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{{Short description|Indigenous peoples of northern North America}} |
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{{About||the 2010 film|Inuk (film)|other uses of Inuit}} |
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{{Distinguish|text=the [[Innu]], a First Nations people in eastern Quebec and Labrador}} |
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{{About|the peoples of Arctic North America|the Indigenous people of Labrador and Quebec|Innu|other uses}} |
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{{Redirect|Inuk|the film|Inuk (film){{!}}''Inuk'' (film)}} |
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{{use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} |
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{{Infobox ethnic group |
{{Infobox ethnic group |
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| group = Inuit |
| group = Inuit |
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| image = Inuit |
| image = Inuit Distribution in Canada, 2021 Census.jpg |
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| caption = Population distribution of Inuit Canadians by census division, 2021 census |
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| population = 148,863<ref name="geinu"/><ref name="caninu"/><ref name="usinu"/><ref name="dkinu"/> |
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| population = 155,792<ref name="canada2021"/><ref name="geinu"/><ref name="dkinu"/><ref name="usinu"/> |
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| region1 = Canada |
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| region1 = Canada |
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| pop1 = 65,025 (2016) |
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| pop1 = 70,540 (2021) |
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| ref1 = <ref name="caninu"/> |
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| ref1 = <ref name="canada2021">{{Cite web |publisher=[[Statistics Canada]], [[Government of Canada]]|date=21 September 2022 |title=Indigenous identity by Registered or Treaty Indian status: Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations with parts |url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810026501 |access-date=21 September 2022 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}</ref> |
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| region2 = Denmark proper |
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| region2 = Greenland |
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| pop2 = 16,470 (2018) |
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| pop2 = 51,479 (2023) |
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| ref2 = <ref name="dkinu"/> |
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| ref2 = <ref name="geinu"/> |
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| region3 = Greenland |
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| region3 = United States |
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| pop3 = 50,787 (2017) |
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| pop3 = 16,581 (2010) |
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| ref3 = <ref name="geinu"/> |
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| region4 |
| region4 = Denmark |
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| pop4 = |
| pop4 = 17,067 (2023) |
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| |
|ref3 = <ref name="dkinu"/> |
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| langs = |
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| langs = [[Inuit languages]], [[Inuit Sign Language]], [[Danish language|Danish]], [[North American English|English]] ([[Aboriginal English in Canada|Aboriginal]]), [[Canadian French|French]] and various others |
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[[Inuit languages]] and [[Inuit Sign Language]]<br> |
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Non-native European languages:<br>[[English language|English]], [[Danish language|Danish]], [[French language|French]], and [[Russian language|Russian]] |
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| related = [[Aleut people|Aleut]] and [[Yupik peoples]]<ref name=ethno>[https://www.ethnologue.com/subgroups/eskimo-aleut "Eskimo-Aleut."] ''Ethnologue.'' Retrieved 17 Oct 2013.</ref> |
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| rels = {{hlist | [[Christianity]] | [[Inuit religion]]}} |
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| native_name = |
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| related = {{hlist | [[Aleut]] | [[Yupik peoples|Yupik]] | [[Indigenous people of the Americas]] | [[Indigenous people of Siberia]]}} |
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| native_name = |
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| native_name_lang = |
| native_name_lang = |
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| image_caption = [[Igloolik]] Inuit women and child in traditional parkas |
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}} |
}} |
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{{Infobox ethnonym|root=Inu- ᐃᓄ- / nuna ᓄᓇ<br><small>"person" / "land"</small>|person= Inuk ᐃᓄᒃ<br /><small>[[Dual (grammatical number)|Dual]]:</small> Inuuk ᐃᓅᒃ|people=Inuit ᐃᓄᐃᑦ|language= [[Inuit languages]]|country= [[Chukotsky District]]<br>[[Alaska]]<br>[[Inuit Nunangat|Inuit Nunangat / ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᓄᓇᖓᑦ]]<br>([[Inuvialuit Settlement Region]], [[Nunavut]], [[Nunavik]], [[Nunatsiavut]])<br>[[Greenland]] |
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}} |
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{{Indigenous Peoples of Canada}} |
{{Indigenous Peoples of Canada}} |
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'''Inuit''' |
'''Inuit'''{{efn|Pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɪ|nj|u|ᵻ|t}} {{respell|IN|ew|it}};<ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster|Inuit|access-date=2024-03-24}}</ref> {{langx|iu|ᐃᓄᐃᑦ}} 'the people', singular: '''Inuk''', {{lang|iu|ᐃᓄᒃ}}, [[Dual (grammatical number)|dual]]: '''Inuuk''', {{lang|iu|ᐃᓅᒃ}}; [[Iñupiaq language|Iñupiaq]]: '''Iñuit''' 'the people'; [[Greenlandic language|Greenlandic]]: '''Inuit''')<ref name="naming">{{cite web |date=2021 |title=Inuit, Inuk (Linguistic recommendation from the Translation Bureau) |url=https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2guides/guides/wrtps/index-eng.html?lang=eng&lettr=indx_catlog_i&page=91V1uxvxfEc4.html |publisher=[[Public Works and Government Services Canada]]}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite web |title=Indigenous peoples of the Arctic |url=https://www.institut-polaire.fr/ipev-en/polar-information/in-arctic/peoples-of-the-arctic-2/indigenous-peoples-of-the-arctic/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030024037/https://www.institut-polaire.fr/ipev-en/polar-information/in-arctic/peoples-of-the-arctic-2/indigenous-peoples-of-the-arctic/ |archive-date=30 October 2020 |access-date=26 August 2020 |website=Institut polaire français Paul-Emile Victor}}</ref>{{sfnp|Alia|2009|page=151}}}} are a group of culturally and historically similar [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous peoples]] traditionally inhabiting the [[Arctic]] and [[subarctic]] regions of North America, including [[Greenland]], [[Labrador]], [[Quebec]], [[Nunavut]], the [[Northwest Territories]], [[Yukon]] (traditionally{{efn|name=fn1}}), [[Alaska]], and [[Chukotsky District]] of [[Chukotka Autonomous Okrug|Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia]]. [[Inuit languages]] are part of the [[Eskimo–Aleut languages]], also known as Inuit-Yupik-Unangan, and also as Eskaleut.<ref>{{cite web |title=Overview of Comparative Inuit-Yupik-Unangan |url=https://www.uaf.edu/anla/collections/cea/about/ |access-date=13 May 2021 |website=Alaska Native Language Archive |publisher=University of Alaska, Fairbanks}}</ref> [[Inuit Sign Language]] is a critically endangered [[language isolate]] used in Nunavut.<ref name="AmsterdamLing">{{cite journal |last1=Schuit |first1=Joke |last2=Baker |first2=Anne |last3=Pfau |first3=Roland |title=Inuit Sign Language: a contribution to sign language typology |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228512989 |url-status=live |journal=ACLC Working Papers |publisher=Universiteit van Amsterdam |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919191834/http://www.linguisticsinamsterdam.nl/cgi/t/text/get-pdf?c=aclc;idno=0401a01 |archive-date=19 September 2015 |access-date=1 August 2015}}</ref> |
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Inuit live throughout most of [[Northern Canada]] in the [[Provinces and territories of Canada|territory]] of |
Canadian Inuit{{anchor|Canadian_Inuit}} live throughout most of [[Northern Canada]] in the [[Provinces and territories of Canada|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]].{{efn|name=fn1|The [[Inuvialuit Settlement Region]] (ISR) also includes the Yukon North Slope in the territory of [[Yukon]], which is relatively small compared with the ISR in Northwest Territories and has no communities living within it—but is part of traditional and current Inuvialuit hunting, trapping, fishing, etc. grounds.}} These areas are known, primarily by [[Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami]], as [[Inuit Nunangat]].<ref name="caninu">{{cite web |date=2 July 2019 |title=Inuit population by residence inside or outside Inuit Nunangat, 2016 |url=http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/171025/mc-a001-eng.htm |website=Aboriginal peoples in Canada: Key results from the 2016 Census |publisher=[[Statistics Canada]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=5 September 2008 |title=Maps of Inuit Nunangat (Inuit Regions of Canada) |url=https://www.itk.ca/maps-of-inuit-nunangat/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414051301/https://www.itk.ca/maps-of-inuit-nunangat/ |archive-date=14 April 2021 |publisher=[[Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami]]}}</ref> In Canada, [[Section 25 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms|sections 25]] and [[Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982|35]] of the [[Constitution Act, 1982|Constitution Act of 1982]] classify Inuit as a distinctive group of Aboriginal Canadians who are not included under either the [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] or the [[Métis]].<ref name="defe">{{cite web |date=30 June 2021 |title=Aboriginal rights and freedoms not affected by Charter |url=https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/Const/page-12.html |website=[[Constitution Act, 1982]] |publisher=[[Department of Justice (Canada)]] |quote=[T]his Charter of certain rights and freedoms shall not be construed so as to abrogate or derogate from any aboriginal, treaty or other rights or freedoms that pertain to the aboriginal peoples of Canada.}}</ref><ref name="s35">{{cite web |date=30 June 2021 |title=Rights of the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada |url=https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/Const/page-13.html?txthl=inuit#s-35 |website=Constitution Act, 1982 |publisher=[[Department of Justice (Canada)]] |quote=In this Act, aboriginal peoples of Canada includes the Indian, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada.}}</ref> |
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[[Greenlandic Inuit]], also known as Kalaallit, are descendants of [[Thule People|Thule]] migrations from Canada by 1100 CE.<ref name=":0">{{Cite Q|Q58172671|last=Park|first=Robert W.|jstor=281966}}</ref> Although Greenland [[Withdrawal of Greenland from the European Communities|withdrew from the European Communities]] in 1985, Inuit of Greenland are Danish citizens and, as such, remain [[citizens of the European Union]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Greenland Treaty of 1985 |url=http://eu.nanoq.gl/Emner/EuGl/The%20Greenland%20Treaty.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416110747/http://eu.nanoq.gl/Emner/EuGl/The%20Greenland%20Treaty.aspx |archive-date=16 April 2014 |access-date=24 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Greenland Treaty of 1985 |url=https://naalakkersuisut.gl/en/Naalakkersuisut/Greenland-Representation-to-the-EU/European-Union-and-Greenland/The-Greenland-Treaty-of-1985 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160317000602/https://naalakkersuisut.gl/en/Naalakkersuisut/Greenland-Representation-to-the-EU/European-Union-and-Greenland/The-Greenland-Treaty-of-1985 |archive-date=17 March 2016 |access-date=20 January 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) |url=https://eur-lex.europa.eu/summary/glossary/overseas_countries_and_territories.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151225234728/https://eur-lex.europa.eu/summary/glossary/overseas_countries_and_territories.html |archive-date=25 December 2015 |access-date=20 January 2021}}</ref> In the United States, 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|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, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug|Lorino]]. |
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The [[Greenlandic Inuit]] are descendants of [[Thule People|Thule]] migrations from Canada by 1100 AD.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Park|first=Robert W.|date=1993|title=The Dorset-Thule Succession in Arctic North America: Assessing Claims for Culture Contact|journal=American Antiquity|volume=58|issue=2|pages=203–234|doi=10.2307/281966|jstor=281966|issn=0002-7316}}</ref> Inuit of Greenland are Danish citizens, although not the [[citizens of the European Union]]. In the United States, the Alaskan [[Iñupiat]] are traditionally located in the [[Northwest Arctic Borough]], on the [[Alaska North Slope]], and on [[Little Diomede Island]]. |
