Manito'ba, a province of Canada, bounded on the W. by the district of Assiniboia, and on the NW. and N. by the districts of Saskatchewan and Keewatin. Its eastern boundary is the province of Ontario and the unorganised territory east of Keewatin. On the S. the boundary is 49° N. lat. The province is traversed by several rivers, among others the Assiniboine, with its many tributaries, the chief of which are the Souris, the Pembina, and the Red River. The Winnipeg River flows for 60 or 70 miles through the eastern portion of the province into Lake Winnipeg. The principal lakes are Winnipeg, 8500 sq. m.; Manitoba, 1900 sq. m.; and Winnipegosis, 1936 sq. m. The country consists for the most part of a level plain, with occasional undulations. A good deal is said from time to time about the severity of the climate. The summer mean is 65° to 70°—nearly the same as that in the state of New York. In winter the thermometer occasionally sinks to 30°, 40°, and 50° below zero; but these extreme temperatures are very rare. The atmosphere is bright and dry, and the cold is not so much felt as in many countries with a higher temperature and a more humid atmosphere. Warm clothing—especially when driving—and warm houses are necessary to resist the severity of the weather. Very little snow falls on the prairies, the average depth being about 18 to 24 inches; the native horses graze out of doors all the winter. Ploughing generally begins during April. The harvest takes place in August and September. Trees are found along the rivers and streams, and in greater abundance in the eastern and northern parts of the province; but Manitoba is not well wooded.
The population in 1891 was 154,442. Presbyterians are most numerous; next come in order Church of England, Methodists, and Roman Catholics. Ethnologically they were classified in 1886 as follows: of English origin, 25,949; Irish, 21,180; Scotch, 25,676; Indians, 5575; half-breeds, 7985; French, 6821; Germans, 11,082; Icelanders, 2468. Among the principal cities and towns are Winnipeg, 25,000; Portage-la-Prairie, 4000; Brandon, 4000; and Selkirk, 1000. The chief industry is agriculture; the soil is of remarkable depth and fertility, and in favourable seasons the crops are large, considering the imperfect methods of cultivation practised. Manitoba wheat and flour are regarded as the finest in the continent. Much of it is bought up by American millers, the product being mixed with flours made from grain produced in the United States. Other grains succeed admirably, and an endeavour is being made to encourage the growth of flax. Vegetables and roots are unusually prolific and of great size. Wheat-growing was for some few years the staple industry; but the farmers are now engaged more in mixed farming, including dairy-farming and the raising of cattle and sheep. Fruit-growing is not carried on to any extent, although many of the smaller varieties—such as the strawberry, black and red currant, raspberry, gooseberry, and cranberry—appear to be indigenous. In minerals the province is not very rich, but coal is found in southern Manitoba, although it is not yet worked to any extent. Manufactures of various kinds are increasing; and Winnipeg is to a large extent the distributing centre for the western part of the Dominion. Big game is still found in the less accessible parts of the province—moose, bear, and some kinds of deer. Small game is plentiful—principally prairie chicken and wild duck. Close times are provided for the protection of all the principal wild animals and birds. A considerable fishing industry is carried on in the rivers and lakes, and white-fish and pickerel are caught in large quantities.
Of the imports into the province, nearly half comes from the United States. The exports, animals and their produce, are sent to Britain and the United States.
The government is administered by a lieutenant-governor, appointed by the governor-in-council. He is assisted by an Executive Council and a Legislative Assembly of forty members elected by the people. There is only one House of Parliament in Manitoba. The province is represented by four members in the Dominion Senate and by seven in the House of Commons. Serious difficulty arose between the Canadian government and the provincial administration in regard to education. The Catholics of Manitoba had till 1890 separate schools, but in that year denominational schools were abolished by the local Act, which established free non-sectarian schools supported by rates. Agitation for their restoration was vigorously carried on; the Dominion government interfered to protect the privileges of the Catholic minority, and ultimately in 1896 a compromise was arrived at.
In Manitoba the Dominion government offers free grants of land—160 acres—to every male settler above eighteen years of age, and to every female who is the head of a family. There is still a considerable quantity of government land undisposed of in the north-western and north-eastern parts of the province. The Canadian Pacific Railway Company, the Canada North-west Land Company, the Manitoba and North-western Railway Company, and the Hudson Bay Company have a considerable quantity of land for sale in different parts of the province, the price ranging from 2.50 up to 7 or $8 per acre, according to locality and contiguity to railways and settlements. A large land grant has also recently been promised to the Hudson Bay Railway Company. Improved farms are to be had on reasonable terms at moderate prices. The Dominion Lands Commissioner is established in Winnipeg, and there are land and immigration agents in different parts of the province.
Manitoba is in communication by rail with the Atlantic seaboard and the Pacific, and with all parts of Canada and the United States. The construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway—completed in 1885—has naturally been of immense advantage to the province. The first railway to Manitoba was a continuation of the United States system from Pembina to Winnipeg, and was opened in 1879. The Northern Pacific Railway has direct connection with Winnipeg and Brandon; and a railway is projected from Winnipeg to Hudson Bay.
Until 1868 what is now known as Manitoba formed a portion of the territory under the control of the Hudson Bay Company. The first agricultural settlement in the country was formed in 1812, under the auspices of the Earl of Selkirk, who took out a party of Highlanders in that year. They were located at Kildonan and Selkirk, on the Red River, about 20 miles north of the site of the present city of Winnipeg. In 1868 the company gave up their exclusive rights to the government of the territory, on certain conditions—among others a money payment of £300,000 and a considerable grant of land. The province of Manitoba was constituted by an Act passed in 1870. One of the first events of importance that happened in Manitoba was the Riel rebellion in 1869–70. It arose out of a feeling of some of the inhabitants that their position and rights had not been sufficiently considered in the transfer already mentioned. The rebellion collapsed in 1870 on the arrival at Fort Garry, the site of the present city of Winnipeg, of the expedition under Colonel (afterwards Lord) Wolseley. Most of the leaders in the rebellion were subsequently amnestied. The progress of Manitoba from an agricultural point of view has been somewhat remarkable, but its political history has been comparatively uneventful, excepting for the existence of occasional friction between the provincial and Federal authorities since 1880, in connection with railway extension in the province. After protracted negotiations these differences have, however, been disposed of.
References may be made to the following works: Bryce's Manitoba: Its Infancy, Growth, and Present Condition (1882); Christie's Manitoba Described (1885); Macoun's Manitoba and the Great North-west (Lond. 1883); Grant's Ocean to Ocean (1873); Fream's Canadian Agriculture (1885); Official Handbook to Canada (Lond. 1890); Haydon and Selwyn's North America (1883); A Canadian Tour (1886); The Statistical Yearbook of Canada (Ottawa, 1890).