Geography of The Northwest Territories - History and Founding

History and Founding

As European Incursions began in the region, they encountered the fishing and hunting Inuit and Dene. Vikings who came from Greenland may be the first Europeans to explore the eastern section of th Northwest Territories now Nunavut. Sir Martin Frobisher was the first of a long line of explorers to venture the Northwest Passage. Although, it was Henry Hudson that discovered the gateway to the Northwest (Hudson Bay) in 1610.

For several decades the Hudson's Bay Company sent trade-explorers into the northern sea lanes and along the coast; in 1771, Samuel Hearne went from Hudson Bay and descended the Coppermine River. By 1789, exploring for the North West Company, Alexander Mackenzie ventured to the mouth of the Mackenzie River. Sir John Franklin contributed scientific expeditions to the Arctic Northwest in the first half of the Nineteenth century, gaining valuable geographic data.

The area of present Northwest Territories and Nunavut was part of the large islands sold by the Hudson's Bay Company to the new Canadian confederation in 1870. Some of those lands were joined to the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Then, the province of Manitoba was formed from them in 1870, and Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1905, all south of 60°North. In 1898, the Yukon Territory had been separated. The boundaries of the Northwest Territories were set in 1912 and stayed fixed until Nunavut was created in 1999.

Ever since the 1982 patriation of the Canadian Constitution, several land claims were made by native peoples having made their ways through the courts and federal government. In 1992, the residents of the Northwest Territories voted to divide the territory along ethnic lines, with the Inuit on the east and the Dene to the west. The novel territory of Nunavut, dominated by the Inuit, came in to existence on April Fools' Day, 1999. This split the Northwest Territories along a ziz-zag path running from the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border through the Arctic Archipelago on the North Pole. Other native peoples with claim were the Métis and the Inuvialuit. Joe Handley became the Territories' premier in December 2003.