Fort Rouge was a fort located on the Assiniboine River

Assiniboine River

The Assiniboine River is a 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 within a flat, shallow valley in some places and a steep valley in...

 in Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, on the site of what is now the city of Winnipeg

Winnipeg

Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...

. Its exact location is unknown. Its name in English means "red fort".

In 1738 Sieur Louis Damours de Louvières built Fort Rouge on the Assiniboine River for Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye

Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye

Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye was a French Canadian military officer, fur trader and explorer. In the 1730s he and his four sons opened up the area west of Lake Superior and thus began the process that added Western Canada to the original New France in the Saint Lawrence basin...

. La Vérendrye and his sons, Louis-Joseph

Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye

Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye was a French Canadian fur trader and explorer who took part in extending these activities westerly from the Great Lakes during the eighteenth century, an enterprise for which he and other members of his family were largely responsible...

 and Francois

François de La Vérendrye

François de La Vérendrye was the third son of Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Vérendrye. He was born at Sorel, New France in 1715 and was active in his father's trade activities from Fort Kaministiquia to the North Saskatchewan River.In 1738 he was part of his father's expedition to Mandan...

, proceeded further west on the Assiniboine and constructed Fort La Reine

Fort La Reine

Fort La Reine was built in 1738, one of the forts of the western expansion directed by Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye, first military commander in the west of what is now known as Canada. Located on the Assiniboine River where present day Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, stands, the...

. The fort seems to have had a primary purpose as a depot and was abandoned by 1749.

A new commandant of the French western forts, Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre

Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre

Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre was a Canadien colonial military commander and explorer. who held posts throughout North America in the 18th century.-Life:...

, spent the winter of 1752-1753 at the Forks, and likely rebuilt Fort Rouge at its original location. Much research points to this site being on the north bank of the Assiniboine near the forks although some scholars place the original fort on the south bank.

Trading posts were built near Fort Rouge by Bruce and Boyer in 1780 and by Alexander Henry (the younger)

Alexander Henry (the younger)

Alexander Henry was a Canadian fur trader and explorer employed by the North West Company. He is well known for his extensive journals which he started in 1799. They contain an excellent record from the early 19th century of the fur trade. Alexander travelled and traded extensively from Lake...

 in 1803, as was Fort Gibraltar

Fort Gibraltar

In the early 19th century fur-trading was the main industry of Western Canada. Two companies had an intense competition over the trade. The first, the Hudson's Bay Company was a London, England-based organization. The second, the North West Company was based in Montreal...

 in 1807.

The district of Fort Rouge

Fort Rouge, Manitoba

Fort Rouge is a district of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Located in the south-central part of the city, it is bounded on the north by the Assiniboine River, on the east and south by the Red River, and on the west by Stafford Street and Pembina Highway...

 in south-central Winnipeg is named for the fort.

See also

• Council of Keewatin
  Council of Keewatin
  The Council of Keewatin was an unelected legislative body and territorial government for the now-defunct District of Keewatin in Canada. The District of Keewatin was created by the passage of the Keewatin Act on April 12, 1876 from a portion of Canada's North West Territories...
  
  
• Fort Garry
  Fort Garry
  Fort Garry, also known as Upper Fort Garry, was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in what is now downtown Winnipeg. It was established in 1822 on or near the site of the North West Company's Fort Gibraltar. Fort Garry was named after Nicholas...
  
  
• History of Winnipeg
  History of Winnipeg
  -Before incorporation:Winnipeg lies at the confluence of the Assiniboine River and the Red River, known as The Forks, a historic focal point on canoe river routes travelled by Aboriginal peoples for thousands of years. The name Winnipeg is a transcription of a western Cree word meaning "muddy...
  
  
• Temporary North-West Council
  Temporary North-West Council
  The Temporary North-West Council more formally known as the Council of the Northwest Territories and by its short name as the North-West Council lasted from the creation of Northwest Territories, Canada, in 1870 until it was dissolved in 1876...