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107-395: Siqqitiq (meaning transforming one's life, more specifically adopting Christianity) is the ritual of converting Inuit with shamanist beliefs to Christianity . This is usually accompanied by ritualistic consumption of foods held taboo by shamanist belief (like caribou lung and heart ,) to underscore the fact that such taboos no longer apply. The word could also refer to

214-693: A Innu-aimun (Montagnais) exonym meaning 'a person who laces a snowshoe', but is also used in folk etymology as meaning 'eater of raw meat' in the Cree language . Though the Cree etymology has been discredited, "Eskimo" is considered pejorative by some Canadian and English-speaking Greenlandic Inuit. In Canada and Greenland, Inuit is preferred. Inuit is the Eastern Canadian Inuit (Inuktitut) and West Greenlandic (Kalaallisut) word for 'the people'. Since Inuktitut and Kalaallisut are

321-858: A Yupik peoples , one of eight groups of Alaska Natives that inhabit the southern-central coast of the region. The Alutiiq language is relatively close to that spoken by the Yupik in the Bethel, Alaska area. But, it is considered a distinct language with two major dialects: the Koniag dialect, spoken on the Alaska Peninsula and on Kodiak Island , and the Chugach dialect, spoken on the southern Kenai Peninsula and in Prince William Sound . Residents of Nanwalek , located on southern part of

428-592: A non-governmental organization (NGO), claims to represent 180,000 people. In the Eskaleut language family , the Eskimo branch has an Inuit language sub-branch, and a sub-branch of four Yupik languages . Two Yupik languages are used in the Russian Far East as well as on St. Lawrence Island , and two in western Alaska, southwestern Alaska, and western Southcentral Alaska . The extinct Sirenik language

535-603: A colonial way; Inuit is now a common autonym for a large sub-group of these people. The word Inuit (varying forms Iñupiat , Inuvialuit , Inughuit , etc.), however, is an ancient self-referential to a group of peoples which includes at most the Iñupiat of Bering Strait coast of Chukotka and northern Alaska, the four broad groups of Inuit in Canada, and the Greenlandic Inuit. This usage has long been employed to

642-617: A consensus within the Alaskan context particularly is difficult, since Alaska Natives do not use the word Inuit to describe themselves nor is the term legally applicable only to Iñupiat and Yupik in Alaska, and as such, terms used in Canada like Paleo Inuit and Ancestral Inuit would not be acceptable. American linguist Lenore Grenoble has also explicitly deferred to the ICC resolution and used Inuit–Yupik instead of Eskimo with regards to

749-611: A designation for all circumpolar Native peoples, regardless of their local view on an appropriate term. They voted to replace the word Eskimo with Inuit . Even at that time, such a designation was not accepted by all. As a result, the Canadian government usage has replaced the term Eskimo with Inuit ( Inuk in singular). The ICC charter defines Inuit as including "the Inupiat, Yupik (Alaska), Inuit, Inuvialuit (Canada), Kalaallit (Greenland) and Yupik (Russia)". Despite

856-726: A distinctive group of Aboriginal Canadians who are not included under either the First Nations or the Métis . Greenlandic Inuit , also known as Kalaallit, are descendants of Thule migrations from Canada by 1100 CE. Although Greenland withdrew from the European Communities in 1985, Inuit of Greenland are Danish citizens and, as such, remain citizens of the European Union . In the United States,

963-532: A few years before. Various activist movements began to change the direction of Inuit society in 1975 with the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement . This comprehensive land claims settlement for Quebec Inuit, along with a large cash settlement and substantial administrative autonomy in the new region of Nunavik, set the precedent for the settlements to follow. The northern Labrador Inuit submitted their land claim in 1977, although they had to wait until 2005 to have

1070-418: A historical, linguistic, archaeological, and cultural context. The governments in Canada and the United States have made moves to cease using the term Eskimo in official documents, but it has not been eliminated, as the word is in some places written into tribal, and therefore national, legal terminology. Canada officially uses the term Inuit to describe the indigenous Canadian people who are living in

1177-539: A period of several centuries, its speakers migrated across northern Alaska, through Canada, and into Greenland. The distinct culture of the Thule people (drawing strongly from the Birnirk culture ) developed in northwestern Alaska. It very quickly spread over the entire area occupied by Eskimo peoples, though it was not necessarily adopted by all of them. The Eskimo–Aleut family of languages includes two cognate branches:

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1284-763: A population displacement did not occur within the Aleutian Islands between the Dorset and Thule transition. However a subsequent 2012 genetic analysis showed no genetic link between the Sadlermiut and the Dorset or Tuniit people. In contrast to other Tuniit populations, the Aleut and Sadlermiut benefited from both geographical isolation and their ability to adopt certain Thule technologies. In Canada and Greenland, Inuit circulated almost exclusively north of

1391-399: A seated person, even if completely overturned. Because of this property, the design was copied by Europeans and Americans who still produce them under Inuit name kayak . Inuit also made umiaq ("woman's boat"), larger open boats made of wood frames covered with animal skins, for transporting people, goods, and dogs. They were 6–12 m (20–39 ft) long and had a flat bottom so that

1498-626: A signed land settlement establishing Nunatsiavut . Southern Labrador Inuit of NunatuKavut is currently in the process of establishing land claims and title rights that would allow them to negotiate with the Newfoundland Government. Canada's 1982 Constitution Act recognized Inuit as Aboriginal peoples in Canada. In the same year, the Tunngavik Federation of Nunavut (TFN) was incorporated, in order to take over negotiations for land claims on behalf of Inuit living in

