Contwoyto Lake

Contwoyto Lake lies in the barren lands north of the great forests, its long arms and islands spreading across the tundra. The Burnside River carries its waters north towards the Arctic coast. To the Yellowknives Dene it was Kòk’eètì, the lake of many camps, a place reached on journeys to hunt caribou and meet Inuit coming inland from the coast.

In 1771 the Dene guide Matonabbee led Samuel Hearne through this country on the journey to the Coppermine River. Hearne called the lake Cogead, and on the return journey the travellers found Dene women waiting for them there. The camps around the lake formed part of a much older network of seasonal movement across the barren lands, where knowledge of the caribou and the country sustained long journeys.