Rébellion du Nord-Ouest (North-West Rebellion) was an 1885 armed rebellion of Métis in the District of Saskatchewan, against the Canadian government. The Métis were led by Louis Riel, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis people, but a very complicated figure. The Métis are a mixed-race Indigenous people of Canada's Prairie Provinces and parts of Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the northwest United States. They derive from primarily French, Scottish, and English settlers and Indigenous peoples, primarily Cree. They became a distinct ethnic group in the mid-18th century. Louis Riel was born in 1844 in the Red River Colony, now Winnipeg. His father was of Franco-Chipewyan Métis descent, and his mother was the daughter of one of the earliest White families to settle there in 1812. Riel had led the earlier Rébellion de la rivière Rouge (Red River Rebellion) in 1869. That led to the establishment of the Métis Provisional Government, which in 1870 negotiated the entry of the Red River Colony into Confederation as the Province of Manitoba, making Manitoba the only province to be founded by an Indigenous person. But there had been violence during the negotiations, and after the confederation, Riel learned that Canadian militia elements meant to lynch him. He fled across the border to the U.S. Dakatoa Territory. He later returned to Canada, but ultimately was exiled for five years, during which he developed strong religious beliefs. At the same time, he began to suffer mental illness. He was treated under an assumed name in Montreal and slowly recovered. Back in Dakota Territory, he married and had three children, two of which survived him. He became active in Montana politics, and by 1884 was teaching school at a Jesuit mission there. After the Red River Resistance, many Métis went west and settled in the Saskatchewan Valley. But by the 1880s, the collapse of the buffalo herd caused near starvation. Government assistance was reduced, and treaties were not honored. The Métis sent a delegation to ask Riel to return to lead them in seeking better treatment. Riel returned and led a committee that sent a petition to the Canadian government. The response from the government took months and was perceived as only a delaying tactic. During that time, Riel suffered a relapse of his mental illness and began to espouse heretical beliefs. When the government's response arrived, he supported a faction of the Métis who wanted to take up arms immediately. They formed rebel forces of roughly 250 Métis and 250 First Nations men, largely Cree and Assiniboine, led by Riel. They faced 5,500 Canadian men, including North-West Mounted Police, armed loyal residents of the North-West Territories, and Canadian militia units from Ontario and Quebec, brought west by the nearly-complete Canadian Pacific Railway. The rebellion held out for a time, but on May 15, 1885, Riel surrendered to Canadian forces. In July, he was tried for treason. So what's the connection to the date of today's ride? Riel was found guilty, and he was hanged on this date in 1885. Historians have debated the Riel case so often and so passionately that he is the most written-about person in Canadian history. The first histories hailed the triumph of civilization, represented by English-speaking Protestants, over savagery represented by the half-breed Métis who were Catholic and spoke French. Riel was portrayed as an insane traitor and an obstacle to the expansion of Canada to the West. But later histories are more nuanced. In 1992, the House of Commons passed a resolution recognizing "the unique and historic role of Louis Riel as a founder of Manitoba and his contribution in the development of Confederation". The CBC's Greatest Canadian project ranked Riel as the "11th Greatest Canadian." In 2024, Riel was formally recognized as Manitoba's first premier by virtue of The Louis Riel Act. Source: https://w.wiki/7woA Much of the above is only lightly edited by me, copied directly from Wikipedia. But I pulled together information from several Wikipedia articles and learned a lot in the process! What a great ride late this afternoon, in a short dry break between L.A.'s rain showers! The roads had time to dry out after the rain stopped around noon, so I hurried to get on the bike about 3 pm, planning to get back before sunset about 5 pm. I felt fast during the whole ride. I climbed the steep parts of Palms Boulevard with no trouble, and the very steep (but short) climb up to the Baldwin Hills Overlook felt quicker than usual. Then I followed a vaguely-remembered route up to Beverly Hills, a gradual climb, and then turned back toward the coast over the rollers on Wilshire. I had planned to go down San Vicente, but when I crossed the 405 at about 4:30, it was getting very dark, and the rain started back up, two hours before it was forecast. So I stayed on Wilshire, no bike lanes, but wide lanes and relatively light traffic. Plus, better lighted than San Vicente. The rain continued until I got to the coast, so the last stretch south down the coast was nice and felt fast, even though it was almost completely dark. I got back right at 5 pm.