In 1811, the Hudson Bay Company grants a tract of land, which today comprises southern Manitoba and North Dakota, to Lord Selkirk, a Scottish merchant and nobleman.
The official history of the Red River Colony starts in 1812, with the arrival of the first Scottish refugees. From the beginning, the colony is populated by diverse groups. North of the Assiniboine and along the Red, are found the Scots (Kildonan) and the Anglo-Protestant Métis (St. Andrews). In St. Boniface and along the Seine River, some former Swiss and German mercenaries are settled near a few French-Canadian families.
The rest of the colony is populated by a majority of Franco-Catholic Métis, living in the missions or parishes spreading out towards the West on the Assiniboine (St. François Xavier in particular) and towards the South along the Red (St. Norbert, Pembina/St. Joseph).

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