Yukon

Yukon (in English and French: Yukon) is one of the three territories that, together with the ten provinces, make up the thirteen federal entities of Canada. Its capital is Whitehorse, as well as being the only city in the entire province. It is located in the extreme northwest of the country, bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by Northwest Territories, to the south by British Columbia, and to the west by Alaska (United States). With 31,530 inhabitants. in 2008 it is the second least populated entity —behind Nunavut— and with 0.06 inhab/km², the third least densely populated, behind Northwest Territories and Nunavut, the least densely populated.

The crest of the Mackenzie Mountains forms much of the eastern border.

The etymology of its name comes from a local aboriginal language, Gwichʼin, meaning "big river." The territory is famous, among other things, for having been the scene of the Klondike Gold Rush, a historical event that occurred in 1897 and was of great importance for the region.

History

Prehistory

Human remains have been found from what was the oldest and most primitive population in North America, although its dating is highly disputed. A large number of modified bones and humanoid features that were discovered in the Old Crow region of northern Yukon are between 25,000 and 40,000 years old, based on carbon-14 study. The center and The northern Yukon was not affected by the ice ages, as was part of Beringia.

A volcanic eruption at Mount Churchill, near the Alaskan border, blanketed the southern Yukon in ash. That deposit of embers and remains of magma can still be seen along the Klondike highway. Histories from the Yukon First Nations tell of the death of animals and fish as a result of this event, as do others from the Athabascan, Navajo, and Apache-speaking tribes, which has led many anthropologists to conclude that that the emigration of Athabaskan peoples to what is now known as the southwestern United States may have been a consequence of said eruption. Shortly thereafter, innovations in hunting technology led to the replacement of atlatles by the bow and arrow.

Extensive networks of trade and exchange developed between the Tlingit on the coast and the First Nations in the interior. It is believed that the former traded eulacon oil and other products from their environment for copper and furs from the First Nations.

European colonization

The first Europeans to visit this territory were the Spanish, who made their initial explorations from the 16th century. The western part of the Pacific coasts were disputed territories, explored and with few settlements of the Spanish empire, Yukon together with the province of British Columbia, also became part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Later it was ceded to the British Empire.

19th century

Landscape in Snag Junction, Yukon.

European incursions into what would later be known as the Yukon began in the first half of the 19th century. Arriving from the Mackenzie River trading posts, explorers and traders from the Hudson's Bay Company used two different routes to penetrate the territory, creating trading posts all along the route. The northern route originated at Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories, on the banks of the Mackenzie, crossed the mountains by the Bell and Porcupine rivers, and reached the Yukon River. The southern one, instead, began at Fort Liard, Northwest Territories, and proceeded west along the Liard River to Lake Frances, continued west along the Liard River to Lake Frances, and then along the Liard River to Lake Frances. the Pelly River until it emptied into the Yukon.

After founding Fort McPherson, John Bell crossed the mountains to reach the Yukon Basin in 1845, traveling down the Rat (now known as Bell) River to its confluence with the Porcupine. After organizing the fur trade at Fort McPherson, he returned to the Bell, and continued down the Porcupine River until he reached the Yukon River again, where the fort of the same name (Fort Yukon) would later be built. Not long after, Alexander Hunter Murray established trading posts at Lapierre House (1846), and at Fort Yukon (1847), at the confluence of the Porcupine and Yukon rivers. Murray made several drawings of the fur shops and people in the area, and wrote the Journal of the Yukon, 1847–48, a valuable source of information about local Gwich'in culture at the time. As the post was actually in Russian Alaska, the Hudson's Bay Company continued to trade there until it was driven out following the American acquisition of Alaska in 1869. A new trading post, Rumpert House, was established upstream. of the Porcupine, but it was shown to be within Alaska as well. The Gwich'in, especially under the leadership of the Sahneuti, pitted the Hudson's Bay Company against the American merchants of the Alaska Trading Company.

Around the same time, Robert Campbell, from Fort Simpson, explored much of southern Yukon and founded Fort Frances (1842) on the lake of the same name in the Liard River basin, and Fort Selkirk (1848) at the confluence of the Yukon and Pelly rivers. In 1852, Fort Selkirk was sacked by Tlingit warriors from the coast, who violently opposed this interference in their business. Following this incident, Fort Selkirk was left abandoned and not re-established until 1889.