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Many individuals who would have historically been referred to as ''[[Eskimo]]'' find that term offensive or forced upon them in a colonial way; ''Inuit'' is now a common [[Endonym and exonym|autonym]] for a large sub-group of these people.<ref name="NPR" /><ref name="kaplannew">{{cite web |last=Kaplan |first=Lawrence |url=https://www.uaf.edu/anlc/resources/inuit_or_eskimo.php |title=Inuit or Eskimo: Which name to use? |access-date=1 April 2021 |publisher=[[Alaska Native Language Center]], [[University of Alaska Fairbanks]]}}</ref><ref name="global">{{cite news |first=Chris |last=Purdy |title=Expert says 'meat-eater' name Eskimo an offensive term placed on Inuit |work=[[Global News]] |date=27 November 2015 |agency=[[The Canadian Press]] |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/2366689/expert-says-meat-eater-name-eskimo-an-offensive-term-placed-on-inuit/}}</ref><ref name="mailhot">{{cite journal |last=Mailhot |first=José |title =L'etymologie de "esquimau" revue et corrigée |journal=Études/Inuit/Studies |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=59–70 |year=1978 |jstor=42869777}}</ref> 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 the exclusion of other, closely related groups (e.g. [[Yupik peoples|Yupik]], [[Aleut]]).<ref name="ethno">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Eskimo-Aleut |encyclopedia=[[Ethnologue]]: Languages of the World |editor-last1=Eberhard |editor-first1=David M. |editor-first2=Gary F. |editor-last2=Simons |editor-first3=Charles D. |editor-last3=Fennig |date=2021 |publisher=SIL International |edition=24th |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/subgroups/eskimo-aleut}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.alaskan-natives.com/2166/eskimo-inuit-inupiaq-terms-thing/ |title=Eskimo, Inuit, and Inupiaq: Do these terms mean the same thing? |website=Alaskan-Natives.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://mappingignorance.org/2016/01/18/3250/ |first=Adrià |last=Rofes |date=18 January 2016 |title=When 'Eskimo' and 'Inuit' are not the same thing: looking inside words |work= Mapping Ignorance}}</ref><ref name="igoddard">{{cite book |first1=James W. |last1=VanStone |author-link1=James W. VanStone |last2=Goddard |first2=Ives |author-link2=Ives Goddard |title=Territorial Groups of West-Central Alaska Before 1898 |pages=556–561}} in {{harvp|Sturtevant|1984}}</ref> Therefore, the Aleut (Unangan) and Yupik peoples ([[Alutiiq]]/Sugpiaq, [[Yup'ik|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.<ref name="ethno" />{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=May 2022}} |
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In both Canada, the United States and Denmark, the term "[[Eskimo]]" was once commonly used to describe Inuit and [[Siberia]] and Alaska's [[Yupik peoples|Yupik]], [[Iñupiat]], and [[Chukcha|Chukchi]]{{citation needed|date=July 2020}} peoples. "Inuit" is not accepted as a term for the Yupik and Chukchi; "Eskimo"<ref name="kaplan"/> is the only term that applies across the Yupik, Chukchi, Iñupiat, and Inuit peoples. Since the late 20th century, [[indigenous peoples in Canada|indigenous people in Canada]] and Greenlandic Inuit{{citation needed|date=June 2020}} have widely considered "Eskimo" to be an offensive term, and they more frequently identify as "Inuit" for an autonym.<ref name="bartleby">[http://www.bartleby.com/61/24/E0212400.html ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'': Fourth Edition] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010412155403/http://www.bartleby.com/61/24/E0212400.html |date=April 12, 2001}}</ref><ref name="natlang"/> |
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==History== |
==History== |
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===Pre-contact history=== |
===Pre-contact history=== |
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{{For|earlier pre-contact history|Indigenous peoples in Canada#Paleo-Indians period}} |
{{For|earlier pre-contact history|Indigenous peoples in Canada#Paleo-Indians period}} |
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[[File:Dorset, |
[[File:Dorset, Norse, and Thule cultures 900-1500 (vertical)-01.svg|thumb|Dorset, Norse, and Thule cultures 900–1500]] |
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Inuit are the descendants of what [[anthropology|anthropologists]] call the [[Thule people]],<ref name="TriggerWashburn1996">{{cite book| |
Inuit are the descendants of what [[anthropology|anthropologists]] call the [[Thule people]],<ref name="TriggerWashburn1996">{{cite book|first1=Bruce G. |last1=Trigger |first2=Wilcomb E. |last2=Washburn |title=The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DRGVjLiyXEwC&pg=PA192 |year=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-57392-4 |page=192}}</ref> who emerged from the [[Bering Strait]] and western [[Alaska]] around 1000 CE. They had split from the related [[Aleut]] group about 4000 years ago and from northeastern Siberian migrants. They spread eastward across the Arctic.<ref name="DeanMatthews1998">{{cite book |first1=William G. |last1=Dean |first2=Geoffrey J. |last2=Matthews |title=Concise Historical Atlas of Canada |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dw39BoD0-6cC&pg=PA2 |year=1998 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-4203-3 |page=2}}</ref> They displaced the related [[Dorset culture]], called the {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} in [[Inuktitut]], which was the last major [[Paleo-Eskimo]] culture.<ref name="ColeGentilcore1987">{{cite book |last1=Harris |first1=R. Cole |first2=R. Louis |last2=Gentilcore |first3=Geoffrey J. |last3=Matthews |first4=Donald P. |last4=Kerr |title=Historical Atlas of Canada |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=itsTLSnw8qgC&pg=PA28 |year=1987 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-2495-4 |pages=28–29}}</ref> |
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Inuit legends speak of the {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} as "giants", people who were taller and stronger than Inuit.<ref> |
Inuit legends speak of the {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} as "giants", people who were taller and stronger than Inuit.<ref>{{cite web |first=Bruce |last=Rigley |title=Qaummaarviit Historic Park |work=Nunavut Handbook |page=324 |url=http://www.nunavuthandbook.com/parks_pgs_297_331.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060529123547/http://www.nunavuthandbook.com/parks_pgs_297_331.pdf |archive-date=29 May 2006}}</ref> Less frequently, the legends refer to the Dorset as "dwarfs".<ref>{{cite thesis |first=Shannon Raye |last=Wood |date=1984 |title=Tooth wear and the sexual division of labor in an Inuit population |publisher=University of Saskatchewan |url=http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/bitstream/1892/5348/1/b14258730.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514020806/http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/bitstream/1892/5348/1/b14258730.pdf |archive-date=14 May 2011}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Diamond2006">{{cite book |first=Jared M. |last=Diamond |title=Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail Or Succeed |year=2006 |publisher=Penguin (University of California) |isbn=978-0-14-303655-5 |page=256 |url=https://archive.org/details/collapse00jare/page/256 |url-access=registration}}</ref> By 1100 CE, Inuit migrants had reached west Greenland, where they settled.<ref name=":0" /> During the 12th century, they also settled in East Greenland.<ref>{{cite book| first=John F. |last=Hoffecker |title=A Prehistory of the North: Human Settlement of the Higher Latitudes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UEckqQU41KcC&pg=PA3 |year=2005 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-3469-5 |page=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sandell |first1=Hanne Tuborg |last2=Sandell |first2=Birger |date=1991 |title=Archaeology and Environment in the Scoresby Sund Fjord |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4DaHyIC3DeEC&pg=PA24 |series=Meddelelser om Grønland Man & Society |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |volume=15 |page=23 |access-date=18 March 2019 |isbn=9788763512084}}</ref> |
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Faced with population pressures from the Thule and other surrounding groups, such as the [[Algonquian peoples|Algonquian]] and [[Siouan languages|Siouan]]-speaking peoples to the south, the {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} gradually receded.<ref>{{cite |
Faced with population pressures from the Thule and other surrounding groups, such as the [[Algonquian peoples|Algonquian]] and [[Siouan languages|Siouan]]-speaking peoples to the south, the {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} gradually receded.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Dorset: An Enigma = Le Dorset: une énigme |last=Palmer |first=Jay W. |journal=North American Archaeologist |date=January 1999 |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=201–222 |doi=10.2190/HLB1-LAU5-RDC5-WUU0|s2cid=162328800 |issn=0197-6931}}</ref> The {{Lang|iu|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 the last remnants of the Dorset culture, or {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}}.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[National Geographic]] |title=Vanished Mystery Men of Hudson Bay |first=Henry B. |last=Collins |volume=CX |issue=5 |year=1956 |page=674 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X_2UYgEACAAJ&pg=PA674}}</ref> The Sadlermiut population survived up until winter 1902–1903 when exposure to new [[infectious disease]]s brought by contact with Europeans led to their extinction as a people.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=[[Library and Archives Canada]] |title=Aboriginal 7 – Life in Canada |url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/art/050602/0506020222_e.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120804215759/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/art/050602/0506020222_e.html |archive-date=4 August 2012 |access-date=12 March 2008}}</ref> |
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In the early 21st century, [[human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup|mitochondrial DNA]] research has supported the theory of continuity between the {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} and the Sadlermiut peoples.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sci.tech-archive.net/Archive/sci.anthropology/2004-07/1342.html|first |
In the early 21st century, [[human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup|mitochondrial DNA]] research has supported the theory of continuity between the {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} and the Sadlermiut peoples.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sci.tech-archive.net/Archive/sci.anthropology/2004-07/1342.html |first=Floyd L. |last=Davidson |date=26 April 2004 |access-date=13 October 2008 |title=Re: Barrow Boy gibberish... |archive-date=23 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160123040416/http://sci.tech-archive.net/Archive/sci.anthropology/2004-07/1342.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/html/pdf/news02.pdf |title=Arctic Studies Center Newsletter |access-date=13 October 2008 |date=June 2002 |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]] |work=[[National Museum of Natural History]] |archive-date=25 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151225080434/https://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/html/pdf/news02.pdf}}</ref> It also provided evidence that a population displacement did not occur within the [[Aleutian Islands]] between the Dorset and Thule transition.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.physanth.org/annmeet/aapa2001/ajpasuppl32.pdf |title=Ancestor descendant relationships in North American Arctic prehistory: Ancient DNA evidence from the Aleutian Islands and the Eastern Canadian Arctic. |access-date=13 October 2008 |first=M.G. |last=Hayes |year=2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514033111/http://www.physanth.org/annmeet/aapa2001/ajpasuppl32.pdf |archive-date=14 May 2008}}</ref> However a subsequent 2012 genetic analysis showed no genetic link between the Sadlermiut and the Dorset or {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} people.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Robert W. |last=Park |url=https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.1258607 |title=Stories of Arctic colonization | journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=345 |issue=6200 |pages=1004–1005 |doi=10.1126/science.1258607 |date=29 August 2014 |access-date=8 August 2015 |pmid=25170138 |bibcode=2014Sci...345.1004P |s2cid=206560802}}</ref> In contrast to other {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} populations, the Aleut and Sadlermiut benefited from both geographical isolation and their ability to adopt certain Thule technologies.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} |
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In |
In Canada and Greenland, Inuit circulated almost exclusively north of the [[Tree line#Arctic|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]]<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Rigolet Inuit Community Government |title=Welcome to Rigolet| url=http://www.townofrigolet.com/home/ |date=2017}}</ref> while the most southern community within the traditional Inuit territory of [[NunatuKavut]] and in the world is L'anse au Clair, Labrador.<ref>{{cite web |title=Late-18th and Early-19th-Century Inuit and Europeans in Southern Labrador |url=https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64373/48308/ |access-date=29 April 2024}}</ref> |
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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 people|Chukchi]] and [[Siberian Yupik]] for Russian Iñupiat, [[Alaskan Athabaskans|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 the case of Labrador, East. |
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South of Nunatsiavut, the descendants of the southern [[Labrador]] Inuit in [[NunatuKavut]] continued their traditional [[transhumance|transhumant]] semi-nomadic way of life until the mid-1900s. The Nunatukavummuit people usually moved among islands and bays on a seasonal basis. They did not establish stationary communities. In other areas south of the tree line, non-Inuit indigenous cultures were well established. The culture and technology of Inuit society that served so well in the [[Arctic]] were not suited to subarctic regions, so they did not displace their southern neighbours. |
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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. |
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. |
