Manitoba, Canada Genealogy

Guide to Manitoba ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

Manitoba Information
Manitoba is a province located in the center of Canada. It is one of the three prairie provinces. In 1611, Henry Hudson was one of the first Europeans to sail into what is now known as Hudson Bay, where he was abandoned by his crew. The first European to reach present-day central and southern Manitoba was Sir Thomas Button, who travelled upstream along the Nelson River to Lake Winnipeg in 1612 in an unsuccessful attempt to find and rescue Hudson. Great Britain secured the territory in 1763 after their victory over France in the North American theater of the Seven Years' War, better known as the French and Indian War in North America; lasting from 1754 to 1763. When Canada was formed in 1867 its provinces were a relatively narrow strip in the southeast, with vast territories in the interior. It grew by adding British Columbia in 1871, P. E. I. in 1873, the British Arctic Islands in 1880, and Newfoundland in 1949; meanwhile, its provinces grew both in size and number at the expense of its territories. Numbered Treaties were signed in the late 19th century with the chiefs of various First Nations that lived in the area. These treaties made specific promises of land for every family. As a result, a reserve system was established under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government. The prescribed amount of land promised to the native peoples was not always given; this led aboriginal groups to assert rights to the land through aboriginal land claims, many of which are still ongoing. There came a decrease in population due to the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914, which reduced reliance on transcontinental railways for trade, as well as a decrease in immigration due to the outbreak of the First World War. After the First World War ended, severe discontent among farmers and union members resulted in an upsurge of radicalism, coupled with a polarization over the rise of Bolshevism in Russia. The most dramatic result was the Winnipeg general strike of 1919. It began on 15 May and collapsed on 25 June 1919; as the workers gradually returned to their jobs. 

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