Anglican and Catholic missionaries followed in the wake of the fur trade, notable being William Carpenter Bompas, who became the first Anglican bishop of the Yukon. For their part, the Catholic missionaries belonged to the order of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, still present in the territory.

View from the Autopist of the World Cima, Yukon.

In 1859, Robert Kennicott undertook an expedition to collect natural history specimens in the valleys of the now Mackenzie River and Yukon River, and in the arctic tundra. Kenicott became popular with the Hudson's Bay Company traffickers, encouraging them to seek out natural history specimens and First Nations-manufactured artifacts and send the proceeds to the Smithsonian Institution. In 1865, the Western Union Telegraph Expedition was organized to find some possible route to establish a telegraph line between North America and Russia across the Bering Sea. Kennicott was the scientific chief of the expedition, and among the group of naturalists that comprised it was W. H. Dall. Unfortunately, Kennicott died of a heart attack while he was going up the Yukon River. However, his efforts made this Canadian territory known to the world.

Despite rumors of the alleged presence of gold in the Yukon region, no major investigations were carried out. Following the US government's purchase of Alaska and the subsequent abandonment of Rampart House, merchants of the Alaska Trading Company began working on the upper reaches of the Yukon River. Three miners—Alfred Mayo, Jack McQuesten, and Arthur Harper—heard these rumours, joined the company's work, although their main interest lay in panning for gold. In 1874, Mayo and McQuesten founded Fort Reliance, a few miles downriver from what would later be Dawson City. Other miners and prospectors soon joined the venture, and gold was found in many areas, though rarely in sufficient quantities to make it a good deal. Around 1885, a large quantity of this metal was found in the Stewart River, and McQuesten managed to convince the company to employ miners instead of focusing on the fur trade. The following year, profitable quantities of raw gold were found in the Fortymile River, and a new trading post, also called Fortymile, was founded at the confluence of this river with the Yukon.

In parallel, the US Army sent Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka to reconnoiter the Yukon River for the US Army. Traversing Chilkoot Pass, the expedition built rafts and sailed up the Yukon to its estuary in the Bering Sea, naming many geographic areas along that stretch. Schwatka's expedition alarmed the Canadian government, which sent its own group of expeditionaries under George Mercer Dawson in 1887. William Ogilvie, a surveyor who would rise to prominence during the Klondike gold rush, surveyed the land to fix with pinpoint the natural border with Alaska.

In 1894, concerned about the influx of American miners and the liquor trade, the Canadian government commissioned Inspector Charles Constantine of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to investigate conditions in the Yukon district. Constantine declared that a gold rush was approaching and urgently demanded the presence of a police force capable of controlling the area. A year later, he returned to the Yukon with 20 men who had been there when the Klondike Gold Rush began in 1897.

Klondike Gold Rush

Klondike's routes.

Camp in Klondike.

The Klondike Gold Rush is a pivotal event in Yukon history. A party led by Skookum Jim Mason discovered gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in August 1896. Between 30,000 and 40,000 people braved endless difficulties to reach the Klondike goldfield in the fall, winter, and spring of 1897-1898., after the find was made official in 1897. With the influx of American immigrants, the Canadian government decided to create a separate territory to better control the situation. In 1901, after many returned to their homes, the census gave a population of 27,219, a figure not to be reached again until 1991. The massive influx of immigrants into the region stimulated mineral exploration in other parts of the Yukon and led to two "gold rushes" of minor importance in Atlin (British Columbia) and Nome (Alaska), as well as several small raids. The need for transportation to the gold fields led to the construction of the White Pass and Yukon Railroad.

The American writer Jack London reflected the life of gold prospectors in several of his novels and stories. He was seduced, like so many others, by the idea of getting rich in a short time, but after spending several months there he fell ill with scurvy and returned empty-handed. Some of his best stories set in the harsh life of the North are La hoguera (To buil a fire, 1908), El silencio blanco (The white silence, 1899), The gold vein (All gold canyon, 1905), The love of life (Love of life, 1905), and the novels The Call of the Jungle and White Fang.

