Des Nedhe

Des Nedhe lies on the western shore of Hudson Bay near the mouth of the Churchill River, where tundra meets the coast. Chipewyan and Cree peoples had used the area for centuries, travelling inland for caribou and fishing the river and estuary. In 1619 a Danish expedition under Jens Munk wintered nearby, and only three of its sixty-four men survived.

The Hudson's Bay Company set up a trading post at the river mouth in 1717. Work on the stone fortress of Prince of Wales Fort began in 1731, giving the company a stronger hold on the coast. In 1769 the explorer Samuel Hearne left the fort on his first attempt to reach the Coppermine River, and trade routes from here reached deep into the northern interior.