Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

Yellowknife is the territorial capital of Canada's Northwest Territories, and the only settlement in the territory to be legally a city. Founded as a gold mining town in the 1930s, it has a population (as of the 1996 census) of 17,275. The local, provincial, and federal governments are the largest employer, with gold mining second. It became the capital of the Northwest Territories in 1967.

The city is located on the shore of Great Slave Lake, at the mouth of the Yellowknife River; its name derives from the copper knives used by the local Chipewyans. The current population is ethnically mixed, and the territory government lists five languages as spoken in significant numbers: Chipewyan, Dogrib, South and North Slavey, English, and French.

In Dogrib, the town is called Somba K'e (where the money is).

See also List of Canadian cities and List of communities in the Northwest Territories.

External Links

• Official website