Yukon was named a Canadian province in 1898. The capital of the region belonging to Northern Canada is Whitehorse. The capital is on Yukon River and used to be visited by gold diggers. In the center of the city there are two interesting sights with the MacBride Museum, which is housed in a log cabin, and the Old Log Church Museum.
Those who are out and about in the Yukon will often see Dall sheep. Several other native animals have found a home in the Yukon Wildlife Reserve. For example the mountain goats, musk ox, elk, bison or something Caribou. Here the animals can live in peace in a natural park and visitors can observe them undisturbed.
About 62 kilometers north of the capital Whitehorse is Lake Laberge, it is the largest lake in the region. This lake is often frozen over with temperatures below -30 ° C, but in summer it is attractive for boating, fishing or swimming.
Yukon – key data
Area: 482,443 sqkm, rank 9 of the provinces of Canada (land Area: 474,391 sqkm, water Area: 8,052 sqkm)
Share of water surface: 1.7%
Population: 33,042 residents, ranked 12th in the provincesCanada (2009, estimate)
Population density: 0.07 residents per square kilometer
Member of the Confederation: June 13, 1898 (9th Province of Canada)
Capital and Largest city: Whitehorse (20,461 residents, 2006, metropolitan area 22,898 residents, 2006)
Highest point: 5,959 m, Mount Logan (highest point in Canada)
Lowest point: 0 m, Arctic Ocean
Commissioner: Geraldine Van Bibber
Prime Minister: Dennis Fentie
Local time: CET -9 h. From the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November: CET -8 h.
The time difference to Central Europe in Yukon is -9 hours in both winter and summer.
Postal abbreviation: YT
Yukon – Map and Geography
The Yukon Territory is located in the far northwest of Canada and was named after the Yukon River, which is also the largest river in the territory. Yukon is bordered by the Northwest Territories to the east, British Columbia to the south, and Alaska to the west. In the north, to form Arctic Ocean belonging Beaufort Sea, the natural border of the province. The total area of the Yukon is 482,443 square kilometers. The capital of Yukon is the city of Whitehorse in the south of the province, which is also home to around three quarters of the territory’s total population.
Yukon is characterized by a wild, lonely landscape, which consists mainly of glaciated mountains, raging rivers and endless tundra. This rather inhumane nature earned the province the name “Canada’s true north”. Yukon is best known for the gold digger and adventure stories of Jack London.
Geographically, the territory is made up of two areas: the huge plain of the tundra in the arctic north and the broad boreal forest belt of the subarctic tundra form the two large landscapes of Yukon. In the southwest, the glaciated mountains of the Saint Elias Mountains join, in which the largest ice fields on earth lie outside the polar regions. In addition, over 20 of the four-thousand-meter peaks rise here. Here is also Mount Logan, the highest mountain in Canada at 5,959 meters. Mount Logan is also the second highest mountain in North America.
Yukon Landmarks
There are some interesting ones in Canada’s Yukon Territory province Attractions to visit, like a wooden cathedral built in 1900. It is now home to a museum about the history of whaling.
In the Old Log Church, like that cathedral is mentioned, you can learn a lot about the culture of the indigenous people there and also that of the missionaries of Canada.
One of the largest paddle steamers on the Yukon River is the SS, built in 1929 Klondike National Historic Site. Nowadays there is a museum in the ship.
With an area of 2.6 square kilometers, Carcross Dessert is the smallest desert in the world. It is a holdover from the Ice Age.
The Kundtut National Park can be found in the north of the Canadian province. The park borders the Iwavik Park. The size of the Kundtut National Park is 4,345 square kilometers. There are thousands of ponds and lakes in the park that are home to many different water birds.
