Tuktoyaktuk, NWT, Hamlet, pop 930 (2001c), 943 (1996c), 918 (1991c), area 11.07 km2, is located on the BEAUFORT SEA coast, E of the MACKENZIE R delta, 1135 air km NW of YELLOWKNIFE. The area is the traditional home of the whale-hunting Kittegaryumiut INUIT, who diminished owing to a series of epidemics in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Inuit who settled at the site after it was established as a port of choice (Port Brabant) in 1934 were from the immediate area and from other parts of the North. It was given its present name (Inuktituk for "looks like caribou") in 1950. Today the community has a mostly wage-based economy, as it has grown to be a transportation, government and DEW Line maintenance centre and a base for oil and gas exploration.