Manitoba is one of the ten provinces of Canada, the Eastern-most of the Canadian Prairies, which also include Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Manitoba lies in the geographic center of Canada.

The province was officially recognized by the Federal Government on July 15, 1870 as separate from the NorthWest Territories, becoming the first province created from the Territories, and the fifth province to join the Canadian Confederation.

Much of the countryside in southern Manitoba is farmland and gives the impression of a vast plain with a perfectly level horizon as far as the eye can see.

In the center of the province, the flat farmland gives way to vast areas of forest interspersed with hundreds of lakes.

In the extreme north the land is much the same as it was thousands of years ago and presents a bleak array of stunted trees, exposed rock, and swamps.

For centuries, the fur trade was the dominant economic activity in the region known as Rupert’s Land — a vast area surrounding Hudson Bay that encompassed present-day Manitoba.

Large numbers of settlers arrived in Manitoba during the 19th century and turned prairie grasslands into wheat farms.

By the late 19th century, agriculture had surpassed the fur trade, and Winnipeg, Manitoba’s capital and largest city, became an important terminus for the spreading railroads — the funnel through which the prairie harvest flowed eastward.

In the 1940s and 1950s, industry became the largest source of income in the province.

Today, Manitoba still retains a strong agricultural sector, even as it has developed a diversified industrial base.

Following are Manitoba’s principal urban areas, in order of population (Canada Census 2006 estimates).

Winnipeg is the oldest city in the Prairie provinces. In addition to being the capital of Manitoba, Winnipeg is also a leading transportation and trading center for the grain originating from the Prairie provinces.

Brandon lies to the west of Winnipeg on the Assiniboine River.

Thompson, founded around a nickel mine in 1956, is a mining, communications, transportation, and retailing center for northern Manitoba.

Portage La Prairie is located in the heart of some of the richest agricultural land of Manitoba, called the Portage Plains, and is noted for its grain elevators, agricultural machinery manufacturing, and brickyards.