It has often been observed that Canada has evolved from six different growth points, four of them coastal centres -- the Atlantic coast, the Quebec lowlands, the Hudson Bay lowlands, the British Columbian coast -- the two of them interior settlements -- Upper Canada and the Red River Valley of Manitoba. This thesis surveys the changing geography of the smallest and most continental of the two interior settlements, the Red River Valley, over a period of about sixty years, and is presented as a study in historical geography. It is a geographical study of the Red River Settlement or Colony, sometimes called after its founder the Selkirk Settlement or Colony, which I hope will contribute something to a better knowledge of the early geography of the Canadian West. It is not meant to be, however, a complete geographical analysis. The bias is on agriculture, population and patterns of settlement. Transportation and the fur trade are given but scant treatment...