The name was originally descriptive, adopted by the British government during the colonial era to indicate where it lay in relation to the rest of Rupert's Land.

[19][20][21] Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, as well as four provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south, and Manitoba (through a quadripoint) to the extreme southeast.

The Northwest Territories extends for more than 1,300,000 km2 (500,000 sq mi) and has a large climate variance from south to north.

[citation needed] Summers in the north are short and cool, featuring daytime highs of 14–17 °C (57–63 °F) and lows of 1–5 °C (34–41 °F).

[citation needed] The Territory has a fairly dry climate due to the mountains in the west.

Historically, Dene have lived across Denendeh and what is now the NWT since time immemorial and the era of Yamoria and Yamozha.

In 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) was formed from a royal charter, and was granted a commercial monopoly over Rupert's Land.

The Treaty of Utrecht saw the British become the only European power with practical access to the North-Western Territory, with the French surrendering their claim to the Hudson Bay coast.

This immense region comprised all of today's Canada except British Columbia, an early form of Manitoba (a small square area around Winnipeg), early forms of present-day Ontario and Quebec (the coast of the Great Lakes, the Saint Lawrence River valley and the southern third of modern Quebec), the Maritimes (Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick), Newfoundland, the Labrador coast, and the Arctic Islands (except the southern half of Baffin Island).

By the time British Columbia joined Confederation on July 20, 1871, it had already (1866) been granted the portion of North-Western Territory south of 60 degrees north and west of 120 degrees west, an area that comprised most of the Stickeen Territories (and a portion of the Peace River country).

Frederick Haultain, an Ontario lawyer who practised at Fort Macleod from 1884, became its chairman in 1891 and Premier when the Assembly was reorganized in 1897.

Contemporary records show Haultain recommended that the NWT become a single province, named Buffalo, but the Canadian government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier acted otherwise.

[43][44] Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec acquired the last addition to their modern landmass from the Northwest Territories in 1912.

This left only the districts of Mackenzie, Franklin (which absorbed the remnants of Ungava in 1920) and Keewatin within what was then given the name Northwest Territories.

[48] According to the 2016 Canadian census, the 10 major ethnic groups were:[49] French was made an official language in 1877 by the then-territorial government.

After a lengthy and bitter debate resulting from a speech from the throne in 1888 by Lieutenant Governor Joseph Royal, the members of the time voted on more than one occasion to nullify this and make English the only language used in the assembly.

[67] The Territories' geological resources include gold, diamonds, natural gas and petroleum.

[68] Two of the biggest mineral resource companies in the world, BHP and Rio Tinto mine many of their diamonds there.

The Commissioner of the NWT is the chief executive and is appointed by the Governor-in-Council of Canada on the recommendation of the federal Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development.

Unlike lieutenant governors, the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories is not a formal representative of the King of Canada.

All legislation, major policies, and proposed budgets pass through the Regular Members' standing committees before coming to the House.

The membership of the current legislative assembly was set by the 2023 Northwest Territories general election on November 14, 2023.

Of the thirty plus miners who worked at the Port Radium site, at least fourteen have died due to various forms of cancer.

A study was done in the community of Deline, called A Village of Widows by Cindy Kenny-Gilday, which indicated that the number of people involved were too small to be able to confirm or deny a link.

[80][81] There has been racial tension based on a history of violent conflict between the Dene and the Inuit,[82] who have now taken recent steps towards reconciliation.

[84] Another land claims agreement with the Tłı̨chǫ people created a region within the NWT called Tli Cho, between Great Bear and Great Slave Lakes, which gives the Tłı̨chǫ their own legislative bodies, taxes, resource royalties, and other affairs, though the NWT still maintains control over such areas as health and education.

It starts just west of Dawson City, Yukon, and continues east for over 700 km (430 mi) to Inuvik.

Yellowknife did not have an all-season road access to the rest of Canada's highway network until the completion of Deh Cho Bridge in 2012.

Prior to that, traffic relied on ferry service in summer and ice road in winter to cross the Mackenzie River.

The Northwest Territories is the only jurisdiction in North America to issue a non rectangular standard licence plate.