The Inuit

Inuit Map This is the map of where the Inuit were located. The blue represents the area where they were located.

Culture The Inuit people were hunters and fishermen. They hunted whales, walruses, seals, and caribou. The Inuit also had seaweed as part of their diet.

Clothing The Inuit made clothes from animal skins. One of the items was the parka. The hood of the women’s parka was made bigger so it could protect the baby when pressed against the mothers back.

Footwear Their mukluks were made from caribou or seal skin. The designs on them varied for men and women.

Housing The Inuit lived in a temporary shelter called an igloo. It was made from snow and ice and the cracks were filled with soft snow for insulation. When the temperatures were below freezing they lived in tents made of animal skins and bones.

Travel Over land The Inuit used dog sleds to travel over the land. The sleds would be made of animal skins, bones, and some had wood. The dogs would be spread of in a fan pattern and the breed of dog is the Husky.

Travel over water The Inuit used a single person boat made from sealskin called a gajait (kayak) to hunt. They used larger open ones to transport people, and dogs from place to place.

Religious Practices The Inuit practiced a form of shamanism. The Inuit believed all things had a form of spirit. An Inuit shaman of a community was a healer and psychotherapist. The shamans role was to interpret and exhort the unseen. Shamans were not trained, but born with the ability.

Historical background The Inuit are the descendants of the people known to anthropologists as the Thule. The Inuit appeared from Alaska and moved east along the artic, and by 1300 the Inuit had settled west Greenland. Their population had been bombarded by disease brought over by the Europeans, and the last of them fell in a flu epidemic caught from a passing whaler in 1902. This area has then been resettled by the Inuit.

Family life In the harsh climate of the Inuit it was necessary for the whole family to work together. The home was the position for the women, her jobs consisted of cooking, sewing, taking care of the children, and story telling. The women was also responsible for looking after the stone lamp which was the only source of light and heat for the long dark winter nights. It was the mans responsibility to provide food and animal hides to make clothes from. The children were often carried on the mothers back in her parka.

Language Some people believe that the Inuit language is not one, but more than one language put together. As a result of this some Inuit use different words for one thing. An Inuit might know their neighbors language, and the n maybe their neighbors but some where along the line they won’t be able to determine what some of the Inuit are saying. The main Inuit language in Canada is Inukitut.

How they Adapted The Inuit adapted to the cold climate by building dome shaped igloos out of snow for the winter, and in the summer cone shaped tents made from caribou skin. They turned into hunter/gatherers depending on what type of food was available in the land.

Bibliography Wikipedia. Inuit, Sept 25 2006 http://en.wkipedia.org/wiki/Inuits Courtney and Stephanie. Inuit, Sept 30 2006 http://smcdsb.on.ca/ffx/first%20peoples/Inuit/Inuit.htm J Wayne. Inuit, Sept 30 2006 http://users.senet.com.au/%7edsmith/inuit.htm