Manitoba

I

Introduction

Manitoba, easternmost of the Prairie provinces of Canada, in the central part of the country, bounded on the north by Nunavut, on the north-east by Hudson Bay, on the east by Ontario, on the south by the American states of Minnesota and North Dakota, and on the west by Saskatchewan.

Manitoba entered the Canadian Confederation on July 15, 1870, as the fifth province. Manitoba has traditionally been known for its primary economic activities: agriculture, mining, forestry, and fishing. Although Winnipeg is a leading manufacturing centre of interior Canada, in the 1990s the processing of primary products retained a leading role in the provincial economy.

The name Manitoba is taken from Lake Manitoba and is a Native American phrase meaning “great spirit's strait”.

II

Land and Resources

With an area of 649,950 sq km (250,946 sq mi), Manitoba is the sixth largest province of Canada, and the eighth largest political subdivision. The province is roughly rectangular in shape, and its extreme dimensions are about 1,210 km (750 mi) from north to south and about 790 km (490 mi) from east to west. Elevations range from sea level along Hudson Bay to 832 m (2,729 ft) atop Baldy Mountain in the south-west. Manitoba's shoreline along Hudson Bay is about 920 km (570 mi) long.

A

Physical Geography

All but the south-western portion of Manitoba lies within the Canadian Shield, a region of ancient volcanic and metamorphic rocks with a heavily glaciated land surface that has numerous lakes and streams. In the north-east and the south-west, sedimentary rocks overlie the shield, while the Hudson Bay Lowland is a portion of the Canadian Shield with a thin cover of sedimentary rock. It is a region of permafrost with soils that are waterlogged and unproductive. Southern Manitoba is dominated by a flat plain. The fertile, heavy clay soils mark the former extent of the huge glacial Lake Agassiz, of which Lakes Manitoba, Winnipeg, and Winnipegosis and Cedar Lake are remnants. The Manitoba Escarpment, a bedrock upland formed by the Porcupine, Riding, and Duck mountains, divides this region into the Manitoba Plain on the east and the Saskatchewan Plain, which rises gently to the west.

All of Manitoba drains into Hudson Bay. The principal rivers are the Winnipeg River and the Red River and its tributary, the Assiniboine River, all of which flow into Lake Winnipeg. Other rivers that cross the province include the Souris, Churchill, and Nelson. The Shield section is liberally scattered with large and small lakes, but the province's largest lake—Lake Winnipeg—is in the south. Rivers and lakes cover nearly one-sixth of Manitoba's total area.

B

Climate

The climate ranges from subarctic in the north to an extreme continental climate in the south. Winters are harsh and summers are moderately warm. The average annual temperature ranges from -15.6° C (4° F) in the north to 1.7° C (35° F) in the south. The average annual precipitation is about 460 mm (18 in); precipitation is highest in the south-east.