1605-470: A snowshoe' in Innu, and Innu language speakers refer to the neighbouring Mi'kmaq people using words that sound like eskimo . This interpretation is generally confirmed by more recent academic sources. In 1978, José Mailhot , a Quebec anthropologist who speaks Innu-aimun (Montagnais), published a paper suggesting that Eskimo meant 'people who speak a different language'. French traders who encountered

1712-649: A voiceless alveolar lateral fricative is also present. The Eskimo sub-family consists of the Inuit language and Yupik language sub-groups. The Sirenikski language , which is virtually extinct, is sometimes regarded as a third branch of the Eskimo language family. Other sources regard it as a group belonging to the Yupik branch. Inuit languages comprise a dialect continuum , or dialect chain, that stretches from Unalakleet and Norton Sound in Alaska, across northern Alaska and Canada, and east to Greenland. Changes from western (Iñupiaq) to eastern dialects are marked by

1819-540: Is Alutiiq, which is the southernmost of the Yupik languages. Although the grammatical structures of Yupik and Inuit languages are similar, they have pronounced differences phonologically. Differences of vocabulary between Inuit and any one of the Yupik languages are greater than between any two Yupik languages. Even the dialectal differences within Alutiiq and Central Alaskan Yup'ik sometimes are relatively great for locations that are relatively close geographically. Despite

1926-469: Is a language isolate and is almost extinct as only around 50 people still use it. Inuit have traditionally been fishermen and hunters. They still hunt whales (esp. bowhead whale ), seal , (esp. ringed seal , harp seal , common seal , bearded seal ), polar bears , muskoxen , caribou , birds , and fish and at times other less commonly eaten animals such as the Arctic fox . The typical Inuit diet

2033-487: Is high in protein and very high in fat – in their traditional diets, Inuit consumed an average of 75 percent of their daily energy intake from fat. While it is not possible to cultivate plants for food in the Arctic, Inuit have traditionally gathered those that are naturally available. Grasses , tubers , roots , plant stems , berries , and seaweed ( kuanniq or edible seaweed) were collected and preserved depending on

2140-466: Is sometimes claimed to be related. A variety of theories have been postulated for the etymological origin of the word Eskimo . According to Smithsonian linguist Ives Goddard , etymologically the word derives from the Innu-aimun (Montagnais) word ayas̆kimew , meaning 'a person who laces a snowshoe ', and is related to husky (a breed of dog). The word assime·w means 'she laces

2247-751: Is spoken in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region , Northwest Territories , with official language status from the territorial government. Inuinnaqtun is spoken across the Northwest Territories and the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut with official language status from both territories. Inuktitut, the most widely spoken Inuit language in Canada, however, is an official, and one of two main languages, alongside English, of Nunavut and has its speakers throughout Nunavut, Nunavik (Northern Quebec), Nunatsiavut (Labrador), and

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2354-538: Is still used by people; however in the 21st century, usage in North America has declined. In the United States the term Eskimo was, as of 2016, commonly used to describe Inuit and the Siberian and Alaskan Yupik, and Iñupiat peoples. Eskimo is still used by some groups and organizations to encompass Inuit and Yupik, as well as other Indigenous Alaskan and Siberian peoples. In 2011, Lawrence Kaplan of

2461-437: Is that, in multiple Eskimo languages, there are, or have been in simultaneous usage, indeed fifty plus words for snow. Historically, Inuit cuisine , which is taken here to include Greenlandic , Yupʼik and Aleut cuisine, consisted of a diet of animal source foods that were fished, hunted, and gathered locally. Inuit inhabit the Arctic and northern Bering Sea coasts of Alaska in the United States, and Arctic coasts of

2568-548: Is the preferred term, and in the eastern Canadian Arctic Inuit . The language is often called Inuktitut , though other local designations are also used. Section 25 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and section 35 of the Canadian Constitution Act of 1982 recognized Inuit as a distinctive group of Aboriginal peoples in Canada . Although Inuit can be applied to all of

2675-611: Is understood that some or all of these ancient people migrated across the Chukchi Sea to North America during the pre-neolithic era, somewhere around 5,000 to 10,000 years ago. It is believed that ancestors of the Aleut people inhabited the Aleutian Chain 10,000 years ago. The earliest positively identified Paleo-Eskimo cultures ( Early Paleo-Eskimo ) date to 5,000 years ago. Several earlier indigenous peoples existed in

2782-547: The Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks wrote that Inuit was not generally accepted as a term for the Yupik, and Eskimo was often used as the term that applied to the Yupik, Iñupiat, and Inuit. Since then Kaplan has updated this to indicate that the term Inuit has gained acceptance in Alaska. Though there is much debate, the word Eskimo likely derives from

2889-411: The Aleut (Unangan) branch and the Eskimo branch. The number of cases varies, with Aleut languages having a greatly reduced case system compared to those of the Eskimo subfamily. Eskimo–Aleut languages possess voiceless plosives at the bilabial , coronal , velar and uvular positions in all languages except Aleut, which has lost the bilabial stops but retained the nasal . In the Eskimo subfamily

2996-687: The Arctic and subarctic regions of North America, including Greenland , Labrador , Quebec , Nunavut , the Northwest Territories , Yukon (traditionally ), Alaska , and Chukotsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia . Inuit languages are part of the Eskimo–Aleut languages , also known as Inuit-Yupik-Unangan, and also as Eskaleut. Inuit Sign Language is a critically endangered language isolate used in Nunavut. Canadian Inuit live throughout most of Northern Canada in

