The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada. Approximately 1,144,000 km2 and a population of 44,291 in 2016, it is the second-largest and the most populous of the three territories in Northern Canada. Yellowknife became the capital in 1967, after the recommendations by the Carrothers Commission.
The Northwest Territories, a part of the old North-Western Territory, entered the Canadian Confederation on July 15, 1870, but today’s borders were formed on April 1, 1999 after a subdivision to create Nunavut to the east. Nunavut is mostly Arctic tundra but the Northwest Territories has a slightly warmer climate and is both boreal forest (taiga), and tundra.