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Their first European contact was with the [[Vikings]] who settled in [[Norse Greenland|Greenland]] |
Their first European contact was with the [[Vikings]] who had settled in [[Norse Greenland|Greenland]] centuries prior. The [[saga]]s recorded meeting ''{{Lang|mis|[[skræling]]ar}}'', probably an undifferentiated label for all the Indigenous peoples whom the Norse encountered, whether {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}}, Inuit, or [[Beothuk]].<ref name="Weidensaul2012">{{cite book |first=Scott |last=Weidensaul |title=The First Frontier: The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery, and Endurance in Early America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_cXE4BL25hAC&pg=PA20 |year= 2012 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-547-53956-0 |page=20}}</ref> |
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After about 1350, the climate grew colder during the period known as the [[Little Ice Age]]. During this period, [[Alaska]]n natives were able to continue their [[whaling]] activities. But, in the high Arctic, Inuit were forced to abandon their hunting and whaling sites as [[bowhead whale]]s disappeared from |
After about 1350, the climate grew colder during the period known as the [[Little Ice Age]]. During this period, Russian and [[Alaska]]n natives were able to continue their [[whaling]] activities. But, in the high Arctic, Inuit were forced to abandon their hunting and whaling sites as [[bowhead whale]]s disappeared from Canada and [[Greenland]].<ref name="PerrinWursig2009"/> 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.<ref name="PerrinWursig2009">{{cite book |first1=Anne M. |last1=Jensen |first2=Glenn W. |last2=Sheehan |first3=Stephen A. |last3=MacLean |chapter=Inuit and Marine Mammals |editor1=William F. Perrin |editor-link1=William F. Perrin |editor2=Bernd Würsig |editor-link2=Bernd Würsig |editor3=J.G.M. Thewissen |editor-link3=Hans Thewissen |title=Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals |edition=second |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2rkHQpToi9sC&pg=PA630 |year=2009 |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=978-0-08-091993-5 |page=630}}</ref> |
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The changing climate forced Inuit to work their way south, pushing them into marginal niches along the edges of the tree line. These were areas First Nations had not occupied or where they were weak enough for Inuit to live near them. Researchers have difficulty defining when Inuit stopped this territorial expansion. There is evidence that the Inuit were still moving into new territory in southern Labrador when they first began to interact with [[European colonization of the Americas|European colonists]] in the 17th century.===Pre-contact history=== |
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{{For|earlier pre-contact history|Indigenous peoples in Canada#Paleo-Indians period}} |
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[[File:Dorset,_Norse,_and_Thule_cultures_900-1500_(vertical)-01.svg|thumb|Dorset, Norse, and Thule cultures 900-1500]] |
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Inuit are the descendants of what [[anthropology|anthropologists]] call the [[Thule people]],<ref name="TriggerWashburn1996">{{cite book|author1=Bruce G. Trigger|author2=Wilcomb E. Washburn|title=The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DRGVjLiyXEwC&pg=PA192|year=1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-57392-4|page=192}}</ref> who emerged from western [[Alaska]] around 1000 CE. They had split from the related [[Aleut]] group about 4000 years ago and from northeastern Siberian migrants. Finally, the [[Chukcha|Chukchi People]], still earlier, descended from the third major migration from Siberia. They spread eastwards across the Arctic.<ref name="DeanMatthews1998">{{cite book|author1=William G. Dean|author2=Geoffrey J. Matthews|title=Concise Historical Atlas of Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dw39BoD0-6cC&pg=PA2|year=1998|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-4203-3|page=2}}</ref> They displaced the related [[Dorset culture]], called the {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} in [[Inuktitut]], which was the last major [[Paleo-Eskimo]] culture.<ref name="ColeGentilcore1987">{{cite book|author1=Harris, R. Cole|author2=R. Louis Gentilcore|author3=Geoffrey J. Matthews |author4=Donald P. Kerr |title=Historical Atlas of Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=itsTLSnw8qgC&pg=PA28|year=1987|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-2495-4|pages=28–29}}</ref> |
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Inuit legends speak of the {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} as "giants", people who were taller and stronger than Inuit.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529123547/http://www.nunavuthandbook.com/parks_pgs_297_331.pdf 101. ''Nunavut Handbook''], Qaummaarviit Historic Park</ref> Less frequently, the legends refer to the Dorset as "dwarfs".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/bitstream/1892/5348/1/b14258730.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514020806/http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/bitstream/1892/5348/1/b14258730.pdf|archivedate=2011-05-14|title=Tooth wear and the sexual division of labor in an Inuit population|accessdate=2011-01-24}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Diamond2006">{{cite book|author=Jared M. Diamond |title=Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail Or Succeed|url=https://archive.org/details/collapse00jare|url-access=registration |year=2006|publisher=Penguin (University of California)|isbn=978-0-14-303655-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/collapse00jare/page/256 256]}}</ref> By 1100 CE, Inuit migrants had reached west Greenland, where they settled.<ref name=":0" /> During the 12th century, they also settled in East Greenland.<ref>{{cite book|author=John F. Hoffecker|title=A Prehistory of the North: Human Settlement of the Higher Latitudes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UEckqQU41KcC&pg=PA3|year=2005|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-3469-5|page=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sandell |first1=Hanne Tuborg |last2=Sandell |first2=Birger |date=1991 |title=Archaeology and Environment in the Scoresby Sund Fjord |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4DaHyIC3DeEC&pg=PA24 |journal=Meddelelser om Grønland Man & Society |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |volume=15 |pages=23 |accessdate=2019-03-18|isbn=9788763512084}}</ref> |
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Faced with population pressures from the Thule and other surrounding groups, such as the [[Algonquian peoples|Algonquian]] and [[Siouan languages|Siouan]]-speaking peoples to the south, the {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} gradually receded.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Dorset : An Enigma = Le Dorset : une énigme| last=Palmer| first=J. W|year=1998|pages=201–222|volume=19|publisher=North American Archaeologist|edition=3}}</ref> The {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} were thought to have become completely extinct as a people by about 1400 or 1500 CE. But, in the mid-1950s, researcher Henry B. Collins determined that, based on the ruins found at [[Native Point]], the [[Sadlermiut]] were likely the last remnants of the Dorset culture, or {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}}.<ref>{{cite book|publisher=National Geographic Magazine|title=Vanished Mystery Men of Hudson Bay|first=Henry B.|last=Collins|volume=Vol. CX No. 5|year=1956|page=674}}</ref> The Sadlermiut population survived up until winter 1902–03, when exposure to new [[infectious disease]]s brought by contact with Europeans led to their extinction as a people.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[Library and Archives Canada]]|title=Aboriginal 7 – Life in Canada|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/art/050602/0506020222_e.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120804215759/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/art/050602/0506020222_e.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-08-04|accessdate=2008-03-21}}</ref> |
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In the early 21st century, [[human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup|mitochondrial DNA]] research has supported the theory of continuity between the {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} and the Sadlermiut peoples.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sci.tech-archive.net/Archive/sci.anthropology/2004-07/1342.html|first = Floyd L.|last=Davidson|date=2004-04-26|accessdate=2008-10-13|title=Re: Barrow Boy gibberish...}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/html/pdf/news02.pdf|title=Arctic Studies Center Newsletter|accessdate=2008-10-13|date=June 2002|publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]]|work=[[National Museum of Natural History]]}}</ref> It also provided evidence that a population displacement did not occur within the [[Aleutian Islands]] between the Dorset and Thule transition.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.physanth.org/annmeet/aapa2001/ajpasuppl32.pdf |title=Ancestor descendant relationships in North American Arctic prehistory: Ancient DNA evidence from the Aleutian Islands and the Eastern Canadian Arctic. |accessdate=2008-10-13 |first=M.G. |last=Hayes |year=2001 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514033111/http://www.physanth.org/annmeet/aapa2001/ajpasuppl32.pdf |archivedate=May 14, 2008}}</ref> In contrast to other {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} populations, the Aleut and Sadlermiut benefited from both geographical isolation and their ability to adopt certain Thule technologies. |
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In [[Canada]] and [[Greenland]], Inuit circulated almost exclusively north of the "[[tree line#Arctic|arctic tree line]]", the effective southern border of Inuit society. The most southern "officially recognized" Inuit community in the world is [[Rigolet]]<ref>{{cite web|publisher=rigolet.ca|title=Welcome to Rigolet| url =http://rigolet.ca/| accessdate=2010-06-04}}</ref> in [[Nunatsiavut]]. |
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South of Nunatsiavut, the descendants of the southern [[Labrador]] Inuit in [[NunatuKavut]] continued their traditional [[transhumance|transhumant]] semi-nomadic way of life until the mid-1900s. The Nunatukavummuit people usually moved among islands and bays on a seasonal basis. They did not establish stationary communities. In other areas south of the tree line, non-Inuit indigenous cultures were well established. The culture and technology of Inuit society that served so well in the [[Arctic]] were not suited to subarctic regions, so they did not displace their southern neighbours. |
|||
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 was with the [[Vikings]] who settled in [[Norse Greenland|Greenland]] and explored the eastern [[Canada|Canadian]] coast. The [[saga]]s recorded meeting ''{{Lang|mis|[[skræling]]ar}}'', probably an undifferentiated label for all the indigenous peoples whom the Norse encountered, whether {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}}, Inuit, or [[Beothuk]].<ref name="Weidensaul2012">{{cite book|author=Scott Weidensaul|title=The First Frontier: The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery, and Endurance in Early America'|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_cXE4BL25hAC&pg=PA20|year= 2012|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0-547-53956-0|page=20}}</ref> |
|||
After about 1350, the climate grew colder during the period known as the [[Little Ice Age]]. During this period, [[Alaska]]n natives were able to continue their [[whaling]] activities. But, in the high Arctic, Inuit were forced to abandon their hunting and whaling sites as [[bowhead whale]]s disappeared from [[Canada]] and [[Greenland]].<ref name="PerrinWursig2009"/> 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.<ref name="PerrinWursig2009">{{cite book|author1=William F. Perrin|author2=Bernd Wursig|author3=J. G.M. [[Hans Thewissen|Thewissen]]|title=Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2rkHQpToi9sC&pg=PA630|year=2009|publisher=Academic Press|isbn=978-0-08-091993-5|page=630}}</ref> |
|||
The changing climate forced Inuit to work their way south, pushing them into marginal niches along the edges of the tree line. These were areas First Nations had not occupied or where they were weak enough for Inuit to live near them. Researchers have difficulty defining when Inuit stopped this territorial expansion. There is evidence that the Inuit were still moving into new territory in southern Labrador when they first began to interact with [[European colonization of the Americas|European colonists]] in the 17th century.===Pre-contact history=== |
|||
{{For|earlier pre-contact history|Indigenous peoples in Canada#Paleo-Indians period}} |
|||
[[File:Dorset,_Norse,_and_Thule_cultures_900-1500_(vertical)-01.svg|thumb|Dorset, Norse, and Thule cultures 900-1500]] |
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Inuit are the descendants of what [[anthropology|anthropologists]] call the [[Thule people]],<ref name="TriggerWashburn1996">{{cite book|author1=Bruce G. Trigger|author2=Wilcomb E. Washburn|title=The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DRGVjLiyXEwC&pg=PA192|year=1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-57392-4|page=192}}</ref> who emerged from western [[Alaska]] around 1000 CE. They had split from the related [[Aleut]] group about 4000 years ago and from northeastern Siberian migrants. Finally, the [[Chukcha|Chukchi People]], still earlier, descended from the third major migration from Siberia. They spread eastwards across the Arctic.<ref name="DeanMatthews1998">{{cite book|author1=William G. Dean|author2=Geoffrey J. Matthews|title=Concise Historical Atlas of Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dw39BoD0-6cC&pg=PA2|year=1998|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-4203-3|page=2}}</ref> They displaced the related [[Dorset culture]], called the {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} in [[Inuktitut]], which was the last major [[Paleo-Eskimo]] culture.<ref name="ColeGentilcore1987">{{cite book|author1=Harris, R. Cole|author2=R. Louis Gentilcore|author3=Geoffrey J. Matthews |author4=Donald P. Kerr |title=Historical Atlas of Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=itsTLSnw8qgC&pg=PA28|year=1987|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-2495-4|pages=28–29}}</ref> |