3103-523: The Arctic tree line , with the exception of Inuit in Labrador where there are large swaths of coastal barrens. In Labrador there are two Inuit groups, one accepted by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami , Nunatsiavut and one independent, NunatuKavut . The most southern Inuit community in Nunatsiavut is Rigolet while the most southern community within the traditional Inuit territory of NunatuKavut and in

3210-932: The Bering Straits region, including the Seward Peninsula. Utqiaġvik , the northernmost city in the United States, is above the Arctic Circle and in the Iñupiat region. Their language is known as Iñupiaq . Their current communities include 34 villages across Iñupiat Nunaŋat (Iñupiaq lands) including seven Alaskan villages in the North Slope Borough , affiliated with the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation ; eleven villages in Northwest Arctic Borough ; and sixteen villages affiliated with

3317-863: The Bering Straits Regional Corporation . The Yupik are indigenous or aboriginal peoples who live along the coast of western Alaska, especially on the Yukon - Kuskokwim delta and along the Kuskokwim River ( Central Alaskan Yup'ik ); in southern Alaska (the Alutiiq ); and along the eastern coast of Chukotka in the Russian Far East and St. Lawrence Island in western Alaska (the Siberian Yupik ). The Yupik economy has traditionally been strongly dominated by

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3424-623: The Greenlandic language and Danish. Greenlandic Inuit belong to three groups: the Kalaallit of west Greenland, who speak Kalaallisut ; the Tunumiit of Tunu (east Greenland), who speak Tunumiit oraasiat ("East Greenlandic"); and the Inughuit of north Greenland, who speak Inuktun . The word Eskimo is a racially charged term in Canada. In Canada's Central Arctic, Inuinnaq

3531-761: The Innu (Montagnais) in the eastern areas adopted their word for the more western peoples and spelled it as Esquimau or Esquimaux in a transliteration. Some people consider Eskimo offensive, because it is popularly perceived to mean 'eaters of raw meat' in Algonquian languages common to people along the Atlantic coast. An unnamed Cree speaker suggested the original word that became corrupted to Eskimo might have been askamiciw (meaning 'he eats it raw'); Inuit are referred to in some Cree texts as askipiw (meaning 'eats something raw). Regardless,

3638-788: The Inuit-Yupik-Unangan language family . Inupiaq (Inupiatun) is spoken in Russia (extinct) and Alaska, which is one of the 22 official languages of the State of Alaska. In Russia, due to the replacement from their traditional territory in Big Diomede Island to Mainland Russia, Inupiaq language has been nearly extinct with most of them speaking Central Siberian Yupik or Russian predominantly with some Inupiaq linguistic features. In Canada, three Inuit languages ( Inuvialuktun , Inuinnaqtun , Inuktitut ) are spoken. Inuvialuktun

3745-697: The Kalaallit of west Greenland, who speak Kalaallisut ; the Tunumiit of Tunu (east Greenland), who speak Tunumiit oraasiat ("East Greenlandic"), and the Inughuit of north Greenland, who speak Inuktun . The four Yupik languages , by contrast, including Alutiiq (Sugpiaq), Central Alaskan Yup'ik , Naukan (Naukanski), and Siberian Yupik , are distinct languages with phonological, morphological, and lexical differences. They demonstrate limited mutual intelligibility. Additionally, both Alutiiq and Central Yup'ik have considerable dialect diversity. The northernmost Yupik languages – Siberian Yupik and Naukan Yupik – are linguistically only slightly closer to Inuit than

3852-616: The Northwest Passage was the first well-documented contact between Europeans and Inuit. Frobisher's expedition landed in Frobisher Bay , Baffin Island , not far from the settlement now called Iqaluit . Frobisher encountered Inuit on Resolution Island where five sailors left the ship, under orders from Frobisher, with instructions to stay clear of Inuit. They became part of Inuit mythology. Inuit oral tradition tells that

3959-465: The Northwest Territories , Nunavut , Quebec , and Labrador in Canada, and Greenland (associated with Denmark). Until fairly recent times, there has been a remarkable homogeneity in the culture throughout this area, which traditionally relied on fish, marine mammals , and land animals for food, heat, light, clothing, and tools. Their food sources primarily relied on seals, whales, whale blubber, walrus, and fish, all of which they hunted using harpoons on

4066-639: The Siberian Husky . These dogs were bred from wolves, for transportation. A team of dogs in either a tandem/side-by-side or fan formation would pull a sled made of wood, animal bones, or the baleen from a whale's mouth and even frozen fish, over the snow and ice. Inuit used stars to navigate at sea and landmarks to navigate on land; they possessed a comprehensive native system of toponymy . Where natural landmarks were insufficient, Inuit would erect an inukshuk . Also, Greenland Inuit created Ammassalik wooden maps , which are tactile devices that represent

4173-416: The communion meal itself. Umik , the first Inuit evangelist used such methods for conversion, which turned into a ritual . The practice is now rare because most Inuit are already Christians. Siqqitiqtuq (literally: getting into water , or wetting with water ) means baptism . Inuit Inuit are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting

4280-463: The death rate , causing a marked natural increase in the population that made it more difficult for them to survive by traditional means. In the 1950s, the Canadian government began to actively settle Inuit into permanent villages and cities, occasionally against their will (such as in Nuntak and Hebron). In 2005 the Canadian government acknowledged the abuses inherent in these forced resettlements. By

