From the 60th parallel, the N.W.T. stretches 3560 km to the North Pole, and 4256 km from east to west, covering 3 426 320 kmē, and including the islands in Hudson, James and Ungava bays. At some time or other in its history, the Northwest Territories have included all of Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Yukon, and most of Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. Today, the N.W.T. remains the largest political subdivision in Canada, with 34.1 percent of the total area of the country. The N.W.T. is divided into three districts: Keewatin, Mackenzie and Franklin. One of the most remarkable features of the N.W.T. is the Mackenzie River, one of the world's longest at 4241 km. Like the Yukon, the N.W.T. can be divided into two broad geographical regions: the taiga, a boreal forest belt that circles the subarctic zone, and the tundra, a rocky arctic region where the cold climate has stunted vegetation.

The ancestors of the Dene Indian people lived along the Mackenzie Valley in the N.W.T. 10 000 years ago. The first Inuit are believed to have crossed the Bering Strait about 5000 years ago, spreading east along the Arctic coast. The first European explorers were the Vikings, who sailed to the eastern Arctic about 1000 A.D. However, Martin Frobisher's expeditions in the 1570s were the first recorded visits to the N.W.T. by any explorer. In 1610, Henry Hudson, while looking for a passage to Asia, landed briefly on the western shore of the bay that now bears his name. His discovery opened the door for further exploration of the interior of the continent. With the arrival of the fur traders in the late 1700s and the whalers in the 1800s, life began to change substantially. The Europeans reshaped the North, bringing with them a new economy and way of life. Communities grew around trading posts, mission schools and Royal Canadian Mounted Police stations with the arrival of fur traders, missionaries and government officials. In 1870, the British government transferred control of the North-Western Territory to Canada. Ten years later the British government annexed the islands of the arctic archipelago, which also became part of the Territories. In 1905, both Alberta and Saskatchewan were created from the Territories. Finally, in 1912, the provinces of Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec were enlarged and the N.W.T. assumed its current boundaries. (See my page of exploration history for more information.)

The N.W.T. government to a large extent has the same responsibilities as provincial governments: taxation, municipal bodies, education, wildlife, health and hospital services, forest management, housing, social services and economic development. It is the only jurisdiction in Canada that does not operate on a political party structure, and is the only Legislative Assembly that follows a system of consensus government. This means that each member is free to vote as he/she wishes on any issue and approval of each issue requires agreement by a majority of members.It lacks jurisdiction over land and resource administration, including control over the pace and scale of resource development, and subsurface and water rights. A 1988 agreement to negotiate a northern energy accord, however, will lead to territorial management and control of onshore oil and gas and shared responsibility with the federal government for offshore renewable resources.

On April 1, 1999 Canada will change once again geographically when Nunavut (the new Aboriginal territory in the North which means "our land" in Inuktitut) will become a separate region ... belonging to Canada yet being run by a soon to be decided form of democacy. The western portion of the north may no longer be known as the N.W.T. Many many changes and precident setting moves are coming about in these northernmost regions of Canada. Change can only be good for the Inuit people.

While Canada is seen by most of the world as a land of ice and snow, this misconception comes from the land in Canada north of the 60th parallel. The population of the northern lands in Canada is not huge, but is spread out over the huge landscape in many towns, cities and villages. Advances in technology have enhanced many aspects of the lives of the northern people in communication; as well as through aviation. Problems of distance and climatic extremes are still paramount, but economic and cultural links with southern Canada and the world at large are steadily increasing.

The largest Aboriginal group is the Inuit, which means "the people" in Inuktitut. Inuit communities are often a mixture of people from different cultural and linguistic areas. Most communities, however, have characteristic dialects. In general, the Inuit language is a "living" language, and most Inuit children learn Inuktitut as their mother tongue. In the western Arctic, the Dene have inhabited the forests and barrens for the past 2500 years. Once nomads, today they live in communities, many still using traditional skills of hunting, trapping and fishing. There are four major Dene cultural and linguistic groups: Chipewyan, Dogrib, Slavey (north and south) and Gwich'in (Loucheux).

There are eight official languages spoken in the N.W.T. Interestingly, the French in the N.W.T. have their own flag. There are two major climate zones, the Arctic and the sub-Arctic. Temperatures in the sub-Arctic fall below 0 degrees Celsius seven months of the year. In the Arctic, the average daily temperature of the warmest month of the year does not exceed 10 degrees Celsius. The Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) are an electrical discharge powered by a "generator" composed of the solar wind and the earth's magnetosphere. It can generate power as high as 1,000 billion watts. Canada is one of the best places in the world to see the Northern Lights.

Canada's first diamond mine is currently under construction at Lac de Gras, 300 kilometers north of Yellowknife. It will join three operating gold mines and two lead zinc mine: making mining a major industry in the north. Oil and gas exploration and development are also important. Tourism and exploration are very important economic factors as well. World class sport fishing is one of many attractions for visitors to the N.W.T. World record catches include a 29.5 Kg (65 lbs) lake trout from Great Bear Lake and a 14.5 Kg (32 lbs) Arctic char from the Tree River. The N.W.T. has the highest weekly earnings for workers in Canada. The Aboriginal peoples' traditional subsistence activities -- fishing, hunting and trapping -- continues to be very important, with fur harvesting supplementing the income of many Aboriginal families. Inuit arts and crafts distribute a greater amount of income more widely than any other economic activity. One in 14 people of working age in the N.W.T. earns some income through art.

Yellowknife is the Capital City of the N.W.T. and was incorporated as a city on January 1, 1970. The community was established following the discovery of gold in 1934. The name is derived from the Athapaskan band, who possessed tools made from yellow copper. Yellowknife was the first city in the N.W.T.

Many changes are happening in Canada today, read and find out more about the ancient claims that our Aboriginal people are making and in the case of the new territory Nunavut, succeeding in acquiring!