20th century

At the end of the gold rush, the territory's population declined rapidly, reaching a low of 4,157 in 1921 and remaining fairly stable until the 1940s. This despite the development of other mining areas, including silver deposits at Conrad and especially in May, for gold in the Kluane Lake region, and for copper near Whitehorse. In the Klondike, the rights of several private miners were purchased and consolidated, with government support, by a small number of companies, including Solomon R. Guggenheim's Yukon Gold Corporation, which used floating dredges. The Yukon Consolidated Gold Company continued to dredge for gold until the 1960s, enjoying a brief period of prosperity during the 1930s with rising gold prices. of gold.

By 1920 the elected territorial council had been reduced to three members, and Yukon was governed by a Gold Commissioner, a federal official under Canada's Ministry of the Interior.

The next major event in Yukon history was the construction, during World War II, of the Alaska Highway, which, after renovation by the Canadian government in the late 1940s, opened up the territory to road traffic. The war also saw the construction of several airfields as part of the North West route platform. However, the influx of workers for the southern highway works had devastating effects on some First Nations, who suffered large numbers of deaths from being exposed to diseases to which they were not immune.

The Alaska HighwayAlaska Highway).

Other highways were built in the 1950s and 1960s, resulting in the decline and subsequent disappearance of river boats, which until then had been the main means of transportation in the area. In the second half of the 20th century, the White Pass & The Yukon Route (White Pass and Yukon Route) began containerized intermodal freight. Mining also revived, including copper mining at Whitehorse, silver and lead mining at Keno City and Elsa, and asbestos mining at Clinton Creek. The largest open pit zinc mine in the world was opened in Faro in the early 1970s. Gold mining returned to the Klondike and other areas with the sharp rise in gold prices in the 1970s.

Curva del White Pass.

Between the 1980s and 1990s, mining declined and the role of the government increased considerably, with economic transfers increasing in importance. In 1978, it was possible to establish a responsible government and political parties to support it. On the other hand, First Nations began to organize themselves and began negotiations to assert their land rights, which culminated in the signing of the Umbrella Final Agreement in 1992. Although most First Nations First Nations signed agreements, their territorial and self-government claims continue today. First Nations are currently considered a fourth level of government, and the specific nature of intergovernmental relations is an area where work continues.

Geography

Map of the Yukon, its geographical limits and accidents.

The Yukon Territory is located in the extreme northwest of Canada. Sparsely populated, it is noted for its natural landscape of lakes of melting ice and perennially snow-capped mountains, among which are many of the highest in Canada. The climate is arctic, subarctic and very dry, with long winters and short summers. However, the long hours of sun in the summer are sufficient for the flowering of buds and edible fruits. Most of the territory is covered by boreal forests and scrub, with tundra being the most common type of landscape only in the extreme north and at high elevations. The world's largest non-polar ice field, the Kluane, is located mostly in the Yukon.

The Yukon region is shaped like a right triangle, bordered by the state of Alaska to the west, the Northwest Territories to the east, and the province of British Columbia to the south. It covers an area of approximately 482,443 km², of which 474,391 km² is land and 8052 km², water.

The Yukon is bounded by the 60th parallel of latitude on the south. Its northern coast is on the Beaufort Sea, and its western shore is circumscribed at 141 degrees west longitude. In the north of the territory it crosses the Arctic Circle.

Its (somewhat uneven) eastern boundary follows the underlying watershed divide between the Yukon River basin and the Mackenzie estuary to the Mackenzie mountain range. The entire Yukon lies west of Vancouver, making it home to Canada's westernmost communities.

Orography

Except for the coastal plain of the Beaufort Sea (Arctic Ocean), the rest of the territory is part of the Rocky Mountains. The terrain includes mountain ranges, plateaus, and river valleys.

The southwest is dominated by the snowfields of Kluane (Kluane National Park and Reserve). The Saint Elias Mountains, also in this area, represent five of Canada's highest elevations. A good number of glaciers emerge from these fields, among which Logan, Hubbard and Kaskawulsh stand out.

Likewise, permafrost is very common, especially in the north and in the center (where it is most widespread). The south, on the other hand, lacks large concentrations of this phenomenon, only being seen in fairly isolated frozen frosts.

Two large faults, the Denali and Tintina faults, have been responsible for the creation of vast valleys called trenches: Shakwak and Tintina. The first separates the Kluane Ranges from other northern mountains. Both the Haines and Alaska Tracks, at the northern point of the Haines intersection, were built over this trench. Tintina surrounds the Yukon from northwest to southeast, and its shores are rich in mineral deposits, such as the Klondike gold deposits or the lead and zinc deposits near Faro.