4387-681: The prestige dialects in Canada and Greenland, respectively, their version has become dominant, although every Inuit dialect uses cognates from the Proto-Eskimo *ińuɣ – for example, "people" is inughuit in North Greenlandic and iivit in East Greenlandic . Inuit speak Inupiaq (Inupiatun) , Inuinnaqtun , Inuktitut , Inuvialuktun , and Greenlandic languages , which belong to the Inuit-Inupiaq branch of

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4494-612: The territory of Nunavut, Nunavik in the northern third of Quebec, the Nunatsiavut in Labrador, and in various parts of the Northwest Territories and Yukon (traditionally), particularly around the Arctic Ocean , in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region . These areas are known, primarily by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami , as Inuit Nunangat . In Canada, sections 25 and 35 of the Constitution Act of 1982 classify Inuit as

4601-523: The 1970s, and more recently. Modern Inuit have lifespans 12 to 15 years shorter than the average Canadian's, which is thought to be influenced by factors such as their diet and limited access to medical services. The life expectancy gap is not closing and remains stagnant. The ancient art of face tattooing among Inuit women, which is called kakiniit or tunniit in Inuktitut , dates back nearly 4,000 years. The facial tattoos detailed aspects of

4708-618: The 21st century, usage in North America has declined. Linguistic, ethnic, and cultural differences exist between Yupik and Inuit. In Canada and Greenland, and to a certain extent in Alaska, the term Eskimo is predominantly seen as offensive and has been widely replaced by the term Inuit   or terms specific to a particular group or community. This has resulted in a trend whereby some non-Indigenous people believe that they should use Inuit even for Yupik who are non- Inuit . Greenlandic Inuit generally refer to themselves as Greenlanders ( Kalaallit or Grønlændere ) and speak

4815-863: The Alaskan Iñupiat are traditionally located in the Northwest Arctic Borough , on the Alaska North Slope , the Bering Strait and on Little Diomede Island . In Russia, few pockets of diaspora communities of Russian Iñupiat from Big Diomede Island , of which inhabitants were removed to Russian Mainland, remain in Bering Strait coast of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, particularly in Uelen , Lavrentiya , and Lorino . Many individuals who would have historically been referred to as Eskimo find that term offensive or forced upon them in

4922-400: The Arctic in one place for the first time and exposed them to the rhetoric of civil and human rights that prevailed in Canada in the 1960s. This was a real wake-up call for Inuit, and it stimulated the emergence of a new generation of young Inuit activists in the late 1960s who came forward and pushed for respect for Inuit and their territories. Inuit began to emerge as a political force in

5029-527: The Canadian context, continued use of any term that incorporates Eskimo is potentially harmful to the relationships between archaeologists and the Inuit and Inuvialuit communities who are our hosts and increasingly our research partners." Hodgetts and Wells suggested using more specific terms when possible (e.g., Dorset and Groswater ) and agreed with Frieson in using the Inuit tradition to replace Neo-Eskimo , although they noted replacement for Palaeoeskimo

5136-489: The Chukchi Peninsula and on St. Lawrence Island is nearly identical. About 1,050 of a total Alaska population of 1,100 Siberian Yupik people in Alaska speak the language. It is the first language of the home for most St. Lawrence Island children. In Siberia, about 300 of a total of 900 Siberian Yupik people still learn and study the language, though it is no longer learned as a first language by children. About 70 of 400 Naukan people still speak Naukanski. The Naukan originate on

5243-406: The Dorset as "dwarfs". Researchers believe that Inuit society had advantages by having adapted to using dogs as transport animals, and developing larger weapons and other technologies superior to those of the Dorset culture. By 1100 CE, Inuit migrants had reached west Greenland, where they settled. During the 12th century, they also settled in East Greenland. Faced with population pressures from

5350-424: The Eskimo peoples in Canada and Greenland, that is not true in Alaska and Siberia. In Alaska, the term Eskimo is still used because it includes both Iñupiat (singular: Iñupiaq), who are Inuit, and Yupik , who are not. The term Alaska Native is inclusive of (and under U.S. and Alaskan law, as well as the linguistic and cultural legacy of Alaska, refers to) all Indigenous peoples of Alaska, including not only

5457-520: The ICC's 1977 decision to adopt the term Inuit , this has not been accepted by all or even most Yupik people. In 2010, the ICC passed a resolution in which they implored scientists to use Inuit and Paleo-Inuit instead of Eskimo or Paleo-Eskimo . In a 2015 commentary in the journal Arctic , Canadian archaeologist Max Friesen argued fellow Arctic archaeologists should follow the ICC and use Paleo-Inuit instead of Paleo-Eskimo . In 2016, Lisa Hodgetts and Arctic editor Patricia Wells wrote: "In

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5564-467: The Iñupiat (Alaskan Inuit) and the Yupik, but also groups such as the Aleut, who share a recent ancestor, as well as the largely unrelated indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and the Alaskan Athabaskans , such as the Eyak people . The term Alaska Native has important legal usage in Alaska and the rest of the United States as a result of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. It does not apply to Inuit or Yupik originating outside

5671-454: The Kenai Peninsula near Seldovia , speak what they call Sugpiaq. They are able to understand those who speak Yupik in Bethel. With a population of approximately 3,000, and the number of speakers in the hundreds, Alutiiq communities are working to revitalize their language. Yup'ik , with an apostrophe, denotes the speakers of the Central Alaskan Yup'ik language , who live in western Alaska and southwestern Alaska from southern Norton Sound to

