Yukon (Territory)

Basic informations:
Yukon Territory (since 2003 only called ''Yukon'') is the outermost northwest District of Canada. With about 482.000 km², it is only the 9th biggest district in Canada. Yukon borders to Alaska in the west, British-Columbia in the south, and in the east to the Northwest-Territories. The Arctic Ocean makes the northern border.
Yukon has a population from about 34.000, which is the second least population of all districts in canada, followed by Nunavut.
Yukon's capital and only city is Whitehorse, where the most of Yukon's population lives, about 27.000. Yukon is also the home of many native Indians. Around 9000 aboriginal people live in Yukon, who are part of the 16 First Nations, which are all native tribes in Canada.

History:
The first inhabitants of Yukon arrived about 20,000 years ago by migrating over the land bridge from Asia. Yukon has it's name from the native Louchex Indian word
''Yu-kun-ah'', which means ''Large River'', referred to the Yukon River, which flows along Whitehorse and through the whole Territory. As the famous ''Klondike Gold Rush'' began after there was found Gold near Dawson City in 1896, and a lot of influence came from people looking for gold, Yukon became a seperate territory in 1898, splitted from the Northwest-Territories.
At this time, Whitehorse became an important city for supplies for Gold Seekers. It became also an important traffic junction as steamships were travelling  along the Yukon River. Whitehorse became it's name after a hydroelectric water station was built, which combs looked like a mane from a white horse.

Culture/Sights:
The Mount Logan, with 5,959 m the highest mountain in Canada, is located in the southwest of Yukon, in the Kluane national Park and Reserve. Yukon is also called ''Canadas True North'' which offers Tourists unlimited wilderness and nature. It offers a lot of activities like camping, climbing, hiking, fishing, or canoeing. Yukon is home of 25% of the grizzly bear population in Canada and has one of the biggest non-polar Icefield in the world. During winter, you can watch spectacular Northern lights or travel with the Snowmobile through untouched nature or as the driver of a Dogsledding.

Vocabulary: First Nations – group of all aboriginal people from the native canada
Traffic Junction – Verkehrsknotenpunkt, hydroelectric water station – Wasserkraftwerk, Combs – Kämme, Mane – Mähne, Canoeing – Kanufahren,
Dogsledding – Hundeschlitten

Sources: Wikipedia, www.kanada-yukon-territory.de