Encyclopedia > Winnipeg, Manitoba

  Article Content

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Winnipeg is a Canadian city, and the provincial capital of Manitoba. The city is located at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine[?] rivers, and protected from flooding by the Red River Floodway. It is the province's largest city and one of the world's largest wheat markets. It has an international airport, railroad shops, grain elevators, stockyards, meatpacking and automobile plants, flour and textile mills, and breweries. It is home to 667,000 people (1996).

In 1738, the Sieur de la Vérendrye built the first post on the site, Fort Rouge[?], but it was later abandoned. Other posts were built in the Red River region, which was fiercely contested by the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company. Fort Gibraltar[?], a post of the North West Company on the site of present-day Winnipeg, was renamed Fort Garry and became the leading post in the region. In 1835 its name was changed to Winnipeg.

Winnipeg is well known for its arts and culture. Among the popular cultural institutions in the city are: the Royal Winnipeg Ballet[?], the Manitoba Opera[?], the Manitoba Theatre Centre[?], the Prairie Theatre Exchange[?], and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra[?].

The city is home to several large festivals. The Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival[?] is North America's second largest Fringe Festival, held every July. Other festivals include Folklorama, the Winnipeg Jazz Festival[?], the Winnipeg Folk Festival[?], the Red River Exhibition[?], and Le Festival du Voyageur[?].

Winnipeg has several colleges, the largest of which are Red River College[?] and College universitaire de Saint-Boniface[?]. Winnipeg's two universities are the University of Manitoba (undergrad + grad, medical) and the University of Winnipeg[?] (undergrad).

Professional Sports Teams

See also:



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Wheatley Heights, New York

... the average family size is 3.67. In the town the population is spread out with 30.3% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 29.9% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 35.3 ms