Sources: Yukon Geologic Accuracies at Yukon Geoprocess File User Guide (PDF file, 1.2MB)

Mountain Ranges

The Saint Elias Mountains are part of the coastal relief that extends from southern British Columbia to Alaska, encompassing the southeastern Yukon. While these are the highest, there is a good number of other mountains, such as the British Mountains far to the north, which make up the Brooks Range; the Mackenzie and Richardson Mountains to the east; those of Cassiar to the southeast; those of Pelly in the center; and the Ogilvie Mountains in the northern Yukon, past Dawson City on Dempster's way.

The Yukon mountain ranges include:

Brooks mountain range.

• Brooks mountain range (mainly in northern Alaska)
  • British Mountains, Yukon
• Cassiar Mountains, British Columbia and Yukon
• Dawson Range
• Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories and Yukon
  • Logan Mountains, Yukon
  • Richardson Mountains, Yukon
  • Selwyn Mountains, Yukon
    • Hess Mountains, Yukon
    • Nadaleen Range, Yukon
    • Bonnet Plume Range, Yukon
    • Wernecke Mountains, Yukon
    • Knorr Range, Yukon
• Miners Range
• Nisling Range
• Ogilvie Mountains, Yukon
• Cordillera del Pacífico, from Mexico to Alaska
  • Coast Mountains, also in British Columbia and Alaska Panhandle
  • Saint Elias Mountains, South Alaska, Yukon and British Columbia
    • Kluane Ranges, Yukon
• Pelly Mountains, Yukon
  • Anvil Range
  • Big Salmon Range
  • Glenyon Range
  • St. Cyr Range
• Ruby Range

Highest Points

Monte Logan (5959 m. n. m.).

Highest Yukon Mountains

Mountain	Height (meters)	Post
Mount Logan	5959	The highest in Canada
Mount Saint Elias	5489	No. 2 in Canada and USA
Mount Lucania	5226	No. 3 in Canada
King Peak	5173	No. 4 in Canada
Mount Steele	5073	No. 5 in Canada
Mount Wood	4842	No. 7 in Canada
Mount Vancouver	4812	No. 8 in Canada
Mount Slaggard	4742	No. 10 in Canada
Mount Macaulay	4690
Mount Hubbard	4577
Mount Walsh	4507
Mount Alverstone	4439
McArthur Peak	4389
Mount Augusta	4289

Hydrography

Bridge over the Yukon River, in Carmacks (Yukon), Canada.

Most of the territory is located in the basin of the river of the same name, which flows into the Bering Sea. The southern Yukon is abundant with narrow, alpine, glacial lakes that flow largely into the Yukon system. The largest are: Teslin, Atlin, Tagish, Marsh, Laberge, Kusawa, and Kluane. Bennett Lake, where the gold rush occurred, is smaller and dies in the Tagish.

Another range of rivers and streams flow into the Pacific Ocean or directly or indirectly into the Arctic. The Alsek-Tatshenshini drainage runs into the Pacific from the territorial southwest, and the Yukon's two major rivers, the Liard and Peel, flow into the Mackenzie and terminate in the Northwest Territories (southeast and northeast respectively).

Climate

Seppala dogs, a means of alternative transport in front of the Yukon's hard winter.

The prevailing climate is subarctic, characterized by deep winters and brief mild summers. Snag Airstrip, 25 kilometers east of Beaver Creek on the Alaskan border, experienced the lowest temperature recorded in North American history, -63°C on February 3, 1947. The Arctic Ocean coast has a polar climate. The Yukon average is consistently dry, with little rainfall, and slightly humid in the southeast. The rains are more abundant in the mountains, and the ice begins to melt in summer, leading to intense falls of water in the months of July and August.

Source: Environment Canada, Canadian Average Normal Temperatures 1971-2000

Ecology

Taiga Forest, in the plain.

Tundra dominates most of the Yukon. According to Environment Canada's ecozone definitions, the southern and central parts of the territory represent the "Boreal Range Ecozone," while the northern forest constitutes the "Boreal Range Ecozone. Taiga". The Peel River sector in the northeast is part of the Taigan Plain, and the Arctic littoral is part of the "Southern Arctic Ecozone".