5778-771: The Northwest Territories, where it is also an official language. Kalaallisut is the official language of Greenland. The Greenlandic languages are divided into: Kalaallisut (Western), Inuktun (Northern), and Tunumiit (Eastern). As Inuktitut was the language of the Eastern Canadian Inuit and Kalaallisut is the language of the Western Greenlandic Inuit, they are related more closely than most other dialects. Inuit in Alaska and Northern Canada also typically speak English. In Greenland, Inuit also speak Danish and learn English in school. Inuit in Russia mostly speak Russian and Central Siberian Yupik. Canadian Inuit, particularly those from Nunavik, may also speak Québécois French . Finally, deaf Inuit use Inuit Sign Language , which

5885-426: The Original People's Entitlement (representing the Inuvialuit), the Northern Quebec Inuit Association ( Makivik Corporation ) and the Labrador Inuit Association (LIA) representing Northern Labrador Inuit. Since the mid-1980s the disputed Southern Labrador Inuit of NunatuKavut began organizing politically after being geographically cut out of the LIA, because the organization called itself the Labrador Métis Nation just

5992-407: The Thule and other surrounding groups, such as the Algonquian and Siouan -speaking peoples to the south, the Tuniit gradually receded. The Tuniit were thought to have become completely extinct as a people by about 1400 or 1500. But, in the mid-1950s, researcher Henry B. Collins determined that based on the ruins found at Native Point , on Southampton Island , the Sadlermiut were likely

6099-642: The Yukon–Alaska border in the west across the Arctic to northern Labrador. The Inuvialuit live in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region , the northern part of Yukon and the Northwest Territories , which stretches to the Amundsen Gulf and the Nunavut border and includes the western Canadian Arctic Islands . The land was demarked in 1984 by the Inuvialuit Final Agreement. The majority of Inuit live in Nunavut (a territory of Canada ), Nunavik (the northern part of Quebec ) and in Nunatsiavut (Inuit settlement region in Labrador ). The Iñupiat are Inuit of Alaska's Northwest Arctic and North Slope boroughs and

6206-445: The Yupik branch. An overview of the Eskimo–Aleut languages family is given below: American linguist Lenore Grenoble has explicitly deferred to this resolution and used Inuit–Yupik instead of Eskimo with regards to the language branch. There has been a long-running linguistic debate about whether or not the speakers of the Eskimo-Aleut language group have an unusually large number of words for snow. The general modern consensus

6313-437: The boats could come close to shore. In the winter, Inuit would also hunt sea mammals by patiently watching an aglu (breathing hole) in the ice and waiting for the air-breathing seals to use them. This technique is also used by the polar bear, who hunts by seeking holes in the ice and waiting nearby. In winter, both on land and on sea ice, Inuit used dog sleds ( qamutik ) for transportation. The husky dog breed comes from

6420-472: The case of Labrador, East. Inuit had trade relations with more southern cultures; boundary disputes were common and gave rise to aggressive actions. Warfare was not uncommon among those Inuit groups with sufficient population density. Inuit such as the Nunamiut ( Uummarmiut ), who inhabited the Mackenzie River delta area, often engaged in warfare. The more sparsely settled Inuit in the Central Arctic, however, did so less often. Their first European contact

6527-435: The coastline. Eskimo These circumpolar peoples have traditionally inhabited the Arctic and subarctic regions from eastern Siberia (Russia) to Alaska (United States), Northern Canada , Nunavik , Nunatsiavut , and Greenland . Some Inuit, Yupik, Aleut, and other individuals consider the term Eskimo , which is of a disputed etymology, to be pejorative or even offensive. Eskimo continues to be used within

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6634-636: The commercial whale hunt were processed and furs traded. The expedition of 1821–23 to the Northwest Passage led by Commander William Edward Parry twice over-wintered in Foxe Basin . It provided the first informed, sympathetic and well-documented account of the economic, social and religious life of Inuit. Parry stayed in what is now Igloolik over the second winter. Parry's writings, with pen and ink illustrations of Inuit everyday life, and those of George Francis Lyon were widely read after they were both published in 1824. Captain George Comer 's Inuk wife Shoofly, known for her sewing skills and elegant attire,

6741-431: The country's northern sectors and are not First Nations or Métis . The United States government legally uses Alaska Native for enrolled tribal members of the Yupik, Inuit, and Aleut, and also for non-Eskimos including the Tlingit , the Haida , the Eyak , and the Tsimshian , in addition to at least nine northern Athabaskan/Dene peoples. Other non-enrolled individuals also claim Eskimo/Aleut descent, making it

6848-487: The dialect continuum would have difficulty understanding one another. Seward Peninsula dialects in western Alaska, where much of the Iñupiat culture has been in place for perhaps less than 500 years, are greatly affected by phonological influence from the Yupik languages. Eastern Greenlandic , at the opposite end of Inuit range, has had significant word replacement due to a unique form of ritual name avoidance. Ethnographically, Greenlandic Inuit belong to three groups:

6955-542: The disappearance of the Norse colonies in Greenland , Inuit had no contact with Europeans for at least a century. By the mid-16th century, Basque whalers and fishermen were already working the Labrador coast and had established whaling stations on land, such as the one that has been excavated at Red Bay , Labrador. Inuit do not appear to have interfered with their operations, but raided the stations in winter, taking tools and items made of worked iron, which they adapted to their own needs. Martin Frobisher 's 1576 search for

