Saskatchewan is one of the ten provinces of Canada, and the middle of the three Canadian Prairie provinces (the others being Alberta and Manitoba).
The land is divided between the mostly crystalline rocks of the precambrian shield in the Northern third of the province and the sedimentary rocks of the Western canadian sedimentary basin in the South.
The excellent soils of the southern prairies enabled Saskatchewan to become the largest producer of wheat in Canada.
Crossed by a vast belt of flat prairie land, Saskatchewan, with Alberta, is one of only two Canadian provinces with no saltwater coast.
Until 1870, most of Saskatchewan was included in the vast Rupert’s Land domain of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which had a monopoly on the North American fur trade.
Before 1880, the area was exploited mainly for animal pelts. Only when the railroads came through the prairies in the 1880s did settlers begin coming to Saskatchewan.
These early pioneers settled the flatlands of central and southern Saskatchewan in scores of tiny rail-side towns, strung out at 13-km (8-mi) intervals along the railroad routes.
Saskatchewan, which became a province in 1905, has also prospered with the discovery of petroleum, natural gas, coal, potash, uranium, and other valuable minerals.
The province’s name is derived from the Cree Indian word kisiskatchewan, meaning "swiftly flowing", in reference to the Saskatchewan River.
Most of the population lives in the Southern half of the province.
