This essay focuses on Canada’s Northwest Territories and, more specifically, on a recently created administrative region: Sathu. These geographical landscapes are home to descendants of Amerindian and Inuit societies (traditionally known as Eskimos) as well as descendants of Euro-Canadians, the traditional Métis. The first Europeans to arrive on the American continent were the Norwegian Vikings, who managed to colonize Iceland, southern Greenland, and the Labrador Peninsula, which they called Vinland. This occurred between 980 and 1350 AD. The drop in temperatures during the so-called Little Ice Age (1350-1850) forced the abandonment of these colonies (Junquera Rubio, 2023). Christopher Columbus arrived in the Caribbean in 1492, and the North Atlantic began to be visited by Europeans of various nationalities, primarily Spaniards, Portuguese, French, Dutch, and British. The North Pacific was first explored by Spaniards from the Gulf of California. Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo reached the California coast as far as San Francisco in 1542 but did not continue. Spain resumed exploration when it learned that the Russians were already established at Fort Ross, near present-day San Francisco, and then sailed to Alaska to neutralize this advance, but was unable to do so (Junquera Rubio, 2022, 2023: pp. 88-110). The land areas in this essay were colonized by the British, and what is important is to understand what is happening today. I recommend that readers have a good map of Canada, especially the Northwest Territories, handy.
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