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1771 * 1789 * 1810 * 1821 * 1861 * 1867 * 1881
1885 * 1898 * 1912 * 1913 * 1921 * 1925
1929 * 1930 * 1931 * 1934 * 1943 * 1946 * 1967
1979 * 1984 * 1994 * 1998 * 1999 * 2002
2004 * 2007 * 2008 * 2009 |
 In one
form or another, the name "Northwest
Territories" has been around for centuries. In
the early fur trade era of the 1600s, the
Hudson's Bay Company was given an exclusive
British charter in Rupert's Land - the vast
chunk of not-yet-born Canada whose waters drain
into Hudson Bay. Rival traders struggled for a
foothold north and west of Lake Superior, in a
measureless hinterland that came to be called
"The North-Western Territory."
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1771
Samuel Hearne reached the mouth of the
Coppermine River in the company of the Chipewyan
Chief Matonabbee. 
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1789
Alexander Mackenzie travelled down Deh Cho,
the great river, to reach the Arctic Ocean. He
noticed oil seepages near the present-day town
of Norman Wells.
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 1810
A Hudson's Bay Company post was established
at Tulit'a (Fort Norman).
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 1821
The Yellowknives Dene Chief Akaitcho rescued
starving survi-
vors of an expedition to the
Arctic coast led by Lt. John Franklin of the
Royal Navy. Franklin returned in 1825-27, and
survived a more successful journey to the coast,
wintering at Fort Franklin on Great Bear Lake.
In 1845, however, Franklin's three ships and 129
men disappeared into the frozen Arctic
forever.
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1861
Fr. Emile Petitot began his famous murals on
the interior walls of the Mission Church at Fort
Good Hope.
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1867
After Confederation, Rupert's Land and The
North-Western Territory were both ceded to
Canada, becoming "The North-West Territories".
Today's Nunavut, Yukon and parts of British
Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba,
Ontario, Quebec and Labrador were all included
in the deal.
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1881
The Arctic Islands were added to the NWT,
but Manitoba's boundaries were extended
north.
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1885
Many French-Cree Métis left Manitoba after
the Riel uprising to create new lives in the
NWT.
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1898
The gold-rich Yukon broke off from the NWT
to become a separate territory, and Quebec
expanded northward. Other provinces followed
suit over the years, swallowing up parts of the
NWT as they did so.
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1912
The North West Mounted Police establish a
detachment at Herschel Island, with the purpose
of "showing the Canadian Flag" in the Western
Arctic.
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1913
Vilhjalmur Stefansson and Diamond Jenness
began ethnological studies of the Western Arctic
Inuit.
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1921
Imperial Oil attempted to send the
first-ever planes to fly NWT skies to Norman
Wells. After a few crash landings, the mission
was abandoned.
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1925
When the boundaries of Canada were extended
to the North Pole, the Northwest Territories
ballooned to 3.3 million sq km - about a third
of the nation's land-mass.
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1929
The Thelon Game Sanctuary was created,
largely on the recommendation of John Hornby,
the eccentric British wanderer who died there in
1927.
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1930
Radium was discovered at Great Bear Lake.
Since it was then worth $75,000 an ounce, a
mining rush ensued. The community of Port Radium
formed around the El Dorado
mine.
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1931
After terrorizing people of the Mackenzie
Valley for weeks, the Mad Trapper of Rat River
was shot dead by the Mounties and buried at
Aklavik.
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1934
A gold strike on the North Arm of Great
Slave Lake brought about the beginnings of a
community called Yellowknife.
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1943
The U.S. Army built a 350 mile pipeline
through the Mackenzie Mountains, connecting its
right-of-way from Norman Wells via Whitehorse to
the new Alaska Highway. The pipeline was
dismantled in 1947, but many relics were left
behind, along what is now the Canol Heritage
Trail.
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1946
The Northern Transportation Company took
charge of Mackenzie River shipping as the HBC
bowed out.
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1967
Yellowknife was named the capital of the
Northwest Territories, and many administrative
departments were transferred from Ottawa and
Fort Smith.
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1979
The new Dempster Highway, running from
Dawson City Yukon to Inuvik, was
completed.
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1984
The Inuvialuit settled northern Canada's
first Aboriginal land claim.
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1994
The government of Canada and the Sahtu
Tribal Council (representing the Hare, Sahtu
Dene, Mountain Dene, and Métis of the region)
signed the Sahtu Land Claim Agreement. It
recognized Aboriginal ownership of major land
parcels and provides royalties for use of other
lands in the region. Claims by the Gwich'in and
other Dene groups have been settled in
succeeding years.
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1998
North America's first diamond mine went into
operation on the NWT Barrens at Lac de
Gras.
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1999
The creation of Nunavut cut the size of the
Northwest Territories by roughly two thirds, to
a mere million square kilometres.
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2002
Parks Canada announced plans to create a new
National Park on Great Slave Lake's East
Arm.
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2004
The last of the gold mines in Yellowknife closed in 2004. Today, Yellowknife is primarily a
government town and a service centre for the diamond mines.
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2007
The rock duo White Stripes played in Yellowknife for their tour of
Canada. The entire tour was recorded for a documentary called Under Great White Northern Lights.
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2008
In 2008, Yellowknife hosted the Arctic Winter Games
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2009
June 2009 the Canadian Government, with the Dehcho First Nations, announced legislation that will increase the area of Nahanni National Park to cover around 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi), including 91% of the Greater Nahanni ecosystem in the Dehcho region and most of the South Nahanni River watershed
The expansion has increased the park to six times its size to approximately 30,000 square kilometres from the original 4,766 square kilometres.
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NORTHWEST TERRITORIES CANADA 
Nahanni National Park
