Why go
This period explains why Manitoba's creation is linked to Métis resistance, why the Canadian Pacific Railway became central to the national story, and why Prairie settlement and the Klondike Gold Rush appear so often in western historic sites. It connects a map of provinces to the contested decisions that formed them.
The full story
Confederation joined four provinces in 1867: Ontario, Québec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Canada then took control of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory. Métis grievances in the Red River region led to resistance and to Manitoba's creation in 1870. British Columbia joined in 1871 and Prince Edward Island in 1873. Federal policy backed transcontinental railways, including the Canadian Pacific Railway, and encouraged settlement of the Prairies. These projects connected distant regions while extending federal control over lands already occupied by Indigenous peoples. The Klondike Gold Rush led to the creation of Yukon Territory in 1898; Alberta and Saskatchewan became provinces in 1905. A visitor moving west can trace this sequence through railway history, Prairie settlement stories and Métis accounts, rather than seeing provincial borders as the inevitable outline of an already unified country. The political bargain of Confederation and the consequences of expansion are both part of that landscape.