Fort Chipewyan /ˈtʃɪpəwaɪən, -pwaɪ-, ˈtʃɪpəwən/, commonly referred to as Fort Chip, is an unincorporated hamlet in northern Alberta, Canada, within the Regional Municipality (RM) of Wood Buffalo. It is located on the northwest shore of Lake Athabasca, which flows into the Slave River, thence to the Mackenzie River and the Arctic Ocean. First built as fur trading post in the late 1700s, Fort Chipewyan is one of the oldest European settlements in the Province of Alberta.

Fort Chipewyan is one of the oldest European settlements in the Province of Alberta. It was one of Canada's important fur trading posts in the late 1700s and early 1800s, serving as a distribution and collection point for furs, goods and men trading in the Peace, Slave, Athabasca and Mackenzie river basins. It was established as a trading post of the North West Company in 1788. It is named after the Chipewyan living in the area. Its original location was Old Fort Point, on the southwest shore of Lake Athabasca, west of the Old Fort River. The first fur trading post in the area was the NWC's Pond House, or Pond's Fort on the Athabasca River, about 48 to 64 km (30 to 40 mi) from its mouth, established in 1778. Fort Chipewyan on the shore of Lake Athabasca was founded in 1788. It was built on a prominent peninsula, now known as Old Fort Point, on the south shore of Lake Athabasca, about 9 km (5.6 mi) to the east of the Athabasca River delta.

Alexander Mackenzie set out from Fort Chipewyan on his expeditions down the Mackenzie River and to the west coast.

One of the founders of Fort Chipweyan in 1788, Roderick Mackenzie of Terrebonne served as its administrator until 1794. He had a taste for the written word. He opened correspondence with traders all over the north and west, asking for descriptions of scenery, adventure, folklore and history. He also founded a library at the fort that served the residents of Fort Chipewyan, as well as traders and clerks of the whole Lake Athabasca region. He hoped it would be what he called, in an imaginative and somewhat jocular vein, "the little Athens of the Arctic regions." This library, started in 1790, held more than 2000 books. It became one of the most famous in the whole extent of Rupert's Land.

In 1798, the NWC's Fort Chipewyan was relocated to a site on the north shore, the site of today's hamlet. A new post, now known as Fort Chipewyan III, was built in 1803, not far away.

In 1802, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) set up a post, Nottingham House, on English Island at the mouth of Slave River, the outlet of Lake Athabasca. It was abandoned in 1806. From about 1815 to 1821 the HBC operated a competing Fort Wedderburn (named after Andrew Colvile's family) on Coal or Potato Island 2.4 km (1+1⁄2 mi) from the North West Company's fort. This fort was established by John Clarke. Sir George Simpson stayed here 1820–1821, during which time he reorganized the fur trade. When the HBC and NWC merged in 1821, Fort Wedderburn was abandoned and all HBC's fur-trade operations on the lake moved to Fort Chipewyan.

Sir John Franklin used Fort Chipewyan as a way-station on his overland Arctic Coppermine expedition in July 1820.

In 1887–1888 there was a great famine in the Fort Chipewyan area.