The first people to settle in the area were
Natkusiak and his family in 1937. Two years later, the
Hudson's Bay Company relocated from Walker Bay and a
Roman Catholic mission was opened the same year. The English name,
Holman, was in honour of J.R. Holman, a member of Sir
Edward Augustus Inglefield's 1853 expedition in search for the
Arctic explorer,
John Franklin. The community was sometimes known as
Holman Island. This, however, is the name of the small island outcrop to the east-southeast in the
Amundsen Gulf. In 2006, the community was renamed,
Ulukhaktok, the traditional Kangiryuarmiutun name for the area, which means "the place where
ulu parts are found", or "a large bluff where we used to collect raw material to make ulus". The large bluff that overlooks Ulukhaktok was the source that provided the
slate and
copper used to make ulus and give the community its name. Thus, the people who live there are called
Ulukhaktokmiut ("people of"). Ulukhaktokmiut is a recent word as no people actually lived permanently in this area until the opening of the
Hudson's Bay Company store, although people did visit the area to obtain the ulu materials and camp en route to other nomadic seasonal camp areas. Inuit traded with mainland groups as far east as
King William Island and as far south as
Great Bear Lake although most commerce occurred with the
Inuvialuit and
Copper Inuit populations indigenous to the
Coppermine River watershed and
Bernard Harbour seasonal areas on the mainland. The majority of Ulukhaktokmiut come from a varied background, with family ties extending mainly to the Coppermine River community of
Kugluktuk,
Nunavut and the communities of the
Mackenzie River Delta and
Beaufort Sea, though some families have relatives as far away as
Gjoa Haven on King William Island, and along the
north slope of Alaska as far as
Port Clarence on the
Seward Peninsula. Some families are descendants of the Danish explorer-trader
Christian Klengenberg. Others are descended from two members of the
Vilhjalmur Stefansson-led
Canadian Arctic Expedition. The first was Natkusiak, a friend of Stefansson, and the primary guide and lead hunter of the expedition. Originally from Port Clarence,
Alaska he was later known as Billy Banksland, this name coming from his time trapping
Arctic foxes on
Banks Island. Another member of the expedition with relatives in the area was the Alaskan
Iñupiat, Ikey Bolt from
Point Hope. Married to Klengenberg's daughter Etna, they lived for several years at
Rymer Point before moving to
Minto Inlet and eventually to Coppermine (now Kugluktuk). ==Demographics==