Yellowknife was founded in 1935 after rich deposits of gold were discovered in the area. A year after another mine was discovered in 1944, a new town-site was established. Yellowknife was named after a Native American tribe. It became the capital of Canada's Northwest Territories in 1967. Yellowknife has grown with increased mining and with the assumption of functions previously administered by the federal government and it has become the largest city in the province. The creation of the territory of Nunavut in 1999, caused a reduction of the number of government jobs in the city.
Yellowknife is an important mining, supply and transportation center. The city has an airport, radio and meteorological stations, a post of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and regional offices of other federal agencies.
Accommodation and restaurants are available in town. Yellowknife is on the north shore of Great Slave Lake, at the mouth of the Yellowknife River. It is 3060 km northwest of Ottawa.
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