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Facts
About Manitoba
Population
(1996 census). 1,119,583 --rank, 5th province. Urban,
70.8%; rural, 29.2%. Persons per square mile, 4.4
(per square kilometer, 1.7)--rank, 8th province.
More than 40 percent of Manitoba's people are of British
descent. Other principal groups are German, Ukrainian,
French, and Polish. Indians number about 50,000. Most
are descended from Chipewyan, Dakota, Cree, and Ojibwa
tribes. Many persons, known as metis, are of mixed
Indian and white descent. A few Eskimo live in the
far north. By the late 1980s more than 25,000 Filipinos
and 2,500 Vietnamese boat people had resettled in
Winnipeg.
LARGEST CITIES (1991 census)
Winnipeg (616,790). Provincial capital; major
cultural, commercial, and financial center; transportation
center; grain market; flour, meat, and food products;
farm machinery and automobile manufacturing; railroad
yards (see Winnipeg, Man.).
Brandon (38,567). On the Assiniboine River;
distribution center for grain region; flour, meat,
fertilizer, chemicals, and petroleum processing.
Thompson (14,977). Largest city in northern
Manitoba; nickel mining. Portage la Prairie (13,186).
Agricultural market and transportation center; grain
and dairy foods processing; soup canning; glassware
manufacturing.
Selkirk (9,815). On the Red River; chief port
of Lake Winnipeg; foodstuffs; steel mills; boat building
and ship repair; cattle feed; concrete blocks.
Extent. Area, 250,947 square miles (649,950
square kilometers), including 39,224 square miles
(101,590 square kilometers) of water surface (6th
province in size).
Greatest length (north to south), 760 miles
(1,223 kilometers); greatest width (east to west),
495 miles (797 kilometers).
Elevation. Highest, Baldy Mountain, 2,729 feet
(832 meters); lowest, sea level; average, 1,500 feet
(460 meters).
Temperature. Extremes--lowest, -63o F (-52.7o
C), Norway House, Jan. 9, 1899; highest, 112o F (44.4o
C), Treesbank, July 11, 1936, and Emerson, July 12,
1936.
Averages at Winnipeg--January, 0.1 F (-17.7 C); July,
68.3 F (20.2 C); annual, 36.5 F (2.5 C).
Averages at Churchill--January, -16.3 F (-26.8 C);
July, 54.7 F (12.6 C); annual, 18.8 F (-7.3 C).
Precipitation. Average annual total--at Winnipeg,
15.22 inches (387 millimeters); at Churchill, 9.73
inches (247 millimeters).
Land Use. Agricultural, 15.6%; forest, 47.0%
urban and developed, 0.2%; wildland, 37.2%.
Compton's
and Encarta Encyclopedia © 2001
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