Northwest Territories, Canada

Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arctic_Ocean_beach_at_Tuktoyaktuk.jpg
Author: Ian Mackenzie

Cities and Sights in the Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories (NT) is one of the three federal territories of Canada. It is bordered by Yukon to the west, Nunavut to the east and the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south. The border of Northwest Territories also intersects diagonally with that of Manitoba to the southeast. Northwest Territories cover 1,346,106 sq km (519,734 sq mi) but has a population of only 41,500 people (2012 estimate). This sparsely populated territory is covered mostly by boreal forest with half of it above the tree line.

The capital and largest city in Northwest Territories is Yellowknife, the only city of any significant size in the vast region. It joined the Confederation of Canada on 15 July, 1870, together with Manitoba. Northwest Territories has one seat in the 308-seat Canadian House of Commons and one seat in the 105-seat Canadian Senate.

Northwest Territories is rich in minerals from gold and diamond to natural gas and petroleum. Due to its low population, it has the highest per capita GDP of all the provinces and territories of Canada, at C$76,000 in 2009. Some of the biggest mining companies in the world are involved in the mines in Northwest Territories, among them BHP Billiton (which also has mines in Newman, Western Australia)and Rio Tinto.

A cairn at Sachs Harbour, Northwest Territories
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sachs_Harbour_cairn_and_community_01.jpg
Author: Leslie Philipp


Northwest Territores was created in 1870 out of the former Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory. Rupert's Land, named after Prince Rupert of the Rhine (nephew of King Charles I), was the territory covering the Hudson Bay drainage basin while North-Western Territory covered the entire area bordered by Alaska, British Columbia and Rupert's Land.

Since its creation in 1870, parts of North-West Territories have been gradually broken off to form separate entities. Scarcely a month after it was created, Manitoba was created, at first being the area around Winnipeg, but in 1881 enlarged to cover its present boundaries. In 1866, British Columbia was granted the portion south of 60°N and west of 120°W. In 1905, Alberta and Saskatchewan became provinces of Canada, and were granted portions south of the 60°N. Finally on 1 April, 1999, the eastern three-fifths of the Northwest Territories was broken off to form a new territory known as Nunavut.

Nahanni Butte, Northwest Territories
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nahanni_Butte.jpg
Author: Leslie Philipp

Visiting Northwest Territories

There are daily flights to Yellowknife Airport (YZF) from Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver, as well as from some of the small towns in Yukan and Nunavut. The alternative is to go by road. Yellowknife is at the end of the NWT Highway 3.

Towns in Northwest Territories

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