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Inuit legends speak of the {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} as "giants", people who were taller and stronger than Inuit.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529123547/http://www.nunavuthandbook.com/parks_pgs_297_331.pdf 101. ''Nunavut Handbook''], Qaummaarviit Historic Park</ref> Less frequently, the legends refer to the Dorset as "dwarfs".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/bitstream/1892/5348/1/b14258730.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514020806/http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/bitstream/1892/5348/1/b14258730.pdf|archivedate=2011-05-14|title=Tooth wear and the sexual division of labor in an Inuit population|accessdate=2011-01-24}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Diamond2006">{{cite book|author=Jared M. Diamond |title=Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail Or Succeed|url=https://archive.org/details/collapse00jare|url-access=registration |year=2006|publisher=Penguin (University of California)|isbn=978-0-14-303655-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/collapse00jare/page/256 256]}}</ref> By 1100 CE, Inuit migrants had reached west Greenland, where they settled.<ref name=":0" /> During the 12th century, they also settled in East Greenland.<ref>{{cite book|author=John F. Hoffecker|title=A Prehistory of the North: Human Settlement of the Higher Latitudes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UEckqQU41KcC&pg=PA3|year=2005|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-3469-5|page=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sandell |first1=Hanne Tuborg |last2=Sandell |first2=Birger |date=1991 |title=Archaeology and Environment in the Scoresby Sund Fjord |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4DaHyIC3DeEC&pg=PA24 |journal=Meddelelser om Grønland Man & Society |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |volume=15 |pages=23 |accessdate=2019-03-18|isbn=9788763512084}}</ref> |
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Faced with population pressures from the Thule and other surrounding groups, such as the [[Algonquian peoples|Algonquian]] and [[Siouan languages|Siouan]]-speaking peoples to the south, the {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} gradually receded.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Dorset : An Enigma = Le Dorset : une énigme| last=Palmer| first=J. W|year=1998|pages=201–222|volume=19|publisher=North American Archaeologist|edition=3}}</ref> The {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} were thought to have become completely extinct as a people by about 1400 or 1500 CE. But, in the mid-1950s, researcher Henry B. Collins determined that, based on the ruins found at [[Native Point]], the [[Sadlermiut]] were likely the last remnants of the Dorset culture, or {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}}.<ref>{{cite book|publisher=National Geographic Magazine|title=Vanished Mystery Men of Hudson Bay|first=Henry B.|last=Collins|volume=Vol. CX No. 5|year=1956|page=674}}</ref> The Sadlermiut population survived up until winter 1902–03, when exposure to new [[infectious disease]]s brought by contact with Europeans led to their extinction as a people.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[Library and Archives Canada]]|title=Aboriginal 7 – Life in Canada|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/art/050602/0506020222_e.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120804215759/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/art/050602/0506020222_e.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-08-04|accessdate=2008-03-21}}</ref> |
|||
In the early 21st century, [[human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup|mitochondrial DNA]] research has supported the theory of continuity between the {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} and the Sadlermiut peoples.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sci.tech-archive.net/Archive/sci.anthropology/2004-07/1342.html|first = Floyd L.|last=Davidson|date=2004-04-26|accessdate=2008-10-13|title=Re: Barrow Boy gibberish...}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/html/pdf/news02.pdf|title=Arctic Studies Center Newsletter|accessdate=2008-10-13|date=June 2002|publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]]|work=[[National Museum of Natural History]]}}</ref> It also provided evidence that a population displacement did not occur within the [[Aleutian Islands]] between the Dorset and Thule transition.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.physanth.org/annmeet/aapa2001/ajpasuppl32.pdf |title=Ancestor descendant relationships in North American Arctic prehistory: Ancient DNA evidence from the Aleutian Islands and the Eastern Canadian Arctic. |accessdate=2008-10-13 |first=M.G. |last=Hayes |year=2001 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514033111/http://www.physanth.org/annmeet/aapa2001/ajpasuppl32.pdf |archivedate=May 14, 2008}}</ref> In contrast to other {{Lang|iu|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 the "[[tree line#Arctic|arctic tree line]]", the effective southern border of Inuit society. The most southern "officially recognized" Inuit community in the world is [[Rigolet]]<ref>{{cite web|publisher=rigolet.ca|title=Welcome to Rigolet| url =http://rigolet.ca/| accessdate=2010-06-04}}</ref> in [[Nunatsiavut]]. |
|||
South of Nunatsiavut, the descendants of the southern [[Labrador]] Inuit in [[NunatuKavut]] continued their traditional [[transhumance|transhumant]] semi-nomadic way of life until the mid-1900s. The Nunatukavummuit people usually moved among islands and bays on a seasonal basis. They did not establish stationary communities. In other areas south of the tree line, non-Inuit indigenous cultures were well established. The culture and technology of Inuit society that served so well in the [[Arctic]] were not suited to subarctic regions, so they did not displace their southern neighbours. |
|||
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 was with the [[Vikings]] who settled in [[Norse Greenland|Greenland]] and explored the eastern [[Canada|Canadian]] coast. The [[saga]]s recorded meeting ''{{Lang|mis|[[skræling]]ar}}'', probably an undifferentiated label for all the indigenous peoples whom the Norse encountered, whether {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}}, Inuit, or [[Beothuk]].<ref name="Weidensaul2012">{{cite book|author=Scott Weidensaul|title=The First Frontier: The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery, and Endurance in Early America'|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_cXE4BL25hAC&pg=PA20|year= 2012|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0-547-53956-0|page=20}}</ref> |
|||
After about 1350, the climate grew colder during the period known as the [[Little Ice Age]]. During this period, [[Alaska]]n natives were able to continue their [[whaling]] activities. But, in the high Arctic, Inuit were forced to abandon their hunting and whaling sites as [[bowhead whale]]s disappeared from [[Canada]] and [[Greenland]].<ref name="PerrinWursig2009"/> 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.<ref name="PerrinWursig2009">{{cite book|author1=William F. Perrin|author2=Bernd Wursig|author3=J. G.M. [[Hans Thewissen|Thewissen]]|title=Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2rkHQpToi9sC&pg=PA630|year=2009|publisher=Academic Press|isbn=978-0-08-091993-5|page=630}}</ref> |
|||
The changing climate forced Inuit to work their way south, pushing them into marginal niches along the edges of the tree line. These were areas First Nations had not occupied or where they were weak enough for Inuit to live near them. Researchers have difficulty defining when Inuit stopped this territorial expansion. There is evidence that the Inuit were still moving into new territory in southern Labrador when they first began to interact with [[European colonization of the Americas|European colonists]] in the 17th century.===Pre-contact history=== |
|||
{{For|earlier pre-contact history|Indigenous peoples in Canada#Paleo-Indians period}} |
|||
[[File:Dorset,_Norse,_and_Thule_cultures_900-1500_(vertical)-01.svg|thumb|Dorset, Norse, and Thule cultures 900-1500]] |
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Inuit are the descendants of what [[anthropology|anthropologists]] call the [[Thule people]],<ref name="TriggerWashburn1996">{{cite book|author1=Bruce G. Trigger|author2=Wilcomb E. Washburn|title=The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DRGVjLiyXEwC&pg=PA192|year=1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-57392-4|page=192}}</ref> who emerged from western [[Alaska]] around 1000 CE. They had split from the related [[Aleut]] group about 4000 years ago and from northeastern Siberian migrants. Finally, the [[Chukcha|Chukchi People]], still earlier, descended from the third major migration from Siberia. They spread eastwards across the Arctic.<ref name="DeanMatthews1998">{{cite book|author1=William G. Dean|author2=Geoffrey J. Matthews|title=Concise Historical Atlas of Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dw39BoD0-6cC&pg=PA2|year=1998|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-4203-3|page=2}}</ref> They displaced the related [[Dorset culture]], called the {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} in [[Inuktitut]], which was the last major [[Paleo-Eskimo]] culture.<ref name="ColeGentilcore1987">{{cite book|author1=Harris, R. Cole|author2=R. Louis Gentilcore|author3=Geoffrey J. Matthews |author4=Donald P. Kerr |title=Historical Atlas of Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=itsTLSnw8qgC&pg=PA28|year=1987|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-2495-4|pages=28–29}}</ref> |
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Inuit legends speak of the {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} as "giants", people who were taller and stronger than Inuit.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529123547/http://www.nunavuthandbook.com/parks_pgs_297_331.pdf 101. ''Nunavut Handbook''], Qaummaarviit Historic Park</ref> Less frequently, the legends refer to the Dorset as "dwarfs".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/bitstream/1892/5348/1/b14258730.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514020806/http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/bitstream/1892/5348/1/b14258730.pdf|archivedate=2011-05-14|title=Tooth wear and the sexual division of labor in an Inuit population|accessdate=2011-01-24}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Diamond2006">{{cite book|author=Jared M. Diamond |title=Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail Or Succeed|url=https://archive.org/details/collapse00jare|url-access=registration |year=2006|publisher=Penguin (University of California)|isbn=978-0-14-303655-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/collapse00jare/page/256 256]}}</ref> By 1100 CE, Inuit migrants had reached west Greenland, where they settled.<ref name=":0" /> During the 12th century, they also settled in East Greenland.<ref>{{cite book|author=John F. Hoffecker|title=A Prehistory of the North: Human Settlement of the Higher Latitudes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UEckqQU41KcC&pg=PA3|year=2005|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-3469-5|page=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sandell |first1=Hanne Tuborg |last2=Sandell |first2=Birger |date=1991 |title=Archaeology and Environment in the Scoresby Sund Fjord |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4DaHyIC3DeEC&pg=PA24 |journal=Meddelelser om Grønland Man & Society |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |volume=15 |pages=23 |accessdate=2019-03-18|isbn=9788763512084}}</ref> |
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Faced with population pressures from the Thule and other surrounding groups, such as the [[Algonquian peoples|Algonquian]] and [[Siouan languages|Siouan]]-speaking peoples to the south, the {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} gradually receded.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Dorset : An Enigma = Le Dorset : une énigme| last=Palmer| first=J. W|year=1998|pages=201–222|volume=19|publisher=North American Archaeologist|edition=3}}</ref> The {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} were thought to have become completely extinct as a people by about 1400 or 1500 CE. But, in the mid-1950s, researcher Henry B. Collins determined that, based on the ruins found at [[Native Point]], the [[Sadlermiut]] were likely the last remnants of the Dorset culture, or {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}}.<ref>{{cite book|publisher=National Geographic Magazine|title=Vanished Mystery Men of Hudson Bay|first=Henry B.|last=Collins|volume=Vol. CX No. 5|year=1956|page=674}}</ref> The Sadlermiut population survived up until winter 1902–03, when exposure to new [[infectious disease]]s brought by contact with Europeans led to their extinction as a people.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[Library and Archives Canada]]|title=Aboriginal 7 – Life in Canada|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/art/050602/0506020222_e.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120804215759/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/art/050602/0506020222_e.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-08-04|accessdate=2008-03-21}}</ref> |
