What are the key geographic features of Yukon?

Yukon is the smallest of Canada's three territories by area at 482,443 square kilometres and the second-smallest by population at about 45,000. The territory occupies the northwestern corner of mainland Canada, bordered by Alaska to the west, the Beaufort Sea to the north, the Northwest Territories to the east, and British Columbia to the south. Yukon was created on June 13, 1898 from the Northwest Territories, in response to the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896 to 1899.

The territory's name comes from the Gwich'in word Yu-kun-ah, meaning 'great river', referring to the Yukon River. The Klondike Gold Rush of 1896 to 1899 brought about 100,000 prospectors north toward the Yukon, of whom about 40,000 actually reached Dawson City. The Klondike has produced about 20 million troy ounces of gold since 1896, with placer mining continuing today. Whitehorse, the territorial capital since 1953, has a population of about 30,000 and contains roughly two-thirds of Yukon residents.

Yukon contains Canada's highest peak, Mount Logan (5,959 metres) in the St. Elias Mountains. Kluane National Park Reserve covers 22,013 square kilometres of southwestern Yukon and is part of the Kluane / Wrangell-St. Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek UNESCO World Heritage Site (the largest internationally protected area in the world at 95,820 square kilometres). The Tombstone Mountains, the Ogilvie Mountains, and the Mackenzie Mountains run along the territory's eastern edge. The Yukon Plateau covers most of central Yukon at elevations of 600 to 1,500 metres.

Yukon was the first jurisdiction in Canada to settle comprehensive Indigenous land claims. The Yukon Umbrella Final Agreement of 1990 (effective 1995) and the subsequent 11 First Nations Final Agreements (with three more outstanding) established a unique territorial-Indigenous co-governance structure. Self-governing Yukon First Nations include the Champagne and Aishihik, the Carcross/Tagish, the Kluane, the Kwanlin Dun, the Little Salmon/Carmacks, the Nacho Nyak Dun, the Selkirk, the Ta'an Kwach'an, the Teslin Tlingit, the Tr'ondek Hwech'in (whose Tr'ondek-Klondike historic landscape was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023), and the Vuntut Gwitchin. Yukon ended daylight saving time on November 1, 2020 and now stays on Yukon Standard Time (UTC minus 7) year-round.