7062-406: The dropping of vestigial Yupik-related features, increasing consonant assimilation (e.g., kumlu , meaning "thumb", changes to kuvlu , changes to kublu , changes to kulluk , changes to kulluq , ) and increased consonant lengthening, and lexical change. Thus, speakers of two adjacent Inuit dialects would usually be able to understand one another, but speakers from dialects distant from each other on

7169-487: The early relations with whaling stations along the Labrador coast and later James Bay were based on a mutual interest in trade. In the final years of the 18th century, the Moravian Church began missionary activities in Labrador, supported by the British who were tired of the raids on their whaling stations. The Moravian missionaries could easily provide Inuit with the iron and basic materials they had been stealing from whaling outposts, materials whose real cost to Europeans

7276-541: The eastern Northwest Territories, that would later become Nunavut, from Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, which became a joint association of Inuit of Quebec, Labrador, and the Northwest Territories. On October 30, 2008, Leona Aglukkaq was appointed as Minister of Health , "[becoming] the first Inuk to hold a senior cabinet position, although she is not the first Inuk to be in cabinet altogether." Jack Anawak and Nancy Karetak-Lindell were both parliamentary secretaries respectively from 1993 to 1996 and in 2003. The term Eskimo

7383-410: The end of their traditional Inuit culture. One of the more notable relocations was undertaken in 1953, when 17 families were moved from Port Harrison (now Inukjuak, Quebec) to Resolute and Grise Fiord . They were dropped off in early September when winter had already arrived. The land they were sent to was very different from that in the Inukjuak area; it was barren, with only a couple of months when

7490-462: The enormous social disruptions caused by the distorting effect of Europeans' material wealth and the introduction of different materials. Nonetheless, Inuit society in the higher latitudes largely remained in isolation during the 19th century. The Hudson's Bay Company opened trading posts such as Great Whale River (1820), today the site of the twin villages of Whapmagoostui (Cree-majority) and Kuujjuarapik (Inuit-majority), where whale products of

7597-523: The establishment of secular , government-operated high schools in the Northwest Territories (including what is now Nunavut) and Inuit areas in Quebec and Labrador along with the residential school system . Inuit population was not large enough to support a full high school in every community, so this meant only a few schools were built, and students from across the territories were boarded there. These schools, in Aklavik , Iqaluit, Yellowknife , Inuvik and Kuujjuaq , brought together young Inuit from across

7704-473: The exclusion of other, closely related groups (e.g. Yupik , Aleut ). Therefore, the Aleut (Unangan) and Yupik peoples ( Alutiiq /Sugpiaq, Central Yup'ik , Siberian Yupik ), who live in Alaska and Siberia, at least at an individual and local level, generally do not self-identify as Inuit. Inuit are the descendants of what anthropologists call the Thule people , who emerged from the Bering Strait and western Alaska around 1000 CE. They had split from

7811-525: The great powers for the first time. Thanks to the development of modern long-distance aircraft, these areas became accessible year-round. The construction of air bases and the Distant Early Warning Line in the 1940s and 1950s brought more intensive contact with European society, particularly in the form of public education for children. The traditionalists complained that Canadian education promoted foreign values that were disdainful of

7918-539: The harvest of marine mammals , especially seals , walrus , and whales . The Alutiiq (pronounced / ə ˈ l uː t ɪ k / ə- LOO -tik in English; from Promyshlenniki Russian Алеутъ, " Aleut "; plural often "Alutiit"), also called by their ancestral name Sugpiaq ( / ˈ s ʊ ɡ ˌ b j ɑː k / SUUG -byahk or / ˈ s ʊ ɡ p i ˌ æ k / SUUG -pee- AK ; plural often "Sugpiat"), as well as Pacific Eskimo or Pacific Yupik, are

8025-456: The high Arctic, Inuit were forced to abandon their hunting and whaling sites as bowhead whales disappeared from Canada and Greenland . These Inuit had to subsist on a much poorer diet, and lost access to the essential raw materials for their tools and architecture which they had previously derived from whaling. The lives of Paleo-Eskimos of the far north were largely unaffected by the arrival of visiting Norsemen except for mutual trade. After

8132-463: The homeland of Inuit to be hostile hinterland . Southerners enjoyed lucrative careers as bureaucrats and service providers to the people of the North, but very few ever chose to visit there. Once its more hospitable lands were largely settled, the government of Canada and entrepreneurs began to take a greater interest in its more peripheral territories, especially the fur and mineral-rich hinterlands. By

8239-527: The ice. Clothing consisted of robes made of wolfskin and reindeer skin to acclimate to the low temperatures. They maintain a unique Inuit culture . Greenlandic Inuit make up 90% of Greenland's population. They belong to three major groups: Canadian Inuit live primarily in Inuit Nunangat (lit. "lands, waters and ices of the [Inuit] people"), their traditional homeland although some people live in southern parts of Canada. Inuit Nunangat ranges from

8346-526: The language branch. Genetic evidence suggests that the Americas were populated from northeastern Asia in multiple waves. While the great majority of indigenous American peoples can be traced to a single early migration of Paleo-Indians , the Na-Dené , Inuit and Indigenous Alaskan populations exhibit admixture from distinct populations that migrated into America at a later date and are closely linked to

