Northwest Territories

城市概覽

Although the name is plural, NWT is a single sub-national jurisdiction within Canada. About 37% of its 42,000 residents (2016) are First Nations indigenous people, 10% are Inuit (formerly known as Eskimo), and 7% are Métis. See Indigenous cultures of North America. Its terrain includes boreal forest (taiga) and tundra, and its most northern regions form part of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

History The Northwest Territories was created to encompass all of the Canadian territories to the west and north of Ontario (hence the name ‘Northwest’ Territories). All of the land which drained into Hudson's Bay once belonged to the Hudson's Bay Company as "Rupert's Land". Parts of that land later became NWT, which covered a vast area. Through the late 19th and early 20th centuries, NWT lands were transferred to provinces, or separated to create the Prairie provinces. For instance, all of Lloydminster used to be part of NWT; it was divided on longitude 110°W upon the creation of Alberta and Saskatchewan. For a century, the name was a bit of a misnomer, as the Northwest Territories contained the Arctic Archipelago, which extended far east. The Yukon Territory was carved out of NWT in 1898. The primarily-Inuit Nunavut Territory seceded in 1999. To some, the name remains a misnomer as NWT is just one of the three Canadian territories, and it is only "northwest" relative to some other jurisdiction – presumably Ontario. A singular name "Northwest Territory" is avoided due to its historic use for an "Old Northwest" that became U.S. states Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota. Some advocate native-language names for the territory but there has been no clear consensus.

Tourist information Spectacular Northwest Territories website

如何抵達

By plane Flights connect Yellowknife with Edmonton and Calgary in Alberta, and Vancouver, British Columbia. There are seasonal flights from Whitehorse, Yukon, Toronto and Ottawa, Ontario.

By car From Alberta, Highway 16 leaves from Edmonton to connect to Highway 43. Highway 43 (part of Mackenzie Highway) heads north towards NWT becoming NWT Highway 1 (part of Mackenzie Highway). Turn on to NWT Highway 3 to take you to Yellowknife. The journey is about 1,450 km (900 mi), and there are long distances between gas (petrol) stations. Do your research, and be prepared. The Dempster Highway (Yukon Highway 5 and NWT Highway 8) connects Inuvik with the Klondike Highway near Dawson City, Yukon. However, it does not have any connections to the other highways in the Northwest Territories. The Liard Highway (BC Highway 77 and NWT Highway 7) connects the Northwest Territories with British Columbia. From British Columbia, the highway starts west of Fort Nelson on BC Highway 97 (the Alaska Highway), passing through boreal forest before reaching NWT Highway 1 south of Fort Simpson. There are no road connections between the Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan.

By train There are no passenger railways in NWT.

當地交通

One of the best ways to get around the Northwest Territories is by car. This gives you unlimited freedom to choose your own itinerary. Picture the scene - you're driving down the highway and you look to your left, you see a vast expanse of wilderness, maybe a picturesque sunset and even a herd of caribou (reindeer) going about their business. You look to the right and a black bear is peeping out from behind trees. With uninterrupted views of the wide open space and wildlife, you will be alert to all the new sights and sounds until you come across a sleepy little community that offers a camping ground with a small restaurant of home cooked delights and a welcoming atmosphere. The territorial government operates free ferries on four unbridged river crossings in summer: at the Liard River near Fort Simpson, the Peel River near Fort McPherson, and the Mackenzie River near Wrigley and at Tsiigehtchic. In winter, the government maintains a number of ice roads at these river crossings and elsewhere. Car hire is a good resource to make the most of in the Northwest Territories. Reliable and cost effective, car hire companies will be able to advise you of the best routes to spot wildlife and the best routes to take you from waterfall to river to lake. Another of the best ways to travel around the Northwest Territories is by plane, due to the airports dotting the landscape, as well as the lack of roads and rails throughout many parts of the Northwest Territories. (Indeed, passenger rail service has yet to be extended to the Territories.) Yellowknife essentially began partially through the efforts of bush pilots, and float planes can presumably land on the territories' many lakes (they are known to land in Yellowknife Bay). Airline service can be had to Yellowknife, Fort Good Hope, Fort Liard, Fort Simpson, Fort Smith, Hay River, Inuvik, Norman Wells, and other communities, and bush pilots presumably reach further.

必看景點

You must see the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights). They are best seen in wintertime, when the nights are long. They cannot be seen at all during the short "white nights" around the summer solstice. Tour companies in Yellowknife offer snowmobile, sled dog expeditions, photography workshops and tractor rides to see the lights from places outside of town. Great Slave Lake, on the shore of which sits the town of Hay River, is the deepest lake in North America at 614 m (2,014 ft).

The Igloo Church is Inuvik's best-known building. It was built in 1960 with a distinctive dome and exterior painted to look like an igloo. The Pingos near Tuktoyaktuk are domes of earth-covered ice found only in the high Arctic. The Northern Life Museum in Fort Smith exhibits traditional work of the Inuit, Inuvialuit, Dene and Metis. It displays include an authentic northern trading post, a typical northern kitchen from the 1940s, and, a traditional trapper's cabin, a 1965 Polaris Sno-Traveler, and a river bank scene featuring a birch bark canoe. The museum also hosts an outdoor Indigenous cultural centre that showcases Canada's First Peoples' ways of traditional living before European contact occurred in the early 1800s. The Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife houses the territorial museum and archives. Within 40 km of Enterprise, you can hike to three sets of waterfalls. In summer, you can see pelicans and endangered whooping cranes nesting near Fort Smith.

體驗活動

Hike or paddle the NWT sections of the Trans Canada Trail. Yellowknife hosts many festivals year-round, including the Snowking Festival, Long John Jamboree, and the dog sled races in winter, and in the summer, the Summer Solstice Festival, Raven Mad Daze (and 24-hour golf tournament), and Folk on the Rocks, a popular music festival. Inuvik hosts a Sunrise Festival in January combining native traditions with modern ones. And its Great Northern Arts Festival in the middle of July draws artists come from across the north, other parts of Canada, and Alaska. The Beluga Jamboree in Tuk