Fire herb Epilobium angustifoliumthe Territorial flower of the Yukon, and white pepper (Picea glauca) in the south, near the Way of Klondike.

Flora

Black spruce (Picea mariana) and white spruce (Picea glauca), aspa (Populus tremuloides) and balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera) are present throughout the entire territory. Although uncommon, Alaskan birch (Betula neoalaskana) can also be found in the Yukon plant landscape. A variety of conifer (Pinus contorta) reaches its northern and south-central extreme, while tamarack (Larix laricina) reaches to the southeast, and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) to the high altitudes of the southern region.

Wildlife

The largest mammals are: the caribou (Rangifer tarandus, wasteland and forest), the moose (Alces alces), the wolf (Canis lupus), the brown bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) and the American black bear (Ursus americanus). In the height you can see sheep (Ovis dalli) and, in the south, the Rocky goat (Oreamnos americanus). Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) wander off the Arctic coast. Mule deer (Odocoileus hermionus) and their predator, the mountain lion (Puma concolor), have become very popular in the South, and coyotes (Canis latrans ) have gained ground in the north. Elk and bison were introduced late.

There are a large number of rodents, including squirrels, ground squirrels, lemmings, pikas, beavers, various field rats, porcupines, muskrats, etc. The mustelids are also very representative: wolverine (Gulo gulo), marten (American Martes), mustela erminea (Mustela erminea), weasel (Mustela nivalis), American mink (Mustela vison), and river otter (Lontra canadensis). Other small carnivores include: the Canadian lynx (Lynx canadensis), North American mole (Scalopus aquaticus), red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and the polar fox (Alopex lagopus) on the northern coast.

Common grajilla (or crow).

More than 250 species of birds fly over the Yukon. The great raven (Corvus corax) is the most widespread bird. Other native birds include the bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), the rustic hawk (Falco rusticolus) and the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), and five types of grouse (spruce, blue, ruffed, ptarmigan, and white-tailed ptarmigan). Many migratory birds mate and breed in the Yukon, as is the case in the northern perimeter of the Pacific.

In addition to the burbot and northern pike, many of the fish that inhabit Yukon waters are salmonids. Four species of salmon live in the rivers and basins of the Yukon, and in the lakes of the Pacific. The Yukon River has the freshest running water for habitat for any salmon; The chinook swims upstream about 3,000 kilometers from its mouth in the Bering Sea to Whitehorse, where it lays its eggs. There are also sockeye salmon and rainbow trout in inland lagoons.

Salvenilus are made up of lake trout, found in much of the Yukon lagoons, as well as native trout (Dolly Varden, bull, and Arctic). The polar grizzly fish is ubiquitous, while the lakes have various whitefish and iconos.

There are no reptiles on the territory. As for amphibians, there are a few frogs.

Natural resources

Current gold exploitation in the mines of Klondike, Yukon.

The Yukon has abundant mineral sources, with mining being the mainstay of its economy until recently. Not in vain, the gold found in the Klondike caused the fever of this metal in 1897. Currently, gold is found in many streams and rivers, with industries dedicated to its active exploitation.

Other minerals that have been found to a greater or lesser extent are: copper in the Whitehorse region, lead and zinc, in Faro, and these last two plus some aggregates of silver, in May and Kenik. Asbestos has also been discovered in Clinton Creek, and copper, gold, and coal in the Carmacks area. The world's largest tungsten deposit is located at Macmillan Pass in the Mackenzie Mountains, close to the border with the Northwest Territories. Non-metallic minerals include jade and barite.

The sale of furs had been the economic support of the First Nations tribes, but the fall in prices and the growing criticism from the animal defense sector ended up putting an end to said activity.

The Yukon has three hydroelectric plants: one at Schwatka Lake in Whitehorse, another near Mayo, and a third at Aishihik Lake.

While forests dominate the landscape, most trees are small and slow-growing as a result of the cold, dry climate. Forestry is practiced on a small scale, being in the south where the most fruitful industrial contributions are perceived due to its light humidity. However, the distance that exists with respect to the market and the high prices have resulted in an unprofitable company.

