Lake Winnipeg

Lake Winnipeg stretches north through the heart of the continent, a vast but comparatively shallow body of water with two basins joined by a narrow channel. Forests and rivers border its eastern shore, while the Red and Saskatchewan rivers bring waters from far to the south and west. Its name comes from the Cree wīnipēk, meaning muddy waters.

The lake lay on routes used by Indigenous peoples long before European traders arrived. Henry Kelsey is believed to have reached it in 1690, and in the 1730s La Vérendrye built forts in the surrounding country. Canoes carrying furs later crossed the lake on the long journey between the interior and York Factory on Hudson Bay. Its waters thus joined the trading routes of the plains and forests to those leading north and east.