The Forks and the Battle of Seven Oaks in Manitoba History
Edited by Robert Coutts and Richard Stuart
Manitoba Historical Society, 1994. ISBN 0-921950-12-8
This volume contains papers by a number of different contributors from two symposiums held in Winnipeg in April and October of 1991. Although the subject of each of these symposiums differed—“Focus on the Forks” dealt with the history and development of the Forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, while “The Battle of Seven Oaks: Historical Perspectives” marked the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Seven Oaks—each focused on the early history of Winnipeg and Manitoba and covered some of the same thematic ground. If in a larger sense both stories share a common geography, they are also linked by a number of their players; the Cree and Ojibwa peoples of southern Manitoba, the Metis, the Selkirk settlers, and the rival fur-trading concerns of the region. Indeed, each has enjoyed a long-lasting impact on the development of this province and its peoples, influencing the different, and often conflicting, ways that Manitobans have viewed themselves and the world around them.
The editors would like to thank the Manitoba Historical Society, Parks Canada, and the University of Manitoba for sponsoring the “Focus on the Forks” symposium, and again the Manitoba Historical Society for sponsoring the conference, “The Battle of Seven Oaks: Historical Perspectives”. We would like to acknowledge the work of those individuals who helped organize each of the symposiums, as well as thank the contributors to this volume who provided interesting, informative and thought-provoking talks at the two conferences. It is hoped that the publication of these papers, made possible by a generous grant from the Thomas Sill Foundation, will stimulate greater interest in these important topics and help open new lines of inquiry and debate on the early history of Manitoba and perhaps more importantly on the way that this history has been written and communicated.
A painting of the Red River Settlement by W. G. R. Hind, 1863.
Source: National Archives of Canada
Page revised: 18 December 2011
