The lake shares its name with the First Nations peoples of the Dene family called Slavey by their enemies the Cree.

Each culture has left a distinct mark in the archaeological record based on type or size of lithic tools.

[12] Great Slave Lake was put on European maps during the emergence of the fur trade towards the northwest from Hudson Bay in the mid 18th century.

The name 'Great Slave' came from the English-language translation of the Cree exonym, Awokanek (Slavey), which they called the Dene Tha.

[citation needed] On January 24, 1978, a Soviet Radar Ocean Reconnaissance Satellite named Kosmos 954, which contained an onboard nuclear reactor, fell from orbit and disintegrated.

"Great Slave Lake is actually a very terrible name, unless you're a proponent of slavery," says Dëneze Nakehk'o, a Northwest Territories educator and founding member of First Nations organization Dene Nahjo.

[18] The Hay, Slave (which in turn includes the Peace), Lockhart, and Taltson Rivers are its chief tributaries.

The East Arm of Great Slave Lake is filled with islands, and the area is within the proposed Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve.

[2] On some of the plains surrounding Great Slave Lake, climax polygonal bogs have formed, the early successional stage to which often consists of pioneer black spruce.

[22] The Slave River provides the basin with high nutrient levels; accordingly, coupled with a general absence of pollution and invasive species, the lake is rich in aquatic life relative to its biome.