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In the early 21st century, [[human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup|mitochondrial DNA]] research has supported the theory of continuity between the {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} and the Sadlermiut peoples.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sci.tech-archive.net/Archive/sci.anthropology/2004-07/1342.html|first = Floyd L.|last=Davidson|date=2004-04-26|accessdate=2008-10-13|title=Re: Barrow Boy gibberish...}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/html/pdf/news02.pdf|title=Arctic Studies Center Newsletter|accessdate=2008-10-13|date=June 2002|publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]]|work=[[National Museum of Natural History]]}}</ref> It also provided evidence that a population displacement did not occur within the [[Aleutian Islands]] between the Dorset and Thule transition.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.physanth.org/annmeet/aapa2001/ajpasuppl32.pdf |title=Ancestor descendant relationships in North American Arctic prehistory: Ancient DNA evidence from the Aleutian Islands and the Eastern Canadian Arctic. |accessdate=2008-10-13 |first=M.G. |last=Hayes |year=2001 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514033111/http://www.physanth.org/annmeet/aapa2001/ajpasuppl32.pdf |archivedate=May 14, 2008}}</ref> In contrast to other {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}} populations, the Aleut and Sadlermiut benefited from both geographical isolation and their ability to adopt certain Thule technologies. |
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In [[Canada]] and [[Greenland]], Inuit circulated almost exclusively north of the "[[tree line#Arctic|arctic tree line]]", the effective southern border of Inuit society. The most southern "officially recognized" Inuit community in the world is [[Rigolet]]<ref>{{cite web|publisher=rigolet.ca|title=Welcome to Rigolet| url =http://rigolet.ca/| accessdate=2010-06-04}}</ref> in [[Nunatsiavut]]. |
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South of Nunatsiavut, the descendants of the southern [[Labrador]] Inuit in [[NunatuKavut]] continued their traditional [[transhumance|transhumant]] semi-nomadic way of life until the mid-1900s. The Nunatukavummuit people usually moved among islands and bays on a seasonal basis. They did not establish stationary communities. In other areas south of the tree line, non-Inuit indigenous cultures were well established. The culture and technology of Inuit society that served so well in the [[Arctic]] were not suited to subarctic regions, so they did not displace their southern neighbours. |
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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. |
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Their first European contact was with the [[Vikings]] who settled in [[Norse Greenland|Greenland]] and explored the eastern [[Canada|Canadian]] coast. The [[saga]]s recorded meeting ''{{Lang|mis|[[skræling]]ar}}'', probably an undifferentiated label for all the indigenous peoples whom the Norse encountered, whether {{Lang|iu|Tuniit}}, Inuit, or [[Beothuk]].<ref name="Weidensaul2012">{{cite book|author=Scott Weidensaul|title=The First Frontier: The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery, and Endurance in Early America'|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_cXE4BL25hAC&pg=PA20|year= 2012|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0-547-53956-0|page=20}}</ref> |
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After about 1350, the climate grew colder during the period known as the [[Little Ice Age]]. During this period, [[Alaska]]n natives were able to continue their [[whaling]] activities. But, in the high Arctic, Inuit were forced to abandon their hunting and whaling sites as [[bowhead whale]]s disappeared from [[Canada]] and [[Greenland]].<ref name="PerrinWursig2009"/> 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.<ref name="PerrinWursig2009">{{cite book|author1=William F. Perrin|author2=Bernd Wursig|author3=J. G.M. [[Hans Thewissen|Thewissen]]|title=Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2rkHQpToi9sC&pg=PA630|year=2009|publisher=Academic Press|isbn=978-0-08-091993-5|page=630}}</ref> |
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The changing climate forced Inuit to work their way south, pushing them into marginal niches along the edges of the tree line. These were areas First Nations had not occupied or where they were weak enough for Inuit to live near them. Researchers have difficulty defining when Inuit stopped this territorial expansion. There is evidence that the Inuit were still moving into new territory in southern Labrador when they first began to interact with [[European colonization of the Americas|European colonists]] in the 17th century. |
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In the century |
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===Post-contact history=== |
===Post-contact history=== |
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[[File:Histoire de l'Amerique Septentrionale - divisée en quatre tomes (1753) (14577039230).jpg|thumb|A European ship coming into contact with Inuit in the ice of Hudson Bay in 1697 |
[[File:Histoire de l'Amerique Septentrionale - divisée en quatre tomes (1753) (14577039230).jpg|thumb|A European ship coming into contact with Inuit in the ice of Hudson Bay in 1697]] |
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====Canada==== |
====Canada==== |
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=====Early contact with Europeans===== |
=====Early contact with Europeans===== |
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The lives of Paleo-Eskimos of the far north were largely unaffected by the arrival of visiting Norsemen except for mutual trade.<ref>McGhee 1992:194 |
The lives of Paleo-Eskimos of the far north were largely unaffected by the arrival of visiting Norsemen except for mutual trade.<ref>McGhee 1992:194{{full citation needed|date=July 2021}}</ref> After the disappearance of the [[Norse colonization of the Americas|Norse colonies in Greenland]], Inuit had no contact with Europeans for at least a century. By the mid-16th century, [[Basque people|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, Newfoundland and Labrador|Red Bay]], Labrador.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/exploration/basque.html|title=Basque Whaling in Red Bay, Labrador |website=Heritage.nf.ca |access-date=24 January 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/exploration/16fishery.html |title=The International Fishery of the 16th Century |website=Heritage.nf.ca |access-date=24 January 2011}}</ref> 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. |
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[[File:Zentralbibliothek Zürich - Merckliche Beschreibung sampt eygenlicher Abbildung eynes frembden unbekanten Volcks - 000003625 (cropped).jpg|thumb|An anonymous 1578 illustration believed to show [[Kalicho]] (left), and [[Arnaq]] and Nutaaq (right)|alt=]] |
[[File:Zentralbibliothek Zürich - Merckliche Beschreibung sampt eygenlicher Abbildung eynes frembden unbekanten Volcks - 000003625 (cropped).jpg|thumb|An anonymous 1578 illustration believed to show [[Kalicho]] (left), and [[Arnaq]] and Nutaaq (right)|alt=]] |
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[[Martin Frobisher]]'s 1576 search for 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 |
[[Martin Frobisher]]'s 1576 search for 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 (Nunavut)|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 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.<ref name="Williams2010">{{cite book |first=Glyn |last=Williams |title=Arctic Labyrinth: The Quest for the Northwest Passage |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H6kwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA20 |date=March 2010 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-26995-8 |page=20}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Inuit in England |website=Inuit & Englishmen: The Nunavut Voyages of Martin Frobisher |publisher=[[Canadian Museum of History]] |url=https://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/hist/frobisher/freng01e.html}}</ref> |
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The semi-nomadic |
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 the early relations with whaling stations along the Labrador coast and later [[James Bay]] were based on a mutual interest in trade.{{sfnp|Mitchell|1996|pages=49–62}} In the final years of the 18th century, the [[Moravian Church]] began missionary activities in Labrador, supported by the British<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Pedersen |first=Anne-Marie |title=Labrador Inuit (Labradormiut) |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |date=8 March 2016 |publisher=[[Historica Canada]] |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/articl}e/labrador-inuit}}</ref> 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 was almost nothing, but whose value to Inuit was enormous. From then on, contacts between the national groups in Labrador were far more peaceful. |
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[[File:HBC-Upper Savage Islands-Hudson Strait.jpg|thumb|alt=The Hudson's Bay Company ships ''Prince of Wales'' and ''Eddystone'' with Inuit boats off the Upper Savage Islands, Hudson Strait, Canada|Hudson's Bay Company Ships bartering with Inuit off the Upper Savage Islands, [[Hudson Strait]], 1819]] |
[[File:HBC-Upper Savage Islands-Hudson Strait.jpg|thumb|alt=The Hudson's Bay Company ships ''Prince of Wales'' and ''Eddystone'' with Inuit boats off the Upper Savage Islands, Hudson Strait, Canada|Hudson's Bay Company Ships bartering with Inuit off the Upper Savage Islands, [[Hudson Strait]], 1819]] |
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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 the enormous social disruptions caused by the distorting effect of Europeans' material wealth and introduction of different materials. Nonetheless, Inuit society in the higher latitudes largely remained in isolation during the 19th century. |
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 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. |
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The [[Hudson's Bay Company]] opened [[trading post]]s such as Great Whale River (1820), today the site of the twin villages of [[ |
The [[Hudson's Bay Company]] opened [[trading post]]s 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 the commercial whale hunt were processed and furs traded. The expedition of 1821–23 to the [[Northwest Passage]] led by [[Commander (Royal Navy)|Commander]] [[William Edward Parry]] twice over-wintered in [[Foxe Basin]].<ref>{{cite DCB |first=Robert E. |last=Johnson |title=William Edward Parry |volume=8 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/parry_william_edward_8E.html}}</ref> 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.<ref>D'Anglure 2002:205{{full citation needed|date=July 2021}}</ref> Captain [[George Comer]]'s Inuk wife Shoofly, known for her sewing skills and elegant attire,<ref>Driscoll 1980:6{{full citation needed|date=July 2021}}</ref> was influential in convincing him to acquire more sewing accessories and beads for trade with Inuit. |
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=====Early 20th century===== |
=====Early 20th century===== |
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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 the homeland of Inuit to be |
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 in the Canadian north|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 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. |
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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 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. |
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 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. |
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Native customs were worn down by the actions of the RCMP, who enforced [[Criminal law of Canada|Canadian criminal law]] on Inuit. People such as [[Kikkik]] often did not understand the rules of the alien society with which they had to interact. In addition, the generally Protestant missionaries of the British preached a [[Morality|moral code]] very different from the one Inuit had as part of their tradition. Many |
Native customs were worn down by the actions of the RCMP, who enforced [[Criminal law of Canada|Canadian criminal law]] on Inuit. People such as [[Kikkik]] often did not understand the rules of the alien society with which they had to interact. In addition, the generally Protestant missionaries of the British preached a [[Morality|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]]''. |
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=====The Second World War to the 1960s===== |
=====The Second World War to the 1960s===== |
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World War II and the Cold War made Arctic Canada strategically important to 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 [[Military airbase|air bases]] and the [[Distant Early Warning Line]] in the 1940s and 1950s brought more intensive |
World War II and the Cold War made Arctic Canada strategically important to 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 [[Military airbase|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 the traditional structure and culture of Inuit society.<ref>{{cite book|last=McGregor|first=Heather E.|title=Inuit Education and Schools in the Eastern Arctic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ySE3BJgBGkYC&pg=PP1|year=2010|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=978-0-7748-5949-3}}</ref> |
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In the 1950s, the [[Government of Canada]] undertook what was called the [[High Arctic relocation]] for several reasons.<!-- How many people involved? How long did it last? --> These were to include protecting Canada's [[Territorial claims in the Arctic|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 the end of their traditional Inuit culture. One of the more notable relocations was undertaken in 1953, when 17 families were moved from [[Inukjuak, Quebec|Port Harrison]] (now Inukjuak, Quebec) to [[Resolute, Nunavut|Resolute]] and [[Grise Fiord, Nunavut|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 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.<ref>{{cite |
