Northwest Territories Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (NT or NWT; French: "les Territoires du Nord-Ouest", "TNO"; Athabaskan languages: "Denendeh"; Inuinnaqtun: "Nunatsiaq"; Inuktitut: ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊᖅ) is a federal territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2011 population of 41,462, it is the second-largest and the most populous of the three territories in Northern Canada. Its estimated population as of 2016 is 44,291. Yellowknife became the territorial capital in 1967, following recommendations by the Carrothers Commission. The Northwest Territories, a portion of the old North-Western Territory, entered the Canadian Confederation on July 15, 1870, but the current borders were formed on
Yellowknife Yellowknife began with the discovery of diamonds north of the city in 1991. 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. On April 1, 1999, its purview as capital of the NWT was reduced when the territory of Nunavut was split from the NWT. As a result, jurisdiction for that region of Canada was transferred to the new capital city of Iqaluit. Consequently, Yellowknife lost its standing as the Canadian capital city with the smallest population. Yellowknife is on the Canadian Shield,