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Yukon
Geography
Main article: Geography of the Yukon
The very sparsely populated territory abounds with natural scenic beauty,
with snowmelt lakes and perennial whitecapped
mountains. Although the climate is arctic and
subarctic and very dry, with long cold winters,
the long sunshine hours in short summer allow
hardy crops and vegetables, along with a
profusion of flowers and fruit to blossom.
The territory is the approximate shape of a
right triangle, bordering the American state of
Alaska to the west, the Northwest Territories to
the east and British Columbia to the south. Its
northern coast is on the Beaufort Sea. Its
ragged eastern boundary mostly follows the
watershed between the Yukon Basin and the
Mackenzie River watershed to the east in the
Mackenzie mountains.
Canada's highest point, Mount Logan (5959 m), is
found in the territory's southwest. Mount Logan
and a large part of the Yukon's southwest are in
Kluane National Park and Reserve, a UNESCO World
Heritage Site. Other National Parks include
Ivvavik National Park and Vuntut National Park
in the north.
Most of the territory is in the watershed of its
namesake, the Yukon River. The southern Yukon is
dotted with a large number of large, long and
narrow glacier-fed alpine lakes, most of which
flow into the Yukon River system. The larger
lakes include Teslin Lake, Atlin Lake, Tagish
Lake, Marsh Lake, Lake Laberge, Kusawa Lake, and
Kluane Lake. Lake Bennett, B.C., on the Klondike
Gold Rush trail is a smaller lake flowing into
Tagish Lake.
Other watersheds include the Mackenzie River,
the Alsek-Tatshenshini as well as a number of
rivers flowing directly into the Beaufort Sea.
The two main Yukon rivers flowing into the
Mackenzie in the Northwest Territories are the
Liard River in the southeast and the Peel River
and its tributaries in the northeast.
The capital, Whitehorse, is also the largest
city, with about two-thirds of the population;
the second largest is Dawson City, (pop. 1800)
which was the capital until 1952. Other
communities include Beaver Creek (88), Burwash
Landing (68), Carcross (201), Carmacks (431),
Destruction Bay (43), Faro (313), Haines
Junction (531), Mayo (366), Old Crow (299),
Pelly Crossing (328), Ross River (337), Tagish
(206), Teslin (267), and Watson Lake (1,071).
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Background:
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A
land of vast distances and rich natural resources,
Canada became a self-governing dominion in 1867
while retaining ties to the British crown.
Economically and technologically the nation has
developed in parallel with the US, its neighbor to
the south across an unfortified border. Its
paramount political problem continues to be the
relationship of the province of Quebec, with its
French-speaking residents and unique culture, to the
remainder of the country. |
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Population:
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32,507,874 (July 2004 est.) |
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Languages:
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English 59.3% (official), French 23.2% (official),
other 17.5% |
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Currency:
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Canadian dollar (CAD)
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Currency code:
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CAD
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Exchange rates:
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Canadian dollars per US dollar - 1.4 (2003), 1.57
(2002), 1.55 (2001), 1.49 (2000), 1.49 (1999) |
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