The area is merely an informal geographic region, and has no function to the territory as any kind of administrative region. It is located in the traditional territory of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation.
The Klondike is famed due to the Klondike Gold Rush, which started in 1896 and lasted until 1899. Gold has been mined continuously in that area, except for a pause in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Climate
The climate is warm in the short summer, and very cold during the long winter. By late October, ice forms over the rivers. For the majority of the year, the ground is frozen to a depth of 1 to 3 metres (3 to 10 ft).[1]
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In mid-1901 an expedition left California hoping to prove that the Klondike was the site of the Biblical Garden of Eden. It was sponsored ($50,000) by Mr Morris K. Jessup; with an American naturalist (Norman Buxton) and two Russian scientists (Waldemar Bogaras and Waldemar Jochelson).[2][3]
In 2023, the cultural landscape of the Tr’ondëk-Klondike was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, described as follows:[4]
Located along the Yukon River in the sub-arctic region of Northwest Canada, Tr’ondëk-Klondike lies within the homeland of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation. It contains archaeological and historic sources that reflect Indigenous people’s adaptation to unprecedented changes caused by the Klondike Gold Rush at the end of the 19th century. The series illustrates different aspects of the colonization of this area, including sites of exchange between the Indigenous population and the colonists, and sites demonstrating the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in’s adaptations to colonial presence.
^UNESCO World Heritage Centre. "Tr'ondëk-Klondike". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
^Tr’ondëk-Klondike Stewardship Committee, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Government. "Executive Summary". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
