Winnipeg sits halfway between the east and west coasts of Canada in the province of Manitoba. It is centered on the junction of the Red River, which flows north into the massive Lake Winnipeg, and the Assiniboine River, which empties into the Red River. The rivers' confluence served for thousands of years as a gathering and trading spot for North American aboriginal people who arrived from the vast lakes region to the north and east and from the wide, wild prairies to the west. The city sits at the eastern fringe of the northern Great Plains. The rugged wilderness of the Canadian Shield is situated to the east and northeast of Winnipeg, and three large lakes, the remnants of glacial-era Lake Agassiz, are to the north: Lake Manitoba, Lake Winnipegosis and Lake Winnipeg (the 10th-largest freshwater lake in the world).
