MANITOBA, rninl-to'bfi, Canada, occu pies among the provinces of the Dominion a central position between the Atlantic and Pacific. It extends from the international boundary line on the south to the 60th parallel of north latitude on the north. It is bounded on the west by •the province of Saskatchewan and on the east by Hudson Bay and the province of Ontario. It thus lies between the 49th and 60th parallels of north latitude and the 89th and 102d meridians of west longitude. The maxi mum length of the province north and south, 760,65 miles, the maximum breadth east and west, 495 miles. The present area is computed at 251,832 square miles, of which 19,906 are water. Pop. (1870) 11,963; (1881) 62,260; (1891) 152,506; (1901) 255,211; (1911) 461,630; (1916) 553,860. Winnipeg, the capital (q.v.), has a population (quinquennial emus, 1916) of 163,000; Brandon, 15,215; Saint Boniface, 11,021; Portage la Prairie, 5,879. Population by religious denominations: Presbyterian, 122,174; Anglican, 107,150; Roman Catholic, 97,005; Methodist, 71,371; with the Greek Church, Lutheran, Mennonite, Jewish and Baptist (in the order named) in smaller numbers.
Boundaries.— The district of which the junction of the Red and Assinibaine rivers-. now the city of Winnipeg—has always been the nucleus since the period of settlement began in 1812 has been subject to no fewer than six changes of boundary. (a) The grant of Assini boia made by the Hudson's Bay Company to Lord Selkirk in 1811 comprised 116,000 square miles from 52° 30' N. latitude (passing through Lake Winnipeg) on the north to the "height of land' between the northern and Mississippi watersheds on thi- qntith and from Lake Winni peg and the Winnipeg River system on the east to about 102° W. longitude. The southern portion of this was found to be south of the international boundary after the Treaty of Ghent. (b) In 1841 the District of Assinihoia' was declared to extend "in all directions 50 milts hum dir lurk, oi illy led River and the Assiniboine.' (c) In 1870 at the transfer of the Hudson's Bay territories to Canada, the new province of Manitoba extended from the international boundary to 50° 30' N. latitude and from 96° to 99° W. longitude. From its limited area and shape it was long known as (the postage stamp province.* (d) In 1877 the eastern and western boundaries were slightly changed from meridians of longitude in order to conform to the system of land sur veys in township, etc. (e) In 1881 the prov ince was enlarged westward to the 30th range (nearly 101° 31' W. longitude), northward to the 12th base line (nearly 53° N. latitude) and eastward almost to 95° W. longitude, though this was fixed only after extended litigation with Ontario in 1884. The area was now 73,732 square miles. (f) In 1912 the province was enlarged north and northeast to the present boundaries, including a littoral of 500 miles on Hudson Bay and about 178,000 square miles of new territory. The northern boundary is
now 60° N. latitude and Hudson Bay and the northeastern boundary runs from the northeast angle of the old province to the eastern end of Island Lake, and thence to the shores of Hud son Bay at the 89th meridian of W. longitude.
Geographical Position and Climate.-- The importance of this district has been determined throughout its. history largely by geographical considerations. For the French fur-trade from Canada and for the British trade from the same source after 1763, the Winnipeg, Red and Sas katchewan river systems formed the links be tween the Great Lakes and the Athabaska fur districts. Meanwhile from 1670, the date of the Hudson's Bay charter, to the transfer of the Hudson's Bay territories to Canada in 1870, the fur-trade by way of Hudson Bay came to follow the Hayes River route to Lake Winni peg. thence the Red and Saskatchewan Rivers to the areas south and west. The intersection of these two channels occasioned the long and hitter conflict between the Hudson's Bay and North-West companies. With American ex pansion up the Missouri and Mississippi rivers a thittd.reitamsel of communication was opened up from Saint Paul—at first by *Red River cacti or riverboat down the Red River, and eventually by rail in 1878. With the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway, traffic reverted to the Canadian route by rail or the Great Lakes. it is seen therefore that the province lies at the headwaters of the three greatest waterways systems of the continent, the eastern by the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence, the southern by the Mississippi and the northern to Hudson Bay. This strategic importance was the occasion of Selkides choice of this dis trict for colonisation in 1811, for the movement in the United States during the sixties for the annexation of the Red River district to the American Union and for the more successful movement in Canada culminating in 1870 in the incorporation of the Hudson's Bay territories into the Canadian Confederation. Recent devel opments tend to confirm these considerations. The resources of water power, the fertility of the prairie and the prospective maritime outlet on. Hudson Bay almost from the centre of the continent (see Resourres) tend to unite the interests of the factory, the prairie and the sea at a point where the distinctive interests of East and West begin to diverge. On account of *its geographical position and its peculiar characteristics' Lord Dnfferin in 1877 referred to the province of Manitoba as the "keystone of the arch.° The position of Winnipeg (q.v.) as *the neck of the funnel' for traffic converg ing eastward and diverging westward has made that city the largest cash wheat market on the continent, with bank clearings normally equalled in Canada only by those of Montreal and Toronto.