The history of land surveying dates back to the time of the Egyptians and Babylonians as a means of determining ownership and taxation.
The first land surveys in Manitoba took place in 1813, when twelve lots were surveyed for the first Selkirk Settlers to arrive at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers.
Over the next few years, additional lots were surveyed along the rivers as the need arose, until 1869 when the beginnings of the township system appeared.
Three years later, forty-nine surveyors were employed on the prairies, laying out the grid system and resurveying the river lots to conform to the settlement holdings.
In 1874, a group of surveyors formed an association for the better organization of the profession, and seven years later, in 1881, the Association of Manitoba Land Surveyors was incorporated, becoming the first such incorporated in Canada.