Manitoba

Flag of Manitoba Coat of Arms of Manitoba
Motto: Gloriosus et Liber (Latin: Glorious and free)
Flower	Prairie Crocus
Tree	White Spruce
Bird	Great Grey Owl
Capital	Winnipeg
Area Total  - Land  - Water  (% of total)	647,797 km 553,556 km 94,241 km (14.5%)
Time Zone	UTC-6

Manitoba is one of Canada's 10 provinces. It was officially recognized by the Federal Government in 1870 as separate from the Northwest Territories, and became the first province created from the Territories. It is the easternmost of the three Prairie provinces.

Its capital and largest city is Winnipeg. Other important cities and towns include Brandon, Thompson, Dauphin, Swan River, Churchill, The Pas, Selkirk, Portage la Prairie, Gimli, Flin Flon, Steinbach, Morden, Virden, Minnedosa, Neepawa and Winkler.

Geography

Manitoba is located in the longitudinal centre of Canada, although it is considered part of Western Canada. It borders Saskatchewan to the west, Ontario to the east, Nunavut and the Hudson Bay to the north, and the American states of North Dakota and Minnesota to the south.

The province has a coast along Hudson Bay, and contains the tenth-largest fresh water lake in the world, Lake Winnipeg. Lake Winnipeg is the largest lake within the borders of southern Canada, and is one of the last remote lake areas with intact watersheds left in the world. Large rivers that flow into the east side of Lake Winnipeg's basin are very pristine, with no major developments along them. Many islands can be found along the eastern shore of this grand lake.

Important watercourses include the Red, Assiniboine, Nelson, Winnipeg, Hayes, Whiteshell, and Churchill Rivers.

Most of Manitoba's inhabited south, near or in Winnipeg, lies within the prehistoric bed of Glacial Lake Agassiz. This south central part of the province is flat with few hills. However, there are many hilly and rocky areas in the province, along with many large sand ridges left behind by glaciers. Baldy Mountain is the highest point at 832 m above sea level (2,727 ft) and the Hudson Bay coast is the lowest at sea level. Other upland areas include Riding Mountain, the Pembina Hills, Sandilands Provincial Forest, and the Canadian Shield regions. Much of the province's sparsely-inhabited north and east lie within the irregular granite landscape of the Canadian Shield, including Whiteshell Provincial Park, Atikaki Provincial Park, and Nopiming Provincial Park. Birds Hill Provincial Park was originally an island in Lake Agassiz after the melting of glaciers.

The climate in Manitoba is typical of its mid continent location and northerly latitude. In general, temperatures and precipitation decrease from south to north. Summers are generally warm to hot and winters very cold.

Manitoba is exposed to numerous weather systems throughout the year including prolonged cold spells in the winter months when arctic high pressure air masses settle over the province. It is common to have about minus 40 degrees celsius for quite a few days in the winter, and to have a few weeks that remain below minus 20. In the summer months the climate is often influenced by low pressure air masses originating in the Gulf of Mexico resulting in hot and humid conditions and frequent thunderstorms with a few tornadoes each year. Manitoba is one of the sunniest places in Canada and North America.

Only the southern parts of the province support extensive agriculture. The most common farm found in rural areas is cattle (35.3%) followed by oilseed (25.8%) and wheat farming (9.8%). Around 11% of the farmland in Canada is in Manitoba. The eastern, southeastern, and northern reaches of the province range through coniferous forests, muskeg, Canadian Shield, and up to tundra in the far north. Forests make up about half of the province's 550,000 square kilometre land base. Some of the last largest and intact boreal forest of the world can be found along the east side of Lake Winnipeg, with only winter roads, no Hydro development, and few largely populated communities. There are many clean and untouched east side rivers that originate in the Canadian Shield, and flow west into Lake Winnipeg.