Native Americans for 4th Arctic – Inuit Northwest – Kwakiutl Plateau – Nez Perce Southwest – Hopi Plains – Pawnee Southeastern - Seminole IN - you - it

Arctic - Inuit (ĭn'yū-ĭt) IN - you - it also In - yoo - eet

Arctic – Inuit Note true location of Alaska:

Arctic - Inuit

(ĭn'yū-ĭt) IN - you - it also In - yoo - eet The singular is: Inuk (in-ook) and the language is: Inuktitut (in-ook-tee-toot). The word “Inuit” means “the people” in the Inuktitut language.

Arctic -- Inuit

Inuit Geography and Origins Inuit are a hunter-gather people who live near the Arctic. Their homeland stretches from the northeastern tip of Russia across Alaska and northern Canada to parts of Greenland. Inuit origins in Canada date back at least 4,000 years.

Inuktitut is unique to the Inuit culture Inuktitut is unique to the Inuit culture. There are differences in the way it is spoken from one region to the next. It is possible for individuals to understand each other from the east coast of Russia to Greenland.

The Inuktitut syllabary was adapted from the Cree syllabary, which itself was adapted from the Ojibwe syllabary. Both the Ojibwe and Cree syllbaries were invented by James Evans, a Wesleyan missionary, between about 1840 and 1860.

Inuit family inside igloo The igloo is a snow-house that was used by the Inuit as a temporary shelter.

“… the hut is tightly sealed and a lamp is lit inside “… the hut is tightly sealed and a lamp is lit inside. The heated air begins to melt the face of the snow blocks, which rapidly congeals again on admission of cold air from the outside. Thus each snow block is firmly cemented in place and converted to ice on its inner face. Occupation for a few days changes the interiors of the blocks, so that the structure is no longer a snow house but a house of ice.”

In the summer, when the snow melted, Inuit lived in tent-like huts made of animal skins stretched over a frame. In the tundra, where Inuit communities are found, there are not many building materials. No trees grow in the tundra so houses cannot be made from wood unless it is transported from elsewhere.

Inuit Snow House - Some Inuit only used the igloo when travelling but others relied on it for housing through the entire winter. topek (summer house), kayak and Inuit, 1901

The Inuit invented some very sophisticated tools, including the kayak, whose basic design has remained essentially unchanged. umiak The kayak is a narrow hunting boat made of sealskin stretched over a wood or bone frame. The larger umiak was used for transporting goods and people.

Because Inuit live in places where most plants cannot grow, the diet consisted of almost entirely meat. Inuit fished and hunted to get their food. Whales, walruses, seals, fish were staples of their diet.

Traditional Inuit dress for both men and women is made of skins and furs and consists of watertight boots, double-layer trousers, and the parka (a tight-fitting double-layer pullover jacket with a hood). In the past, sinew thread and bone needles were used to sew the skins into warm and watertight clothing.

Dogs were and are an important part of the Inuit culture. They provided the energy and strength to move sleds across the snow and ice.

hunting companions:

Seals have always been important to the Inuit.

Seal meat was a staple winter food, providing nourishment for the people and their dogs. The skin was used to make clothing. Sealskin is good for watertight boots.

The fat was rendered into oil for the kudik, a crescent-shaped stone lamp, providing both light and heat.

Inukshuk - An Inuit monument used for communication and survival that is usually made of un-worked stones – serves as a marker.

The Inukshuk, which means "likeness of person" was first used by the Inuit People to mark trails, indicate caches of food, locate nearby settlements as well as good places to hunt or fish.

Inuit History: 300 Years Ago to Now Increased sea ice kept large whales from entering Arctic waters. Without whales, the people of Arctic North America had to change their way of life. They left their permanent coastal house for snow-houses on the ice where they could hunt seals at their breathing holes. During this period of Inuit history, explorers, whales, traders, and missionaries began to appear. Along with a different way of life, they also brought infectious diseases that shattered Inuit culture before it could be recorded in detail. Much of what we know about this period has been pieced together from traditional oral histories.