Lake Manitoba

Lake Manitoba stretches north and south between wooded shores, marshes and prairie. A narrow passage divides its broad southern basin from the northern waters. At the Narrows, waves striking limestone on an island produce a sound associated in Indigenous tradition with Manitou, the spirit whose name is linked to the lake.

In 1738 La Vérendrye called it Lac des Prairies while travelling through the western interior. Indigenous travellers had long used its waters as part of routes joining the lakes and rivers of the region. During the fur trade, traders established posts along its shores, including Manitoba House to the south of the Narrows in the 1820s. The lake remained a meeting place for the communities and traders who navigated these waterways.