What is the capital of the Northwest Territories?
- Inuvik
- Iqaluit
- Whitehorse
- Yellowknife
Answer: Yellowknife
Yellowknife is the capital of the Northwest Territories. Yellowknife, with about 20,000 people, is called the “diamond capital of North America.” Whitehorse is the capital of Yukon, and Iqaluit is the capital of Nunavut.
Learn more: Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Canadian Rangers
- The Northwest Territories were formed in 1870 from Rupert’s Land and the North-Western Territory.
- Yellowknife, the N.W.T. capital (about 20,000 people), is called the “diamond capital of North America.”
- More than half of the N.W.T. population is Aboriginal (Dene, Inuit and Métis).
- The Mackenzie River (4,200 km) is North America’s second-longest river system after the Mississippi. It drains 1.8 million km².
- Nunavut means “our land” in Inuktitut. It was created in 1999 from the eastern part of the N.W.T., including the former District of Keewatin.
- Iqaluit, Nunavut’s capital, was formerly Frobisher Bay, named after English explorer Martin Frobisher (1576, for Queen Elizabeth I).
- Nunavut’s 22-member Legislative Assembly chooses the premier and ministers by consensus.
- About 85% of Nunavut’s people are Inuit. Inuktitut is an official language and the first language in schools.
- The Canadian Rangers are part of the Canadian Forces Reserves (militia) and draw on indigenous knowledge and experience.
- Rangers travel by snowmobile in winter and all-terrain vehicle in summer, from Resolute to the Magnetic North Pole.