North Dakota’s Red River is one of several by that name in North America. In the United States it is called the Red River of the North in order to distinguish it from another Red River that is a tributary of the Mississippi River. The Red is born at Wahpeton, North Dakota and Breckenridge, Minnesota by the confluence of the Bois de Sioux and Otter Tail rivers. It flows northward through the Red River Valley, where it forms a great deal of the border between the states of Minnesota and North Dakota before flowing into Manitoba, Canada.

Measured from the Sheyenne River, the Red is 877 kilometers long, falling 70 meters on its journey to Lake Winnipeg. It feeds the vast deltaic wetland known as Netley Marsh along its way. It was an important river in the early settlement of Canada, notably being home to the Red River Colony that later became Winnipeg.