The Land
The Yukon Territory in Canada's northwest covers 483 450
km2. The perimeters of this mountainous territory form
a rough triangle bordered on the south by British Columbia, on the
west by the U.S. state of Alaska and on the east by the Northwest
Territories. The northern tip of the triangle meets the chilly
waters of the Beaufort Sea. Mount Logan, Canada's highest peak at
6 050 metres, is located in southwestern Yukon.
The Yukon can be divided into two broad geographical regions:
taiga and tundra. Taiga is the boreal forest belt that circles the
world in the subarctic zone, including most of the Yukon. Tundra
is the vast, rocky plain in the Arctic regions, where the extreme
climate has stunted vegetation.
The Yukon has a subarctic climate. The high altitude of much of
the territory and the semi-arid climate provide relatively warm
summers with temperatures frequently reaching 25°C or more during
the long summer days. In winter the temperature ranges between
plus 4 and minus 50°C in the south and slightly colder farther
north.
Above the Arctic Circle (latitude 66° north), the Yukon is
known as "the land of the midnight sun" because for
three months in summer, sunlight is almost continuous. In winter,
however, darkness sets in, and the light of day is not seen for a
quarter of the year.
The History
The name Yukon was first used in 1846 by the Hudson's Bay
Company trader, John Bell. He called it "Yucon," derived
from the Loucheux word "Yuchoo," meaning the greatest
river. The Yukon River is the fifth-longest in North America.
The Yukon was the first area in Canada to be settled by people.
Anthropologists believe the ancestors of today's Aboriginal
peoples may have inhabited the Yukon 10 000 to 25 000
years ago when they migrated from Asia across a Bering Sea land
bridge.
The first modern European visitors were Russian explorers who
travelled along the coast in the 18th century and traded with the
area's Aboriginal peoples. Sir John Franklin anchored off the
Yukon's Arctic coastline in 1825, and the Hudson's Bay Company
moved into the interior in the 1840s.
U.S. traders arrived after the 1867 Russian sale of Alaska to
the United States. With the discovery of gold near Dawson City in
1896, the Klondike became one of the most populous regions in
northwestern Canada. The sudden increase in population during the
Klondike gold rush prompted the federal government to give the
Yukon more control over its affairs. In 1898, the Yukon Territory
was officially established to ensure Canadian jurisdiction; the
Yukon Act provided for a commissioner and an elected legislative
assembly.
Some 40 years later, during the Second World War, the United
States built the Alaska Highway, creating a new overland
transportation route. In 1979, the Canadian government opened the
Dempster Highway, Canada's first all-weather road to cross the
Arctic Circle.
As a territory, the Yukon does not have full provincial status,
although it achieved a style of government similar to that of the
provinces in 1979. The Canadian government retains administrative
control over water, land and forestry and the development of all
non-renewable resources (i.e. minerals, oil and gas).
The 1970s saw the emergence of the Yukon land claims
negotiations. In 1993, the Council for Yukon Indians, the
Government of Canada and the Yukon Territorial Government signed
an Umbrella Final Agreement that sets out the terms for final land
claim settlements in the Territory. Final land claim agreements
were also reached with the Vuntut Gwich'in First Nation, the
Champagne and Aishihik First Nation, the Teslin Tlingit Council
and the First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun. These agreements
contribute to certainty of land title, and benefits include cash,
land and participation on wildlife and other management boards.
In addition to their land claim settlements, the four First
Nations also negotiated self-government agreements that give them
more control over land use on settlement lands and greater
authority in areas such as language, health care, social services
and education.
The People
The Yukon's vast interior forests were occupied by the
Athapaskans, whose cultural and linguistic traditions go back more
than 1 000 years. Today, there are six distinct groups of
Athapaskan Aboriginal peoples: Kutchin, Han, Tutchone, Inland
Tlingit, Kaska and Tagish.
At present, approximately 30 700 people live in the Yukon;
21 percent of the population is Aboriginal. Over 70 percent of the
population lives in Whitehorse, Yukon's capital city.
The Economy
Mining, the Yukon's largest industry, accounts for more than 30
percent of the economy. Tourism, offering a wilderness experience
in a unique and relatively unspoiled environment, provides a
further base for jobs and services. Efforts have recently been
made to promote other sectors, such as the forest industry.
The fur trade continues to be important to the Aboriginal
peoples of the Yukon. A small fishing industry operates in Dawson
City to export salmon, and other commercial fisheries supply local
consumers.
Agriculture - expensive by North American standards - is a
small but expanding industry. Although growth of the agricultural
industry is limited by climate and the availability of productive
land, new research programs hold promise for the future.
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