Saskatchewan

This article is about the Canadian province. For the river, see Saskatchewan River.

History

Prior to European settlement, Saskatchewan was settled by Athabaskan, Algonquian, and Sioux tribes. The first European to enter Saskatchewan was Henry Kelsey in 1690, who travelled up the Saskatchewan River in hopes of trading fur with the province's indigenous peoples. The first permanent European settlement was a Hudson's Bay Company post at Cumberland House founded by Samuel Hearne in 1774.

Related Topics:
European - Athabaskan - Algonquian - Sioux - Henry Kelsey - 1690 - Saskatchewan River - Hudson's Bay Company - Cumberland House - Samuel Hearne - 1774

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In the late 1850s and early 1860s, scientific expeditions led by John Palliser and Henry Youle Hind explored the prairie region of the province.

Related Topics:
1850s - 1860s - John Palliser - Henry Youle Hind

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In the 1870s, the Government of Canada formed the Northwest Territories to administer the vast territory between British Columbia and Manitoba. The Government also entered into a series of numbered Treaties with the indigenous peoples of the area, which serve as the basis of the relationship between "First Nations", as they are called today, and the Crown. Soon after, the First Nations were forced onto reserves.

Related Topics:
1870s - Northwest Territories - British Columbia - Manitoba - Indigenous peoples

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Settlement of the province started to take off as the Canadian Pacific Railway was built in the early 1880s, and the Canadian government divided up the land by the Dominion Land Survey and gave free land to any willing settlers. The North West Mounted Police set up several posts and forts across Saskatchewan including Fort Walsh in the Cypress Hills, and Wood Mountain Post in south central Saskatchewan near the American border.

Related Topics:
Canadian Pacific Railway - Dominion Land Survey - North West Mounted Police - Fort Walsh - Cypress Hills - Wood Mountain

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Many Métis people, who had not taken Treaty, had moved to the Saskatchewan Rivers district north of present-day Saskatoon following the Red River Rebellion in Manitoba in 1870. In the early 1880s, the Canadian Government refused to hear the Metis' grievances, which stemmed from land-use issues. Finally, in 1885, the Metis, led by Louis Riel, staged the North-West Rebellion and declared a provisional government. They were defeated by a Canadian militia brought to the prairies by the new Canadian Pacific Railway. Riel surrendered and was convicted of treason in a packed Regina courtroom. He was hanged in November, 1885.

Related Topics:
Métis - Red River Rebellion - Manitoba - 1870 - 1880s - 1885 - Louis Riel - North-West Rebellion - Prairies - Canadian Pacific Railway - Regina

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As more settlers came to the prairies on the railway, the population grew and Saskatchewan officially became a province on September 1, 1905 and inauguration day was held September 4.

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