A small amount of natural gas is produced in the southeast, although little has been explored elsewhere in the territory. It is believed that there may be large gas reserves in the Eagle Plains area along the Dempster Highway route, and possibly in areas near Whitehorse, but once again, the distance from the pipeline has hampered the investigation.

Environmental issues

Global warming is affecting the north more than anywhere else on the planet, and the Yukon is no exception. While it is true that its residents would welcome a good hot season, the side effects of such a phenomenon are unknown. The rise in temperatures would result in increased evaporation and drought in an environment that is already arid, causing forest fires and reducing the biological productivity of boreal forests, whose growth is more limited due to lack of moisture. than at a favorable temperature.

The territory is also the target of contamination from other sectors of the world, especially of organic origin, for which reason the consumption of wild animals and fish is no longer advisable.

Locally, mining demand and its corresponding exploitation are causing the appearance of acid in the confines of its working field, costing hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs and cleanup.

In an attempt to encourage natural resource research, in 2005 the Yukon Party, led by Dennis Fentie, suspended protection of areas previously backed by the Democratic Party government, signaling its intention to not create additional restricted parks.

The Gwichʼin tribe of Old Crow depends on Porcupine caribou for food and shelter, like so many others in the environment. This species moves to the coastal plains to mate in the "Arctic National Wilderness Refuge" (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) in Alaska. That herd is usually seriously punished by the oil activity in the environment.

Human Geography

Sparsely populated, with about 30,000 inhabitants in a territory almost as large as Spain or Sweden, the Yukon has a density of 0.06 people per km². About three-quarters of the population is concentrated in the Whitehorse area, with the rest living in other small communities. All of them, except Old Crow, are accessible by road.

The capital, Whitehorse, is also its largest and most populous city; the second in importance is Dawson City (1,800 inhabitants), which was the first in population until 1952.

Traditionally, the Yukon was inhabited by Athabascan First Nations tribes, who had established strong trade networks with the Tinglits of the Pacific. It is estimated that 20% of its current population is of indigenous origin. The Inuit who lived on the shores of the Arctic became extinct due to an epidemic.

The following table presents the population of many territorial communities. It is important to specify that the 2001 census includes all those residing within community boundaries, while the Yukon Bureau of Statistics (YBS) includes all citizens with a mailing address.. Commonly, many people live on the outskirts of urban poles, hence there are more records in the YBS.

Location of the eight main towns of Yukon.

Population of the Yukonia communities

Community	2001 Census	1996 Census	June 2005 YBS
Whitehorse (agglomeration)	23 272	23 272	23 608
Whitehorse	19 157	19 058	23 272
Dawson City	1251	1287	1826
Watson Lake2	1138	1148	1522
Village of Watson Lake only	912	993	n/d
Haines Junction	531	574	817
Carmacks	431	466	378
Marsh Lake1	400	n/d	336
Mt. Lorne1	379	399	n/d
May	366	324	378
Ross River	337	352	345
Pelly Crossing	328	238	281
Ibex Valley1	315	322	n/d
Faro	313	1261	381
Old Crow	299	278	259
Teslin3	267	309	417
Tagish	206	164	187
Carcross4	201	292	444
Beaver Creek	88	131	120
Burwash Landing	68	58	89
Destruction Bay	43	34	59
Total Yukon	28 674	30 766	31 222

Notes:
¹ Part of Whitehorse (agglomeration)
² Includes the town and First Nations settlements of Upper Liard and Two and One-half mille Village.
³ Includes both the village and its Indian reservation
⁴ Includes the site and its adjoining reserve

Demographics

Population of the Yukon since 1901:

Year	Population	Five years % change	Five years % change	Provincial post and territories
1901	27 219	n/d	n/d	10
1911	8512	n/d	-68.7	10
1921	4157	n/d	-51.1	11
1931	4230	n/d	1,8	11
1941	4914	n/d	16.2	11
1951	9096	n/d	85.1	12
1956	12 190	34,0	n/d	12
1961	14 628	20,0	60.8	12
1966	14 382	-1.7	18,0	12
1971	18 390	27.9	25.7	12
1976	21 835	18.7	51.8	12
1981	23 150	6.0	25.6	12
1986	23 505	1.5	7.6	12
1991	27 797	18.3	20,0	12
1996	30 766	10.7	30.9	12
2001	28 674	-6.8	3.2	12
2006	30 372
2011	33.897
2016	35.874

Source: Statistics Canada [1]

Languages

As a federal territory, the official languages of the Yukon are English and French, although according to the 2011 census and the same as the rest of Canada, with the exception of Quebec (majority French) and Nunavut (inuktitut majority), the most spoken language is English since 82.9% of the inhabitants of the territory have it as their mother tongue.

