The City of Winnipeg is the capital city for the Province of Manitoba. Located at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, Winnipeg sits in the geographic heart of North America. For thousands of years, the area where Winnipeg sits served as a meeting place for many Native tribes on the prairies. Native peoples congregated here for celebrations and ceremonies, as well as to trade their wares. In 1738, the area became a fur-trading centre, where trappers and the famed voyageurs could trade hides for needed supplies. Lord Selkirk's Settlers arrived in 1812 and formed the first permanent settlement. Incorporated as a city in 1873, Winnipeg boomed following the arrival of the Canadian pacific Railway in 1885. A flood of immigrants, high wheat prices, and improved farming techniques made Winnipeg the wholesale, administrative, and financial centre of Western Canada. Today Winnipeg is considered as part of a dynamic business community connected to the world from the heart of Canada. We are in the geographic centre of North America and have direct access to the world's most prosperous market thanks to this ideal location and the North American Free Trade Agreement.