In the 1950s, the [[Government of Canada]] undertook what was called the [[High Arctic relocation]] for several reasons.<!-- How many people were involved? How long did it last? --> These were to include protecting Canada's [[Territorial claims in the Arctic|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 the end of their traditional Inuit culture. One of the more notable relocations was undertaken in 1953, when 17 families were moved from [[Inukjuak, Quebec|Port Harrison]] (now Inukjuak, Quebec) to [[Resolute, Nunavut|Resolute]] and [[Grise Fiord, Nunavut|Grise Fiord]].<ref>{{cite press release |title=Government of Canada Apologizes for Relocation of Inuit Families to the High Arctic |publisher=Government of Canada |date=18 August 2010 |url=https://www.canada.ca/en/news/archive/2010/08/government-canada-apologizes-relocation-inuit-families-high-arctic.html}}</ref> 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 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.<ref>{{cite report |title=The High Arctic Relocation: A Report on the 1953–55 Relocation |first1=René |last1=Dussault |first2=George |last2=Erasmus |publisher=[[Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples]] |date=1994 |url=http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2016/bcp-pco/Z1-1991-1-41-3-eng.pdf |isbn=0-660-15544-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite report |chapter=Part Two: False Assumptions and a Failed Relationship: Chapter 11 – Relocation of Aboriginal Communities: 2.2 To Improve the Lives of Aboriginal People |volume=1 – Looking Forward Looking Back |title=Report on the [[Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples]] |chapter-url=http://data2.archives.ca/e/e448/e011188230-01.pdf | pages=434–438 |publisher=Indian and Northern Affairs Canada |date=October 1996 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060513074801/http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ch/rcap/sg/sg38_e.html |archive-date=13 May 2006|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=High Arctic Relocation |url= http://www.gov.nu.ca/education/eng/css/curr/10-12/English/En102030/Relocation%20Modules/gr%2010/H_Arctic/H_ARCTIC.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070204055507/http://www.gov.nu.ca/education/eng/css/curr/10-12/English/En102030/Relocation%20Modules/gr%2010/H_Arctic/H_ARCTIC.pdf |archive-date=4 February 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nutaaq.com/productions/brokenpromises.html |title=Broken Promises: The High Arctic Relocation |website=Nutaaq.com |access-date=24 January 2011}}</ref> |
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By 1953, [[Prime Minister of Canada|Canada's prime minister]] [[Louis St. Laurent]] publicly admitted, "Apparently we have administered the vast territories of the north in an almost continuing absence of mind."<ref name=PK32>Parker |
By 1953, [[Prime Minister of Canada|Canada's prime minister]] [[Louis St. Laurent]] publicly admitted, "Apparently we have administered the vast territories of the north in an almost continuing absence of mind."<ref>{{cite journal |first=Raleigh |last=Parkin |title=The Arctic Institute of North America: The Origin of the Institute |journal=Arctic |volume=19 |issue=1|page=5 |date=March 1966 |doi=10.14430/arctic3410 |url=https://dev.journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/66460/50373|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=PK32>{{cite book|last=Parker|first=John Havelock|title=Arctic Power: The Path to Responsible Government in Canada's North|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lgCXNwAACAAJ&pg=PA32|year=1996|publisher=Cider Press|isbn=978-1-896851-02-0|page=32}}</ref> The government began to establish about forty permanent administrative centers to provide education, health, and economic development services.<ref name=PK32/> Inuit from hundreds of smaller camps scattered across the north began to congregate in these hamlets.{{sfnp|Mitchell|1996|p=118}} |
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Regular visits from doctors |
Regular visits from doctors and access to modern medical care raised the [[birth rate]] and decreased the [[Mortality rate|death rate]], causing a marked [[Demographic transition|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.<ref>{{cite news |first=Ashley |last=Fitzpatrick |date=15 August 2012 |url=http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2012-08-15/article-3052970/Forced-relocation-of-Inuit-acknowledged/1 |title=Forced relocation of Inuit acknowledged |work=The Telegram |archive-url=https://archive.today/20131031025514/http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2012-08-15/article-3052970/Forced-relocation-of-Inuit-acknowledged/1 |archive-date=31 October 2013 }}</ref> By 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 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. |
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Although anthropologists like [[Diamond Jenness]] (1964) were quick to predict that Inuit culture was facing extinction, Inuit political activism was already emerging. |
Although anthropologists like [[Diamond Jenness]] (1964) were quick to predict that Inuit culture was facing extinction, Inuit political activism was already emerging. |
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=====Cultural renewal===== |
=====Cultural renewal===== |
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[[File:Inuit-Kleidung 1.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Igloolik|Iglulingmiut]] Inuit women and child in traditional parkas (1999)]] |
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In the 1960s, the Canadian government funded the establishment of [[Secularity|secular]], government-operated [[high school]]s in the Northwest Territories (including what is now Nunavut) and Inuit areas in Quebec and Labrador along with the [[Canadian Indian residential school system|residential school system]]. The 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, Northwest Territories|Aklavik]], Iqaluit, [[Yellowknife]], [[Inuvik]] and [[Kuujjuaq, Quebec|Kuujjuaq]], brought together young Inuit from across the Arctic in one place for the first time, and exposed them to the rhetoric of [[Civil and political rights|civil]] and [[human rights]] that prevailed in Canada in the 1960s. This was a real wake-up call for the 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 the Inuit and their territories. |
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In the 1960s, the Canadian government funded the establishment of [[Secularity|secular]], government-operated [[high school]]s in the Northwest Territories (including what is now Nunavut) and Inuit areas in Quebec and Labrador along with the [[Canadian Indian residential school system|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, Northwest Territories|Aklavik]], Iqaluit, [[Yellowknife]], [[Inuvik]] and [[Kuujjuaq, Quebec|Kuujjuaq]], brought together young Inuit from across the Arctic in one place for the first time and exposed them to the rhetoric of [[Civil and political rights|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. |
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Inuit began to emerge as a political force in 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 Tapiriit Kanatami|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 the Original People's Entitlement (representing the Inuvialuit),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.connexions.org/CxLibrary/CX2830.htm|title=Committee for Original Peoples Entitlement (COPE)|website=Connexions.org|date=5 June 2007|access-date=24 January 2011}}</ref> 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 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 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. |
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Canada's 1982 Constitution Act recognized |
Canada's 1982 Constitution Act recognized Inuit as Aboriginal peoples in Canada.<ref name="s35"/> In the same year, the [[Tunngavik Federation of Nunavut]] (TFN) was incorporated, in order to take over negotiations for [[Aboriginal land claim|land claims]] on behalf of Inuit living in 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. |
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=====Inuit cabinet members at the federal level===== |
=====Inuit cabinet members at the federal level===== |
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On October 30, 2008, [[Leona Aglukkaq]] was appointed as [[Minister of Health (Canada)|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."<ref>{{cite news|url= |
On October 30, 2008, [[Leona Aglukkaq]] was appointed as [[Minister of Health (Canada)|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."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/nunavut-s-aglukkaq-named-federal-health-minister-1.695400 |publisher=CBC News |title=Nunavut's Aglukkaq named federal health minister |date=30 August 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090119195019/http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2008/10/30/aglukkaq-cabinet.html |archive-date=19 January 2009}}</ref> [[Jack Anawak]] and [[Nancy Karetak-Lindell]] were both [[Parliamentary Secretary|parliamentary secretaries]] respectively from 1993 to 1996 and in 2003. |
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==== Genocide in the 20th and 21st centuries ==== |
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In 2019, the final report, ''Reclaiming Power and Place'',<ref>[https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/final-report/ Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls]</ref> by the [[Missing and murdered Indigenous women#Canadian National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls|National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls]] concluded that Canada was involved in "race-based [[genocide]] of indigenous peoples", resulting in more than 1,000 women killed since 1980.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48503545 Canada 'complicit in race-based genocide' of indigenous women]</ref><ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48481958 Deaths of indigenous women 'a Canadian genocide', leaked report says]</ref> |
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==Nomenclature== |
==Nomenclature== |
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{{See also|Eskimo#Nomenclature}} |
{{See also|Eskimo#Nomenclature}} |
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The term ''Eskimo'' is still used by people;<ref name="NPR"/><ref name="MWD">{{cite web |title=Eskimo |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Eskimo |access-date=1 April 2021 |work=[[Merriam-Webster]]}}</ref><ref name="EEB">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Eskimo |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Eskimo-people |date=28 November 2020}}</ref> however in the 21st century, usage in North America has declined.<ref name=kaplannew/><ref name="global"/> |
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The term "Eskimo" is still sometimes used for the purpose of grouping the Inuit and Yupik peoples together while distinguishing them from American Indians in the United States. The Yupik do not speak an [[Inuit language]] nor consider themselves to be Inuit.<ref name="kaplan"/> However, the term is probably a [[Innu-aimun|Montagnais]]<ref name="aueo">[https://web.archive.org/web/20010222085413/http://www.alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxeskimo.html "Eskimo" by Mark Israel]</ref><ref name="goddard">Goddard, Ives (1984). "Synonymy". In ''Arctic'', ed. David Damas. Vol. 5 of ''Handbook of North American Indians'', ed. William C. Sturtevant, pp. 5–7. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Cited in Campbell 1997</ref><ref name="campbell">Campbell, Lyle (1997). ''American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America'', p. 394. New York: Oxford University Press</ref> [[exonym]] as well as being widely used in<ref name="aueo"/><ref name="mailhot">{{cite journal|last=Mailhot|first=Jose|title=L'etymologie de "esquimau" revue et corrigée|journal=Études/Inuit/Studies|volume=2|issue=2|year=1978}}</ref><ref name="creeml">[http://www.nisto.com/cree/mail/cree-1997-11.txt Cree Mailing List Digest November 1997]</ref><ref name="igoddard">{{cite book|last=Goddard|first=Ives|authorlink=Ives Goddard|title=Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 5 (Arctic)|publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]]|year=1984|isbn=978-0-16-004580-6}}</ref> [[folk etymology]] as meaning "eater of raw meat" in the [[Cree language]].<ref name="natlang">[http://www.native-languages.org/iaq23.htm Setting the Record Straight About Native Languages: What Does "Eskimo" Mean In Cree?]</ref><ref name="bartlebyeskimo">[http://www.bartleby.com/61/24/E0212400.html Eskimo] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010412155403/http://www.bartleby.com/61/24/E0212400.html |date=April 12, 2001}}, ''American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'': Fourth Edition, 2000</ref> However, the word is widely considered pejorative or even a [[racial slur]], particularly amongst the Canadian and English-speaking Greenlandic Inuit.<ref name="natlang"/><ref name="bartlebyeskimo"/> |
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In the United States the term ''[[Eskimo]]'' was, as of 2016, commonly<ref name="NPR">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/04/24/475129558/why-you-probably-shouldnt-say-eskimo |title=Why You Probably Shouldn't Say 'Eskimo' |first=Rebecca |last=Hersher |work=Goats and Soda: Stories of a Life in a Changing World |publisher=NPR |date=24 April 2016}}</ref> 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.<ref name=MWD/><ref name=EEB/> |
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In Canada and Greenland, "Inuit" is preferred. ''Inuit'' is the [[Inuktitut|Eastern Canadian Inuit]] (Inuktitut) and [[Kalaallisut language|West Greenlandic]] (Kalaallisut) word for "the people".<ref name="naming"/> Since Inuktitut and Kalaallisut are the [[prestige dialect]]s in Canada and Greenland, respectively, their version has become dominant, although every Inuit dialect uses cognates from the [[Proto-Eskimo]] ''*ińuɣ'' {{ndash}} for example, "people" is ''inughuit'' in [[Inuktun language|North Greenlandic]] and ''iivit'' in [[Tunumiisut language|East Greenlandic]]. |
