Act
Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
Provinces and territories of Canada
List of Manitoba general elections
List of Manitoba lieutenant-governors
List of Manitoba premiers
List of communities in Manitoba
List of Canadian provincial and territorial symbols
Republic of Manitoba (1867-68)
list of rural municipalities in Manitoba
List of Manitoba School Divisions and Districts
Provinces and territories of Canada
Manitoba
Territories:
Manitoba Cities: Brandon Dauphin Flin Flon Portage la Prairie Selkirk Steinbach Thompson Winkler Winnipeg
Manitoba Regions: Winnipeg Capital Region Central Plains Eastman Interlake Northern Parkland Pembina Valley Westman
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