8453-711: The language. The five dialects of Central Alaskan Yup'ik include General Central Yup'ik, and the Egegik, Norton Sound, Hooper Bay-Chevak, and Nunivak dialects. In the latter two dialects, both the language and the people are called Cup'ik . Siberian Yupik reside along the Bering Sea coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in Siberia in the Russian Far East and in the villages of Gambell and Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island in Alaska. The Central Siberian Yupik spoken on

8560-465: The last remnants of the Dorset culture, or Tuniit . The Sadlermiut population survived up until winter 1902–1903 when exposure to new infectious diseases brought by contact with Europeans led to their extinction as a people. In the early 21st century, mitochondrial DNA research has supported the theory of continuity between the Tuniit and the Sadlermiut peoples. It also provided evidence that

8667-578: The late 1920s, there were no longer any Inuit who had not been contacted by traders, missionaries or government agents. In 1939, the Supreme Court of Canada found, in a decision known as Re Eskimos , that Inuit should be considered Indians and were thus under the jurisdiction of the federal government. Native customs were worn down by the actions of the RCMP, who enforced Canadian criminal law on Inuit. People such as Kikkik often did not understand

8774-590: The late 1960s and early 1970s, shortly after the first graduates returned home. They formed new politically active associations in the early 1970s, starting with the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (Inuit Brotherhood and today known as Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami), an outgrowth of the Indian and Eskimo Association of the '60s, in 1971, and more region-specific organizations shortly afterward, including the Committee for

8881-563: The men lived among them for a few years of their own free will until they died attempting to leave Baffin Island in a self-made boat and vanished. Frobisher, in an attempt to find the men, captured three Inuit and brought them back to England. They were possibly the first Inuit ever to visit Europe. The semi-nomadic Inuit were fishermen and hunters harvesting lakes, seas, ice platforms, and tundra . While there are some allegations that Inuit were hostile to early French and English explorers, fishermen, and whalers, more recent research suggests that

8988-428: The mid-1960s, encouraged first by missionaries, then by the prospect of paid jobs and government services, and finally forced by hunger and required by the police, most Canadian Inuit lived year-round in permanent settlements. The nomadic migrations that were the central feature of Arctic life had become a much smaller part of life in the North. Inuit, a once self-sufficient people in an extremely harsh environment were, in

9095-413: The necessary vitamins they needed from their traditional winter diet, which did not contain any plant matter. In particular, he found that adequate vitamin C could be obtained from items in their traditional diet of raw meat such as ringed seal liver and whale skin ( muktuk ). While there was considerable skepticism when he reported these findings, the initial anecdotal reports were reaffirmed both in

9202-545: The north side of Bristol Bay , on the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta , and on Nelson Island . The use of the apostrophe in the name Yup'ik is a written convention to denote the long pronunciation of the p sound; but it is spoken the same in other Yupik languages . Of all the Alaska Native languages , Central Alaskan Yup'ik has the most speakers, with about 10,000 of a total Yup'ik population of 21,000 still speaking

9309-467: The northern circumpolar regions of eastern Siberia, Alaska, and Canada (although probably not in Greenland). The Paleo-Eskimo peoples appear to have developed in Alaska from people related to the Arctic small tool tradition in eastern Asia, whose ancestors had probably migrated to Alaska at least 3,000 to 5,000 years earlier. The Yupik languages and cultures in Alaska evolved in place, beginning with

9416-603: The original pre-Dorset Indigenous culture developed in Alaska. At least 4,000 years ago, the Unangan culture of the Aleut became distinct. It is not generally considered an Eskimo culture. However, there is some possibility of an Aleutian origin of the Dorset people, who in turn are a likely ancestor of today's Inuit and Yupik. Approximately 1,500 to 2,000 years ago, apparently in northwestern Alaska, two other distinct variations appeared. Inuit language became distinct and, over

9523-403: The peoples of far northeastern Asia (e.g. Chukchi ), and only more remotely to the majority indigenous American type. For modern Eskimo–Aleut speakers, this later ancestral component makes up almost half of their genomes. The ancient Paleo-Eskimo population was genetically distinct from the modern circumpolar populations, but eventually derives from the same far northeastern Asian cluster. It

9630-403: The related Aleut group about 4000 years ago and from northeastern Siberian migrants. They spread eastward across the Arctic. They displaced the related Dorset culture , called the Tuniit in Inuktitut , which was the last major Paleo-Eskimo culture. Inuit legends speak of the Tuniit as "giants", people who were taller and stronger than Inuit. Less frequently, the legends refer to

9737-408: The relatively small population of Naukan speakers, documentation of the language dates back to 1732. While Naukan is only spoken in Siberia, the language acts as an intermediate between two Alaskan languages: Siberian Yupik Eskimo and Central Yup'ik Eskimo. The Sirenikski language is sometimes regarded as a third branch of the Eskimo language family, but other sources regard it as a group belonging to

9844-595: The rules of the alien society with which they had to interact. In addition, the generally Protestant missionaries of the British preached a moral code very different from the one Inuit had as part of their tradition. Many Inuit were systematically converted to Christianity in the 19th and 20th centuries, through rituals such as the Siqqitiq . World War II and the Cold War made Arctic Canada strategically important to

9951-450: The season and the location. There is a vast array of different hunting technologies that Inuit used to gather their food. In the 1920s, anthropologist Vilhjalmur Stefansson lived with and studied a group of Inuit. The study focused on Stefansson's observation that Inuit's low-carbohydrate diet apparently had no adverse effects on their health, nor indeed, on his own health. Stefansson (1946) also observed that Inuit were able to get