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In 2011, Lawrence Kaplan of 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.<ref name="kaplanold">{{cite web |last=Kaplan|first=Lawrence |url=https://www.uaf.edu/anlc/resources/inuit-eskimo/ |title=Inuit or Eskimo: Which names to use? |publisher=[[Alaska Native Language Center]], [[University of Alaska Fairbanks]] |date=1 July 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190112064340/https://www.uaf.edu/anlc/resources/inuit-eskimo/ |archive-date=12 January 2019}}</ref> Since then Kaplan has updated this to indicate that the term ''Inuit'' has gained acceptance in Alaska.<ref name=kaplannew/> |
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Though there is much debate, the word ''Eskimo'' likely derives from a [[Innu-aimun]] (Montagnais)<ref name="aueo">{{cite web |url=https://www.alt-usage-english.org//excerpts/fxeskimo.html |title=Eskimo |first=Mark |last=Israel |website=alt.usage.english.org}}</ref><ref name="goddard">{{cite book |last=Goddard |first=Ives |title=Synonymy |pages=5–7}} in {{harvp|Sturtevant|1984}}</ref><ref name="campbell">{{cite book |last=Campbell |first=Lyle |author-link=Lyle Campbell |title=American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h36tPYqAZPwC&pg=PA394 |year=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-534983-2 |page=394}}</ref> [[exonym]] meaning 'a person who laces a snowshoe',<ref name="mailhot"/><ref name="igoddard"/><ref name="aueo"/><ref name="creeml">{{cite web |url=http://www.nisto.com/cree/mail/cree-1997-11.txt |title=Cree Mailing List Digest November 1997 |access-date=13 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104061608/http://www.nisto.com/cree/mail/cree-1997-11.txt |archive-date=4 November 2019}}</ref> but is also used in [[folk etymology]] as meaning 'eater of raw meat' in the [[Cree language]].<ref name="natlang">{{cite web|url=http://www.native-languages.org/iaq23.htm |title=Setting the Record Straight About Native Languages: What Does "Eskimo" Mean In Cree? |website=Native-languages.org |access-date=13 June 2012}}</ref> Though the Cree etymology has been discredited, "Eskimo" is considered pejorative by some Canadian and English-speaking Greenlandic Inuit.<ref name="natlang"/><ref name="bartlebyeskimo">{{cite web |url=http://www.bartleby.com/61/24/E0212400.html |title=Eskimo |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010412155403/http://www.bartleby.com/61/24/E0212400.html |archive-date=12 April 2001|publisher=Bartleby|work=American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition, 2000 |access-date=13 January 2008}}</ref><ref name=publications>{{cite web |url=http://www.publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/R2-236-2002E.pdf |title=Words First An Evolving Terminology Relating to Aboriginal Peoples in Canada |publisher=Communications Branch, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada |date=October 2002 |quote=The term 'Eskimo', applied to Inuit by European explorers, is no longer used in Canada.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Eskimo |url=https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/eskimo |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210154048/https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/eskimo |archive-date=10 February 2021 |access-date=19 December 2020 |website=Lexico.com}}</ref> |
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In Canada and Greenland, ''Inuit'' is preferred. ''Inuit'' is the [[Inuktitut|Eastern Canadian Inuit]] (Inuktitut) and [[Kalaallisut language|West Greenlandic]] (Kalaallisut) word for 'the people'.<ref name="naming"/> Since Inuktitut and Kalaallisut are the [[prestige dialect]]s in Canada and Greenland, respectively, their version has become dominant, although every Inuit dialect uses cognates from the [[Proto-Eskimo]] ''*ińuɣ'' {{ndash}} for example, "people" is ''inughuit'' in [[Inuktun language|North Greenlandic]] and ''iivit'' in [[Tunumiisut language|East Greenlandic]]. |
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==Cultural history== |
==Cultural history== |
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===Languages=== |
===Languages=== |
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[[File:Inuktitut dialect map.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|alt=Inuktitut dialect map with labels in Inuktitut inuujingajut or local Roman alphabet|Distribution of Inuit dialects]] |
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{{Main|Inuit languages}} |
{{Main|Inuit languages}} |
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[[File:Inuktitut dialect map.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|alt=Inuktitut dialect map with labels in Inuktitut inuujingajut or local Roman alphabet|Distribution of Inuit dialects]] |
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Inuit speak [[Inuinnaqtun]], [[Inuktitut]], [[Inuvialuktun]], and [[Greenlandic language]]s, which belong to the Inuit-Inupiaq branch of the [[Eskimo–Aleut languages|Inuit-Yupik-Unangan language family]].<ref name=ethno/> The Greenlandic languages are divided into: [[West Greenlandic|Kalaallisut]] (Western), [[Inuktun]] (Northern), and [[Tunumiit language|Tunumiit]] (Eastern).<ref>[https://www.ethnologue.com/country/GL/languages "Greenland."] ''Ethnologue.'' Retrieved 18 Oct 2013.</ref> |
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Inuit speak [[Iñupiaq language|Inupiaq (Inupiatun)]], [[Inuinnaqtun]],<ref>{{Ethnologue18|ikt|Inuinnaqtun}}</ref> [[Inuktitut]],<ref name=E18ike>{{Ethnologue18|ike|Inuktitut, Eastern Canadian}}</ref> [[Inuvialuktun]], and [[Greenlandic language]]s,<ref name=E18kal>{{Ethnologue18|kal|Greenlandic}}</ref> which belong to the Inuit-Inupiaq branch of the [[Eskimo–Aleut languages|Inuit-Yupik-Unangan language family]].<ref name=ethno/> |
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Inuktitut is spoken in Canada and along with Inuinnaqtun is one of the official languages of Nunavut; they are known collectively as the Inuit Language.<ref name="lang">[https://web.archive.org/web/20110706191503/http://www.justice.gov.nu.ca/apps/fetch/download.aspx?file=Consolidated%20Law%2FCurrent%2F633640406483281250-1760189776-conssnu2008c10.pdf Consolidation of (S.Nu. 2008, c.10) (NIF) Official Languages Act] and [http://www.justice.gov.nu.ca/apps/fetch/download.aspx?file=Consolidated+Law%2FCurrent%2F634060764873541250-611697957-consSNu2008c17.pdf Consolidation of Inuit Language Protection Act] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706191509/http://www.justice.gov.nu.ca/apps/fetch/download.aspx?file=Consolidated%20Law%2FCurrent%2F634060764873541250-611697957-consSNu2008c17.pdf |date=2011-07-06}}</ref> In the Northwest Territories, Inuvialuktun, Inuinnaqtun and Inuktitut are all official languages.<ref name="lang-2">[https://web.archive.org/web/20110809180703/http://www.nwtlanguagescommissioner.ca/pdf/Official_Languages_act.pdf Northwest Territories Official Languages Act, 1988] (as amended 1988, 1991–1992, 2003)</ref> Kalaallisut is the official language of Greenland.<ref name="Stern2004">{{cite book|author=Pamela R. Stern|title=Historical Dictionary of the Inuit|url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000ster|url-access=registration|date=27 July 2004|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-6556-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000ster/page/75 75]}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Dorais2010">{{cite book|author=Louis-Jacques Dorais|title=Language of the Inuit: Syntax, Semantics, and Society in the Arctic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xKWJbxkZvPwC&pg=PA62|year=2010|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press|isbn=978-0-7735-8162-3|page=62}}</ref> |
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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 language|Central Siberian Yupik]] or Russian predominantly with some Inupiaq linguistic features. |
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Inuit in Alaska and Northern Canada also typically speak [[English language|English]].{{citation needed|date=April 2014}} In Greenland, Inuit also speak [[Danish language|Danish]] and learn [[English language|English]] in school. Canadian Inuit may also speak [[Quebecker language|Québécois French]]. |
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In Canada, three Inuit languages ([[Inuvialuktun]], [[Inuinnaqtun]], [[Inuktitut]]) are spoken. Inuvialuktun 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 the Northwest Territories, where it is also an official language.<ref name="lang">{{cite web |url=https://www.gov.nu.ca/sites/default/files/2015-07-28-official_language_act-conssnu2008c10_0.pdf |title=Consolidation of Official Languages Act |date=11 November 2013 |publisher=Government of Nunavut}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Official Languages Act, SNu 2008, c 10 |date=9 July 2017 |website=Canadian Legal Information Institute |url=https://canlii.ca/t/8lvd}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Inuit Language Protection Act, SNu 2008, c 17 |date=10 November 2020 |website=Canadian Legal Information Institute |url=https://canlii.ca/t/8m2b}}</ref><ref name="lang-2">{{cite web |title=Official Languages Act, RSNWT 1988, c O-1 |website=Canadian Legal Information Institute |date=27 October 2020 |url=https://canlii.ca/t/8htc}}</ref><ref name="lang1">{{cite web| url = https://www.justice.gov.nt.ca/en/files/legislation/official-languages/official-languages.a.pdf | title = Official Languages Act (Northwest Territories| date = 1998 | access-date = 5 August 2021|publisher = Government of the Northwest Territories}}</ref><ref name="lang2">{{cite web|url=https://www.pwnhc.ca/official-languages-of-the-northwest-territories/|title=Official Languages of the Northwest Territories|access-date=5 August 2021|publisher=[[Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre]]|archive-date=19 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019184622/https://www.pwnhc.ca/official-languages-of-the-northwest-territories/|url-status=dead}}</ref> |
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Finally, Deaf Inuit speak [[Inuit Sign Language]], which is a [[language isolate]] and almost extinct as only around 50 people still speak it.<ref>{{e18|iks|Inuit Sign Language}}</ref> |
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Kalaallisut is the official language of Greenland.<ref name="Stern2004">{{cite book |first=Pamela R. |last=Stern |title=Historical Dictionary of the Inuit |url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000ster/page/75 |url-access=registration |date=2004 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-6556-3 |page=75}}</ref> The Greenlandic languages are divided into: [[West Greenlandic|Kalaallisut]] (Western), [[Inuktun]] (Northern), and [[Tunumiit language|Tunumiit]] (Eastern). As Inuktitut was the language of the Eastern Canadian Inuit<ref name="E18ike" /> and Kalaallisut is the language of the Western Greenlandic Inuit,<ref name="E18kal" /> they are related more closely than most other dialects.<ref name="Dorais2010">{{cite book|last=Dorais|first=Louis-Jacques|title=The Language of the Inuit: Syntax, Semantics, and Society in the Arctic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xKWJbxkZvPwC&pg=PA62|year=2010|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|isbn=978-0-7735-8162-3|page=62}}</ref> |
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Inuit in Alaska and Northern Canada also typically speak English.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.clo-ocol.gc.ca/en/newsletter/2013/04/05/the-languages-of-nunavut-a-delicate-balance |title=The languages of Nunavut: A delicate balance |publisher=[[Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages]] |date=5 April 2013 |access-date=20 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140806140832/https://www.clo-ocol.gc.ca/en/newsletter/2013/04/05/the-languages-of-nunavut-a-delicate-balance |archive-date=6 August 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> In Greenland, Inuit also speak [[Danish language|Danish]] and learn [[English language|English]] in school. Inuit in Russia mostly speak Russian and Central Siberian Yupik. Canadian Inuit, particularly those from Nunavik, may also speak [[Quebec French|Québécois French]]. |
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Finally, deaf Inuit use [[Inuit Sign Language]], which is a [[language isolate]] and is almost extinct as only around 50 people still use it.<ref>{{Ethnologue18|iks|Inuit Sign Language}}</ref> |
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===Diet=== |
===Diet=== |
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{{Main|Inuit diet}} |
{{Main|Inuit diet}} |
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Inuit have traditionally been fishermen and hunters. They still hunt [[whale]]s (esp. [[bowhead whale]]), [[Pinniped|seal]], (esp. [[ringed seal]], [[harp seal]], [[Harbor seal|common seal]], [[bearded seal]]), [[polar bear]]s, [[muskox]]en, [[caribou]], [[birds]], and [[fish]] and at times other less commonly eaten animals such as the [[Arctic fox]]. The typical Inuit diet is high in [[protein]] and very high in [[Animal fat|fat]] – in their traditional diets, Inuit consumed an average of 75 percent of their daily energy intake from fat.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/the-inuit-paradox |title=The Inuit Paradox |work=[[Discover (magazine)|Discover]] |first1=Patricia |last1=Gadsby |first2=Leon |last2=Steele |date=19 January 2004}}</ref> While it is not possible to cultivate plants for food in the Arctic, Inuit have traditionally gathered those that are naturally available. [[Poaceae|Grasses]], [[tuber]]s, [[root]]s, [[Edible plant stem|plant stems]], [[berry|berries]], and [[seaweed]] (''kuanniq'' or edible seaweed) were collected and preserved depending on the season and the location.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kuhnlein |first1=Harriet V. |author-link=Harriet V. Kuhnlein |title=Traditional Plant Foods of Canadian Indigenous Peoples: Nutrition, Botany and Use |last2=Turner |first2=Nancy J. |publisher=Taylor and Francis |year=1991 |isbn=978-2-88124-465-0 |edition=1st |series=Food and Nutrition in History and Anthropology, Volume 8 |pages=26–29 |chapter=Chapter 4. Descriptions and Uses of Plant Foods by Indigenous Peoples |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fPDErXqH8YYC&q=inuit+seaweed&pg=PA26}}</ref><ref>{{cite report |url=https://www.itk.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Arctic-Wildlife.pdf |title=Arctic Wildlife |access-date=20 November 2007 |publisher=[[Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami]] |page=2 |quote=Not included are the myriad of other species of plants and animals that Inuit use, such as geese, ducks, rabbits, ptarmigan, swans, halibut, clams, mussels, cod, berries and seaweed.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Bennett|first1=John|last2=Rowley |first2=Susan |title=Uqalurait: An Oral History of Nunavut |year=2004 |publisher=[[McGill-Queen's University Press]]|isbn=978-0-7735-2340-1|pages=78–85|chapter=Chapter 5. Gathering|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6cjGnMRRrcEC&q=inuit+seaweed&pg=PA84 |quote=...shorelines, Inuit gathered seaweed and shellfish. For some, these foods were a treat;...}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.livingdictionary.com/term/viewTerm.jsp?term=132285700004|title=kuanniq|work=Asuilaak Living Dictionary|access-date=16 February 2007}}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> There is a vast array of different [[North American Hunting Technologies|hunting technologies]] that Inuit used to gather their food. |
