Capital city of Manitoba, Canada
About Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers. As of 2021, Winnipeg had a city population of 749,607 and a metropolitan population of 834,678, making it Canada's sixth-largest city and eighth-largest metropolitan area. In 2026, Winnipeg surpassed 850,000 residents, the city's population reaching 850,260.
Etymology
Winnipeg is named after nearby Lake Winnipeg, 65 kilometres (40 mi) north of the city. English explorer Henry Kelsey may have been the first European to see the lake in 1690. He adopted the Cree and Ojibwe name, win-nipi (also transcribed win-nipiy or ouenpig), meaning "murky water" or "muddy water" (modern Cree: wīnipēk, ᐑᓂᐯᐠ). French-Canadian fur trader La Vérendrye referred to the lake as Lac Gouinipique or Ouinipigon when he built the first forts in the area in the 1730s. Local newspaper The Nor'-Wester included the name on its masthead on 24 February 1866, and the city was incorporated by that name by the Manitoba Legislature in 1873.
History
Winnipeg lies at the confluence of the Assiniboine and the Red River of the North, a location now known as "The Forks". This point was at the crossroads of canoe routes travelled by First Nations before European contact. Evidence provided by archaeology, petroglyphs, rock art, and oral history indicates that native peoples used the area in prehistoric times for camping, harvesting, hunting, tool making, fishing, trading and, farther north, for agriculture. Estimates of the date of first settlement in the area range from 11,500 years ago for a site southwest of the present city to 6,000 years ago at the Forks. In 1805, Canadian colonists observed First Nations peoples engaged in farming activity along the Red River. The practice quickly expanded, driven by the demand by traders for provisions. …
Geography
Winnipeg lies at the bottom of the Red River Valley, a flood plain with an extremely flat topography. It is on the eastern edge of the Canadian Prairies in Western Canada and is known as the "Gateway to the West". Winnipeg is bordered by tallgrass prairie to the west and south and the aspen parkland to the northeast, although most of the native prairie grasses have been removed for agriculture and urbanization. It is relatively close to many large Canadian Shield lakes and parks, as well as Lake Winnipeg (the Earth's 11th largest freshwater lake). Winnipeg has North America's largest extant mature urban elm forest. The city has an area of 464.08 square kilometres (179.18 sq mi). Winnipeg has four major rivers: the Red, Assiniboine, La Salle and Seine. The city was subject to severe flooding in the past. The Red River reached its greatest flood height in 1826. …
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