Manitoba

Manitoba [r]: One of Canada's ten provinces, between Ontario and Saskatchewan, south of the Territory of Nunavut. ^[e]

This article contains just a definition and optionally other subpages (such as a list of related articles), but no metadata. Create the metadata page if you want to expand this into a full article.

Manitoba is one of Canada's ten provinces.

Geography

Manitoba has been covered by glaciers over much of the last several hundred thousand years, and this has had a profound effect on Manitoba's geography.

History

First Nations people lived in Manitoba for approximately ten thousand years, from shortly after the retreat of the Laurentide glaciation, that spanned the north half of North America.

English explorer Henry Hudson explored Manitoba's Arctic coast in 1611. The large bay he discovered is known as Hudson's Bay, in his honour. Hudson's crew, unhappy with the dangers and privations of exploring the Bay marooned Hudson, his son, and some loyal crew members.

In 1670, when the Hudson's Bay Company was founded, King Charles II of England claimed he had the authority to grant rights to Manitoba and all other land that drained into Hudson's Bay to his nephew, Prince Rupert. Isolated Hudson Bay trading posts, at the mouths of Arctic Rivers, shipping their furs by ship, found themselves in conflict with traders from Quebec, who shipped their furs south by canoe. The English and French captured one another's forts, for decades.