TUKTOYAKTUK

formerly (until 1950) Port Brabant, hamlet, Inuvik region, northwestern Northwest Territories, Can., on the Beaufort Sea. It is situated 20 miles (32 km) east of the Mackenzie River delta and 100 miles (160 km) northeast of Inuvik. Tuktoyaktuk (an Inuit word for reindeer that looks like caribou) was established in 1936 as a Hudson's Bay Company trading post and transport depot. Its economic base is trapping, whaling, sealing, reindeer herding, and handicrafts (especially bone and antler carving). It is also a centre for offshore oil exploration and during summer months is a busy transshipment point where cargoes are transferred from riverboats (that navigate the Mackenzie) to seagoing vessels. One of the world's largest concentrations of pingos (ice-cored hills that grow in permafrost) is found near Tuktoyaktuk. Pop. (1991) 918.