Yellowknives Dene

Yellowknives

Yellowknife chief Akaitcho and his only son, by Robert Hood, 1821
Regions with significant populations
Canada (Northwest Territories)
Languages
English, Tłı̨chǫ and Denesuline
Religion
Christianity, Animism
Related ethnic groups
Tłı̨chǫ, Dënesųłiné, Dene, Sahtu

The Yellowknives, Yellow Knives, Copper Indians, Red Knives or T'atsaot'ine (Dogrib T’satsąot’ınę) are Aboriginal peoples of Canada, one of the five main groups of the Dene indigenous people who live in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The name, which is also the source for the later community of Yellowknife, derives from the colour of the tools made from copper deposits.

The historic Yellowknives lived north and northeast of the Great Slave Lake (Tinde'e - “Great Lake”) around the Yellowknife River and Yellowknife Bay (Weledeh Cho - “Inconnu River”) and northward along the Coppermine River, northeast to the Back River (Thlewechodyeth or Thlew-ee-choh-desseth - “Great Fish River”) and east to the Thelon River (or Akilinik). They used the major rivers of their traditional land as routes for travel and trade as far east as Hudson's Bay, where early European explorers such as Samuel Hearne encountered them in the 1770s.

The Yellowknives helped lead Hearne through the arctic tundra from Hudson's Bay to the Arctic Ocean in search of the legendary copper deposits that the Yellowknives, or 'Copper Indians', had a hand in mining and trading for tools. Later European explorers who encountered and traded with Copper Indians marked on their maps the 'Yellowknife River,' which drains into Great Slave Lake from headwaters originating near the headwaters of the Coppermine River, a traditional travel corridor. In the early 1800s and 1900s, the Yellowknives were the largest and most powerful tribe in the geographic area.

The Yellowknives and the Dogrib (Tłı̨chǫ), who also lived on the north shores of Great Slave Lake, were ancestral enemies. In the 1830s it was reported that the Dogrib almost wiped out the Yellowknives, the remnants of which - although opinions vary - either scattered south of Great Slave Lake or inter-married with the Dogrib. Following the discovery of gold in the Yellowknife area, a great mix of Dogrib, Chipewyan, and remnant Yellowknife members congregated and settled in the community or within the traditional villages of Dettah or Trout Rock. With government funding, the Dene village of Ndilo was developed in the mid 1950s on the tip of Latham Island. The Yellowknives Dene First Nation was formed in 1991 (formerly known as Yellowknife B Band) following the collapse of a territorial-wide comprehensive land claim negotiation. They currently negotiate a land claim settlement for their lands as part of the Akaitcho Land Claim Process.