Tu'nedhe

Tu Nedhé is the Dene Sųłıné name for Great Slave Lake, a great northern water fed by the Slave and other rivers. Its southern shores lie among forest and lowlands, while the eastern arm reaches into a rocky country of islands and bays. Dene peoples have long travelled and fished around the lake, whose western outlet leads to the Mackenzie River.

In 1786 traders Laurent Leroux and Cuthbert Grant established competing houses on the southern shore in the country of the Yellowknives and their neighbours. The posts were later moved closer to the Slave River. The North West Company opened another post on Moose Deer Island in 1794, and the lakeshore became a centre for the northern fur trade, drawing hunters and traders to its waters.