Winnipeg is a cosmopolitan city with a number of beautiful parks and varied cultural facilities; it is the major cultural center for the prairie provinces of Manitoba, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. It is the site of the University of MANITOBA (1877); the University of Winnipeg (1947); Red River Community College; and the Winnipeg Art Gallery, with a collection of Canadian, Inuit (Eskimo), and European art. The Centennial Centre Complex here includes the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature, with natural history exhibits and a planetarium; the Concert Hall, home of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet; the Manitoba Theatre Centre; and the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre, with displays of Ukrainian folk art and historical artifacts. The city has opera and modern-dance companies, a zoo, a modern convention center, Assiniboia Downs horseracing track, The Winnipeg Blue Bombers Football of the CFL and The Manitoba Moose hockey team. Also of interest are the Manitoba Legislative Building; the restored areas of Townsite and Old Market Square; Dalnavert, an 1895 building that now houses a museum; “The Forks,” a park built around the intersection of the Red and Assiniboine rivers; the Transcona Regional History Museum; Historic Fort Garry National Historic Site; and the Winnipeg Mint. The city is the scene of the Folklorama, an annual multiethnic event, and a summer music festival.

The Winnipeg region was inhabited by Assiniboine and Cree peoples before the arrival of Europeans. The first white settlement on the site of the present-day city was established in 1738 by the French-Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye, who built Fort Rouge here. The fortress was subsequently abandoned, but in 1803 a fur-trading post was constructed here, and in 1810 Fort Gibraltar was built. In 1812 a group of Scots and Irish immigrants settled in the area. In 1822 the Hudson's Bay Company constructed Fort Garry near the site of Fort Gibraltar. The community developed slowly as a fur-trading and distribution point. In 1870 it was named Winnipeg and became the capital of the new province of Manitoba, incorporating in 1873.

The economic growth of the city was spurred by the opening in 1878 of a rail link with Saint Paul, Minnesota, and by the arrival in 1881 of the Canadian Pacific Railway. From 1901 to 1911, Winnipeg's population increased from 52,000 to 170,000, mainly because of the influx of immigrants from Europe. After 1940 the city's industrial base was widened substantially, and in the 1960s and 1970s many large buildings were constructed. In 1972 the city annexed several adjacent communities, including Saint Boniface and Saint James-Assiniboia, thus becoming one of Canada's most populous cities. However, Winnipeg's rapid growth in the early part of the century has not returned, and the city has been outpaced in recent years by the growth of other cities in the region, including Edmonton and Calgary. The name of the city is derived from a Cree term probably meaning “muddy water.”