The Northwest Territories (also known as NWT; French: les Territoires du Nord-Ouest, TNO; Athabaskan languages: Denendeh; Inuinnaqtun: Nunatsiaq; Inuktitut: ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊᖅ) is a territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately 1,144,000 km² (442,000 sq mi) and a 2011 population of 41,462, it is the second largest and most populous of the three territories in Northern Canada. Its estimated population as of 2016 is 44,291.Yellowknife became the territorial capital in 1967, following recommendations by the Carrothers Commission.

The Northwest Territories, a portion of the old North-West Territory, entered the Canadian Confederation on July 15, 1870, but the current borders were formed on April 1, 1999, when the territory was subdivided to create Nunavut to the east, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act.; before the split, it had been the largest country subdivision in the world, while afterward it dropped to number 12. While Nunavut is mostly Arctic tundra, the Northwest Territories has a slightly warmer climate and is both boreal forest (taiga), and tundra, and its most northern regions form part of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

The Northwest Territories are bordered by Canada's two other territories, Nunavut to the east and Yukon to the west, and by the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan to the south.

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