Economy

Tourism in Yukon is based on its wild nature.

Memories store, Dawson City, Yukon. Along with Whitehorse the city that attracts more tourists.

The economy is based on mineral resources (lead, zinc, silver, gold, asbestos, copper, tungsten, jade and barite). The manufacturing industry, including furniture, clothing and handicrafts, is next in importance, along with hydroelectricity. Today, the public sector is by far the largest employer in the territory, directly employing approximately 5,000 people out of a workforce of 12,500.

The Yukon's biggest draw is its almost untouched wilderness and tourism here depends heavily on this, with many organized outfitters and guides available to hunters and fishermen and nature lovers of all stripes. Sports enthusiasts can paddle the lakes and rivers with canoes and kayaks, take travel or walking routes, ski or snowboard in an organized environment or access by snowmobile, climb the highest peaks in Canada or have a small hike through the mountains, or try ice climbing and dog sledding.

Yukon also has a wide range of cultural and sporting activities that attract artists, participants and tourists from all over the world.

Interestingly, it is one of the 50 countries featured in the TEG game.

Transportation

In the past, the main mode of transportation was the river system of the Yukon River, both before and after the Gold Rush. Tinglits on the coast traded with the Athabascan people using mountain roads.

From the Gold Rush to the 1950s, ships sailed up the Yukon, mostly between Whitehorse as a concentration point and Dawson City, some even reaching Alaska and the Bering Sea, while others up the river main (the Yukon) and its tributaries (Stewart River, etc.).

Many ships belonged to the British Yukon Shipping Company, an extension of the White Pass (and Yukon) routes, which also operated in a small area between Skagway, Alaska and Whitehorse. The railway stopped working in the 1980s with the first closure of the Faro mine. Today it is only used as a means of transportation and transfer of tourists during the summer, and not throughout the entire territory.

Dempster Road.

In modern times, the main means of land communication is undoubtedly represented by the Alaska Highway, which runs through Whitehorse. The Klondike route includes the section that goes from Skagway, passing through the Yukonian capital until reaching Dawson City; that of Haines extends from the city of the same name in Alaska to Haines Junction, Yukon; and Dempster's runs from the Klondike route to Inuvik, in the Northwest Territories. All these roads, with the exception of the last one, are paved. Other roads less traveled are the Campbell, which connects Camaracks with Watson Lake, on the Alaska track; and the "Silver Trail" It intersects with the Klondike Trail over the Stewart River Bridge to join the old silver mining communities of May, Elsa and Keno City. Nearly all of the Yukon's townships are accessible by road, with air transport being the only way to reach the remote community of Old Crow in the far north.

Whitehorse International Airport serves as a connection to other nearby regions, including Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Fairbanks, Juneau, and Frankfurt (in summer). Each community has an airport, and the flight company is essentially at the service of tourism and mineral prospecting.

Administration and government

In the 19th century, Yukon was first part of the Northwest Territory administered by the Hudson's Bay Company, and after the Canadian-governed Northwest Territories. It achieved some level of self-government only in 1895, when it became a separate district of the Northwest Territories. In 1898 it became a separate territory, with its own Commissioner and Territorial Council.

Prior to 1979, the Yukon was administered by a Commissioner appointed by the federal Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. This commissioner chaired and played a certain role in the appointment of an Executive Council, whose powers were solely advisory. In 1979, the federal government and the commissioner delegated part of their power to a territorial assembly that, in that year, adopted a responsible party system of government. This procedure was carried out through a supporting letter issued by Minister Jake Epp, rather than through a legislative procedure.

The Yukon Act, passed on April 1, 2003, formalized the powers of the Yukon government and added a number of additional territorial powers to the government of the territory (for example, control over land and natural resources). Since 2003, except in terms of criminal prosecutions, the Yukon has almost the same powers as the provincial governments, something that the other two territories (Northwest and Nunavut) are also seeking. Today, the role of the Commissioner is analogous to that of a provincial Lieutenant-Governor; however, unlike the latter, the commissioners do not represent the Queen of Canada, but are employees of the federal government.