10058-406: The span of perhaps two generations, transformed into a small, impoverished minority, lacking skills or resources to sell to the larger economy, but increasingly dependent on it for survival. Although anthropologists like Diamond Jenness (1964) were quick to predict that Inuit culture was facing extinction, Inuit political activism was already emerging. In the 1960s, the Canadian government funded

10165-708: The state. As a result, the term Eskimo is still in use in Alaska. Alternative terms, such as Inuit-Yupik , have been proposed, but none has gained widespread acceptance. Early 21st century population estimates registered more than 135,000 individuals of Eskimo descent, with approximately 85,000 living in North America, 50,000 in Greenland, and the rest residing in Siberia. In 1977, the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) meeting in Barrow, Alaska (now Utqiaġvik, Alaska ), officially adopted Inuit as

10272-522: The temperature rose above freezing, and several months of polar night . The families were told by the RCMP they would be able to return to their home territory within two years if conditions were not right. However, two years later more Inuit families were relocated to the High Arctic. Thirty years passed before they were able to visit Inukjuak. By 1953, Canada's prime minister Louis St. Laurent publicly admitted, "Apparently we have administered

10379-681: The term still carries a derogatory connotation for many Inuit and Yupik. One of the first printed uses of the French word Esquimaux comes from Samuel Hearne 's A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean in the Years 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 first published in 1795. The term Eskimo is still used by people to encompass Inuit and Yupik, as well as other Indigenous or Alaska Native and Siberian peoples. In

10486-525: The traditional structure and culture of Inuit society. In the 1950s, the Government of Canada undertook what was called the High Arctic relocation for several reasons. These were to include protecting Canada's sovereignty in the Arctic , alleviating hunger (as the area currently occupied had been over-hunted), and attempting to solve the "Eskimo problem", by seeking assimilation of the people and

10593-427: The vast territories of the north in an almost continuing absence of mind." The government began to establish about forty permanent administrative centers to provide education, health, and economic development services. Inuit from hundreds of smaller camps scattered across the north began to congregate in these hamlets. Regular visits from doctors and access to modern medical care raised the birth rate and decreased

10700-437: The women's lives, such as where they were from, who their family was, their life achievements, and their position in the community. When Catholic missionaries arrived in the area in the early 20th century they outlawed the practice, but it is now making a comeback thanks to some modern Inuit women who want to revive the practices of their ancestors and get in touch with their cultural roots. The traditional method of tattooing

10807-567: The world is L'anse au Clair, Labrador. In other areas south of the tree line , non-Inuit Indigenous cultures were well established. As a result, being challenged by the groups below the tree line including Chukchi and Siberian Yupik for Russian Iñupiat, Arctic Athabascan and Gwichʼin for Alaskan Iñupiat and Inuvialuit, Cree for Nunavummiut (Nunavut Inuit) and Nunavimmiut (Northern Quebec Inuit), and Innu for Nunatsiavummiut (Labrador Inuit) and NunatuKavummiut (Southern Inuit or Inuit-metis), Inuit did not make significant progress South, or in

10914-478: The world's "most widespread aboriginal group". There are between 171,000 and 187,000 Inuit and Yupik, the majority of whom live in or near their traditional circumpolar homeland. Of these, 53,785 (2010) live in the United States, 70,545 (2021) in Canada, 51,730 (2021) in Greenland and 1,657 (2021) in Russia. In addition, 16,730 people living in Denmark were born in Greenland. The Inuit Circumpolar Council ,

11021-559: Was almost nothing, but whose value to Inuit was enormous. From then on, contacts between the national groups in Labrador were far more peaceful. The exchanges that accompanied the arrival and colonization by the Europeans greatly damaged Inuit way of life. Mass death was caused by the new infectious diseases carried by whalers and explorers, to which the Indigenous peoples had no acquired immunity. The high mortality rate contributed to

11128-424: Was done with needles made of sinew or bone soaked in suet and sewn into the skin, but today they use ink. The Inuit Tattoo Revitalization Project is a community that was created to highlight the revitalization of this ancient tradition. Inuit hunted sea animals from single-passenger, seal-skin covered boats called qajaq (Inuktitut syllabics: ᖃᔭᖅ ) which were extraordinarily buoyant, and could be righted by

11235-486: Was influential in convincing him to acquire more sewing accessories and beads for trade with Inuit. During the early 20th century, a few traders and missionaries circulated among the more accessible bands. After 1904, they were accompanied by a handful of North-West Mounted Police (NWMP). Unlike most Aboriginal peoples in Canada, however, Inuit did not occupy lands that were coveted by European settlers. Used to more temperate climates and conditions, most Europeans considered

11342-473: Was still an open question and discussed Paleo-Inuit , Arctic Small Tool Tradition , and pre-Inuit , as well as Inuktitut loanwords like Tuniit and Sivullirmiut , as possibilities. In 2020, Katelyn Braymer-Hayes and colleagues argued in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology that there is a "clear need" to replace the terms Neo-Eskimo and Paleo-Eskimo , citing the ICC resolution, but finding

11449-683: Was with the Vikings who had settled in Greenland centuries prior. The sagas recorded meeting skrælingar , probably an undifferentiated label for all the Indigenous peoples whom the Norse encountered, whether Tuniit , Inuit, or Beothuk . After about 1350, the climate grew colder during the period known as the Little Ice Age . During this period, Russian and Alaskan natives were able to continue their whaling activities. But, in

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