Fort Dauphin was the name of two forts in
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...
.
The first Fort Dauphin was built in 1741 near
Winnipegosis, Manitoba
Winnipegosis is an unincorporated urban community in the Rural Municipality of Mossey River, Manitoba, Canada. It lies at the mouth of the Mossey River on Lake Winnipegosis in west-central Manitoba.
The community was once categorized as a ...
, with
Pierre Gaultier de La Vérendrye, the western military commander, directing construction. The area provided a post located between the
Assiniboine River
The Assiniboine River ( ; ) is a long river that runs through the prairies of Western Canada in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It is a tributary of the Red River. The Assiniboine is a typical meandering river with a single main channel embanked ...
and the
Saskatchewan River
The Saskatchewan River (Cree: , "swift flowing river") is a major river in Canada. It stretches about from where it is formed by the joining of the North Saskatchewan River and South Saskatchewan River just east of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan ...
. It was named for the
Dauphin prince of
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
.
A second Fort Dauphin was built in 1767 on the north shore of
Lake Dauphin, so both the fort and the lake had the same name. This fort was built by French
fur traders
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...
after the era of the western military commanders. As with many of the forts of the times, they kept the same names while changing locations to facilitate trade with the First Nations and to secure better physical locations.
The site at Winnipegosis was designated a
National Historic Site of Canada
National Historic Sites of Canada () are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being of national historic significance. Parks C ...
in 1943.
References
Further reading
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External links
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1741 establishments in the French colonial empire
Dauphin
Dauphin
National Historic Sites in Manitoba
{{Fort-stub
Buildings and structures in Westman Region, Manitoba