Tlicho

The Tlicho, better known as the Dogrib, are a Dene people whose Athabaskan language belongs to the Na-Dene family. Their homeland lies between Great Slave Lake and Great Bear Lake. Their name, Tłı̨chǫ Done or Dog-Flank People, refers to a legendary descent from a supernatural dog-man. They lived in small mobile bands, following caribou herds and fishing through the ice in winter.

The fur trade reached Great Slave Lake in the late eighteenth century, when the North West Company built Fort Providence in 1789. The Tlicho also guided and supplied British expeditions, including John Franklin's winter post of Fort Franklin in 1825.

Their rivalry with the Yellowknives, who dominated the early trade and raided their camps, turned in their favour when the Dogrib all but destroyed the Yellowknives in the 1830s; the survivors scattered or married into Tlicho bands.