The Republic of Manitobah was a short-lived,

unrecognized state A number of polities have declared independence and sought diplomatic recognition from the international community as sovereign states, but have not been universally recognised as such. These entities often have ''de facto'' control of their ...

founded in June 1867 by Thomas Spence at the town of

Portage la Prairie Portage la Prairie () is a small city in the Central Plains Region of Manitoba, Canada. As of 2016, the population was 13,304 and the land area of the city was . Portage la Prairie is approximately west of Winnipeg, along the Trans-Canada Hi ...

in what is now the Canadian province of

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

History

In the mid-19th century, the future province of Manitoba was still part of

Rupert's Land Rupert's Land (french: Terre de Rupert), or Prince Rupert's Land (french: Terre du Prince Rupert, link=no), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin; this was further extended from Rupert's Land t ...

, a territory owned by the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

(HBC). By 1858, the population of the Portage community had developed to the point where the necessity of

municipal corporation A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally ...

became evident. As Portage la Prairie had no government, laws or taxation at the time, Spence and a group of local settlers formed a

provisional government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or ...

in January 1868,https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/louis_riel/pdf/origin_mb_name.pdf first calling it the Republic of Caledonia before changing the name later to the ''Republic of Manitobah'', after a local lake. The following month, Spence and his group wrote to the

British Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of col ...

asking for the republic to be recognized as a

political entity A polity is an identifiable political entity – a group of people with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of institutionalized social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize resources. A polity can be any other group of p ...

, but there was no reply.

Demise

The republic never had clearly defined borders, and could not persuade local HBC traders to pay their taxes. By late spring 1868, the republic had been informed by the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of c ...

in London that its government had no power. The republic's problems were compounded by

misappropriation In law, misappropriation is the unauthorized use of another's name, likeness, identity, property, discoveries, inventions, etc without that person's permission, resulting in harm to that person. Another use of the word refers to intentional a ...

of tax funds, and a botched

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

trial. The Republic of Manitobah collapsed before it had a chance to blossom. Thomas Spence served in the council for

Louis Riel Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of Canada and its first ...

’s

, whose actions led to the formation of the Province of Manitoba within Canada on July 15, 1870.

Legacy

Thomas Spence was the first person to use the word ''Manitoba'' in reference to both the lake and surrounding territory; so, while the government dissolved, the name ''Manitoba'' remains to this day. The story of the Republic of Manitobah was made into a humorous

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

short, called ''Spence's Republic'', by the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

in 1978, as a part of the Canada Vignettes series.Spence's Republic
at National Film Board of Canada page

References

External links

Manitoba Historical Society article on the Republic of ManitobahIMDb entry for Spence's Republic
{{coord, 49, 58, 22, N, 98, 17, 31, W, display=title Former territorial entities in North America History of Manitoba Separatism in Canada 1867 establishments in North America 1868 disestablishments in North America Manitobah Manitobah Portage la Prairie