Geography of Manitoba - Historical Geography

Historical Geography

Manitoba is bordered on the east by Ontario, on the south by North Dakota and Minnesota, on the west by Saskatchewan, and on the north by Nunavut. Northeast Manitoba follows the Hudson Bay shoreline. Churchill, on the Hudson Bay is the only port for the prairie provinces. The harbour serves as an open market for grain.

Manitoba was the first Canadian province to be involved in the wheat industry. There are only three ice-free months a year that allow for the shipments to be sent when shipping through the home port of Churchill.

The Canadian Shield limits the amount of farming in the north, but there are some forestry and mining operations. The majority of the grain production is found in farms in the south.

Central and southern Manitoba is covered by lakes and rivers. Most of the population is centered in the southern third of the province.

Manitoba played a significant role in the European settlement of the Canadian west. Explorers arrived in Manitoba by the Hudson Bay, in search of a passage to China. As the fur trade boomed, settlements rose up in the province to trading posts for the Natives and the Voyageurs (trappers). The settlement was not easy, and colonization slowed down for several years around 1816. In 1870, the Hudson's Bay Company sold its huge domain to the confederation of Canada.

Settlement inflated in Manitoba when the railway was built in the province and again in late 19th, early 20th century when government promoted settlement by European immigrants.