In anticipation of responsible government, political parties were organized and candidates for the Yukon Legislature first ran in 1978. The Progressive Conservatives won the election and formed the first party government in January 1979. The New Party The Yukon Democrat held power from 1985 to 1992 under Tony Penikett, and again in 1996 under Piers McDonald, until his defeat in 2000. The Conservatives returned to power in 1992 under John Ostashek, after changing its name to the Yukon Party. The government of Pat Duncan of the Yukon Liberal Party was defeated in the November 2002 election to Dennis Fentie of the Yukon Party, who was appointed Premier/Premier ministere.

Although there have been debates about whether the Yukon could be considered the eleventh province of Canada, its sparse population is often highlighted, which is more than enough reason to detract from said categorization. As a result, the British Columbia government has repeatedly proposed to take over its administration.

At the federal level, the territory is represented in the Parliament of Canada by one representative and one senator. Unlike the United States, all members of Parliament have equal value, and Yukon residents enjoy the same rights as other Canadian citizens. One of the Yukon representatives in Parliament—Eric Nielsen—was the deputy prime minister under Brian Mulroney, while another—Audrey McLaughlin—was the leader of the New Democratic Party.

The Yukon was one of nine jurisdictions in Canada to propose gay marriage before the passage of the Canadian Civil Marriages Act, along with Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick.

First Nations Governments

The vast majority of the population is First Nations. In 1991, a territorial agreement was signed between 7,000 representatives of fourteen different indigenous peoples and the federal government; since then, each individual "nation" must negotiate its specific claims to land and self-government. As of November 2005, 11 of 14 First Nations have signed agreements with the government. Below is a list of the 14 First Nations:

Chief Isaac of the Hän, Yukon Territory, ca. 1898.

• Carcross/Tagish First Nations – in Carcross.
• First Nations of Champagne and Aishihik – in Haines Junction.
• Na-cho Nyak Dun First Nation – May.
• Kluane First Nation – in Burwash Landing.
• Kwanlin Dun First Nation – in Whitehorse.
• Liard First Nation – Watson Lake.
• First Nation of Little Salmon/Carmacks – in Carmacks.
• Ross River Dena Council – Ross River.
• Selkirk First Nation – in Pelly Crossing.
• Ta'an Kwäch'än Council – in Whitehorse.
• Teslin Tlingit Council – Teslin.
• Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in – in Dawson City.
• First Nation of Vuntut Gwitchin – Old Crow.
• White River First Nation – Beaver Creek.

The territory once had an Inuit settlement, located on Herschel Island on the Arctic coast. It was dismantled in 1987 and its inhabitants transferred to the Northwest Territories. As a consequence of the Inulaviut Final Agreement, the island is today a territorial park and is officially known as Qikiqtaruk, the Inuktitut name of the island.

Bibliography and links

• A.W.F. Banfield (1974). The mammals of Canada (The Mammals of Canada). University of Toronto. ISBN 0-8020-2137-9
• Ken S. Coates and William R. Morrison (1988). Midnight Sun Earth: A Yukon Story (Land of the Midnight Sun: A History of the Yukon). Editions Hurtig, Edmonton. ISBN 0-88830-331-9
• William K. Cody (1996). Flora of the Yukon territory (Flora of the Yukon Territory). NRC Research Press, Ottawa. ISBN 0-660-16406-X (tapadura), ISBN 0-660-15898-1 (soft capsule).
• Environment Canada, Pacific ecological zones
• Environment Canada, Normal average temperatures in Canada 1971-2000
• Pamela H. Sinclair, Wendy A. Nixon, Cameron D. Eckert, and Nancy L. Hughes, Eds. (2003). Birds of the Yukon Territory (Birds of the Yukon Territory). University of British Columbia Editions, Vancuver, British Columbia. ISBN 0-7748-1012-2.
• Statistics Canada, 2001 census
• Yukon Environmental Department, Yukon State on Environmental Reports, Several Years (1995-2002)
• Geological study of Yukon, User Guide Archive on the geological process of Yukon (Geoprocess File User Guide) (PDF file, 1.2MB)
• Yukon Statistics Department, Population Report, June 2005
• Yukon Statistics Department, Yukon Acts 2003