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In the 1920s, anthropologist [[Vilhjalmur Stefansson]] lived with and studied a group of Inuit.<ref name=JAMA_Lieb>Lieb |
In the 1920s, anthropologist [[Vilhjalmur Stefansson]] lived with and studied a group of Inuit.<ref name=JAMA_Lieb>{{cite journal |last1=Lieb |first1=Clarence W. |date=1926 |title=The Effects of an Exclusive Long-Continued Meat Diet |journal=[[Journal of the American Medical Association|JAMA]] |volume=87|issue=1|pages=25–26 |doi=10.1001/jama.1926.02680010025006}}</ref> 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 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 animal food diets|raw meat]] such as [[ringed seal]] [[Liver (food)|liver]] and whale skin ([[muktuk]]). While there was considerable skepticism when he reported these findings, the initial anecdotal reports were reaffirmed both in the 1970s,<ref>{{cite Q|Q34227145|first1=Kang-Jey |last1=Ho |first2=Belma |last2=Mikkelson |first3=Lena A. |last3=Lewis |first4=Sheldon A. |last4=Feldman |first5=C. Bruce |last5=Taylor}}</ref> and more recently.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://openheart.bmj.com/content/4/2/e000673#ref-1 |last1=DiNicolantonio |first1=JJ |last2=O'Keefe |first2=J |title=Markedly increased intake of refined carbohydrates and sugar is associated with the rise of coronary heart disease and diabetes among the Alaskan Inuit |journal=Open Heart |date=2017 |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=e000673 |doi=10.1136/openhrt-2017-000673|pmid=29259789 |pmc=5729304 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://openheart.bmj.com/content/3/2/e000444 |last=DiNicolantonio |first=JJ |title=Increase in the intake of refined carbohydrates and sugar may have led to the health decline of the Greenland Eskimos |journal=Open Heart |date=2016 |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=e000444 |doi=10.1136/openhrt-2016-000444|pmid=27547433 |pmc=4975865 }}</ref> |
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However, the Inuit have lifespans 12 to 15 years shorter than the average Canadian's, which is thought to be a result of limited access to medical services.<ref name="reuterslife">[https://www.reuters.com/article/2008/01/23/us-inuit-idUSN2362426520080123 Inuit lifespan stagnates while Canada's rises]</ref> The life expectancy gap is not closing.<ref name="reuterslife"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.itk.ca/sites/default/files/private/factsheet-seriesFINAL2.pdf |accessdate=May 29, 2013 |url-status=dead|title=Inuit & Cancer: Fact sheets|publisher=Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami|date=February 2009 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023013249/https://www.itk.ca/sites/default/files/private/factsheet-seriesFINAL2.pdf |archivedate=October 23, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |
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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<ref name="MRZimmerman">{{cite Q|Q35650916|last=Zimmerman |first=M.R.}}</ref> and limited access to medical services.<ref name="reuterslife">{{Cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-inuit-idUSN2362426520080123 |title=Inuit lifespan stagnates while Canada's rises |publisher=Reuters |date=23 January 2008 |archive-date=13 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151113174017/http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/01/23/us-inuit-idUSN2362426520080123 |url-status=live |last1=Spicer |first1=Jonathan}}</ref> The life expectancy gap is not closing and remains stagnant.<ref name="reuterslife"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.itk.ca/sites/default/files/private/factsheet-seriesFINAL2.pdf |access-date=29 May 2013 |title=Inuit & Cancer: Fact sheets |publisher=Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami|date=February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023013249/https://www.itk.ca/sites/default/files/private/factsheet-seriesFINAL2.pdf |archive-date=23 October 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite Q|Q34227145}}</ref> |
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| last1 = Wilkins | first1 = R. |
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| last2 = Uppal | first2 = S. |
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===Tattoos=== |
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| last3 = Finès | first3 = P. |
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{{Main|Kakiniit}} |
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| last4 = Senècal | first4 = S. |
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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 the women's lives, such as where they were from, who their family was, their life achievements, and their position in the community.<ref name=video>{{cite web |title=Inuk woman shares the meaning behind her traditional tattoos |format=Video 4:47 |website=CBC/Radio-Canada |date=29 September 2021 |access-date=19 February 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuaA1I9YKbY}}</ref> When [[Catholic]] missionaries arrived in the area in the early 20th century<ref>{{cite web |title=Catholic church marks 100 years in Eastern Arctic |website=CBC |date=8 February 2012 |access-date=19 February 2022 |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/catholic-church-marks-100-years-in-eastern-arctic-1.1252093#:~:text=The%20first%20Catholic%20mission%20in,in%20what%20is%20now%20Nunavut.}}</ref> they outlawed the practice,{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Reclaiming Inuit culture, one tattoo at a time |website=CNN Travel |date=23 October 2019 |access-date=19 February 2022 |author=Jennifer Allford |url=https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/inuit-tattoos-culture-canada/index.html}}</ref> The traditional method of tattooing was done with needles made of sinew or bone soaked in suet and sewn into the skin, but today they use ink.<ref name=video /> The Inuit Tattoo Revitalization Project is a community that was created to highlight the revitalization of this ancient tradition.<ref>{{cite web |title=Keeping Tradition Alive: The Inuit Tattoo Revitalization Project |author=Ross Howerton |website=Tattoodo |date=6 September 2016 |access-date=19 February 2022 |url=https://www.tattoodo.com/articles/keeping-tradition-alive-the-inuit-tattoo-revitalization-project-9894#:~:text=The%20Inuit%20Tattooing%20Revitalization%20Project,towns%20and%20tattoo%20Inuit%20women.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=How Inuit Women Are Using Tattoos to Reclaim Their Own Skin |date=10 February 2021 |access-date=19 February 2022 |website=Inuit Art Quarterly |author=John Geoghegan |url=https://www.inuitartfoundation.org/iaq-online/healing-ink}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tunniit: Retracing the Lines of Inuit Tattoos |format=Documentary |access-date=19 February 2022 |website=Unikkaat Studios Inc. |url=http://www.unikkaat.com/projects/tunniit-retracing-the-lines-of-inuit-tattoos/}}</ref> |
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| last5 = Guimond | first5 = E. |
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| last6 = Dion | first6 = R. |
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| title = Life expectancy in the Inuit-inhabited areas of Canada, 1989 to 2003 |
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| journal = Health Reports |
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| volume = 19 |
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| issue = 1 |
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| pages = 7–19 |
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| year = 2008 |
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| pmid = 18457208 |
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}}</ref> |
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Furthermore, [[Fish oil|fish oil supplement]] studies have failed to support claims of preventing heart attacks or strokes.<ref name="NYT-20150917-cz">{{cite news |last=Zimmer |first=Carl |authorlink=Carl Zimmer |title=Inuit Study Adds Twist to Omega-3 Fatty Acids' Health Story |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/22/science/inuit-study-adds-twist-to-omega-3-fatty-acids-health-story.html |date=September 17, 2015 |work=[[New York Times]] |accessdate=October 11, 2015}}</ref><ref name="NYT-20150330">{{cite news |last=O'Connor |first=Anahad |title=Fish Oil Claims Not Supported by Research |url=http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/30/fish-oil-claims-not-supported-by-research/ |date=March 30, 2015 |work=[[New York Times]] |accessdate=October 11, 2015}}</ref><ref name="JAMA-201403">{{cite journal |last1=Grey |first1=Andrew |last2=Bolland |first2=Mark |title=Clinical Trial Evidence and Use of Fish Oil Supplements |date=March 2014 |journal=[[JAMA Internal Medicine]] |volume=174 |issue=3 |pages=460–462 |doi=10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.12765 |pmid=24352849|doi-access=free }}</ref> |
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===Transport, navigation, and dogs=== |
===Transport, navigation, and dogs=== |
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{{See also|Inuit navigation}} |
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[[File:Inuit man by Curtis - Noatak AK.jpg|thumb|alt=Photograph of an Inuit man seated in a kayak, holding a paddle|Inupiat man in a kayak, Noatak, Alaska, c. 1929 (photo by [[Edward S. Curtis]])]] |
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[[File:Inuit man by Curtis - Noatak AK.jpg|thumb|alt=Photograph of an Inuit man seated in a kayak, holding a paddle|Inupiat man in a kayak, Noatak, Alaska, {{Circa|1929}} (photo by [[Edward S. Curtis]])]] |
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[[File:Qinngorput-Nuuk.JPG|thumb|Urbanization in [[Greenland]]]] |
[[File:Qinngorput-Nuuk.JPG|thumb|Urbanization in [[Greenland]]]] |
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Inuit hunted [[Marine biology|sea animals]] from single-passenger, seal-skin covered boats called ''[[Kayak|qajaq]]'' (Inuktitut syllabics: ''ᖃᔭᖅ'')<ref name=livingdict>{{cite web|url=http://www.livingdictionary.com/term/viewTerm.jsp?term=49141890685|title=Qajaq|work=Asuilaak Living Dictionary|access-date=12 May 2007}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> which were extraordinarily buoyant, and could be righted by a seated person, even if completely overturned. Because of this property, the design was copied by [[Demographics of Europe|Europeans]] and Americans who still produce them under Inuit name [[kayak]]. |
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[[File: |
[[File:Covered Basket, Eskimo, Alaska, undated, coiled dyed and undyed rye grass - Chazen Museum of Art - DSC01872.JPG|thumb|upright|Covered Inuit basket, Alaska, undated]] |
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Inuit also made ''[[Umiak|umiaq]]'' ("woman's boat"), larger open boats made of wood frames covered with animal skins, for transporting people, goods, and dogs. They were {{convert|6|-|12|m|ft|abbr=on}} long and had a flat bottom so that the boats could come close to shore. In the winter, Inuit would also hunt [[Marine mammal|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. |
Inuit also made ''[[Umiak|umiaq]]'' ("woman's boat"), larger open boats made of wood frames covered with animal skins, for transporting people, goods, and dogs. They were {{convert|6|-|12|m|ft|abbr=on}} long and had a flat bottom so that the boats could come close to shore. In the winter, Inuit would also hunt [[Marine mammal|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. |
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In winter, both on land and on sea ice, |
In winter, both on land and on sea ice, Inuit used [[dog sled]]s (''qamutik'') for transportation. The ''[[husky]]'' dog breed comes from the [[Siberian Husky]]. These dogs were bred from wolves, for transportation. A [[Sled dog|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,<ref>{{cite web|last=Hegener|first=Helen|url=http://mushinghistory.blogspot.com/2008/12/inuit-sled-dog.html|title=The Inuit Sled Dog|publisher=Mushinghistory.blogspot.com|date=30 December 2008|access-date=24 January 2011}}</ref> 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 the coastline. |
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Dogs played an integral role in the annual routine of |
Dogs played an integral role in the annual routine of Inuit. During the summer they became pack animals, sometimes dragging up to {{convert|20|kg|abbr=on}} of baggage and in the winter they pulled the sled. Yearlong they assisted with hunting by sniffing out seals' holes and pestering polar bears. They also protected Inuit villages by barking at bears and strangers. Inuit generally favoured, and tried to breed, the most striking and handsome of dogs, especially ones with bright eyes and healthy coats. Common husky dog breeds used by Inuit were the [[Canadian Eskimo Dog]], the official animal of Nunavut,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.assembly.nu.ca/about-legislative-assembly/official-animal-nunavut |title=The Official Animal of Nunavut: The Canadian Inuit Dog |publisher=Legislative Assembly of Nunavut |access-date=25 February 2011 |archive-date=31 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140831065018/http://www.assembly.nu.ca/about-legislative-assembly/official-animal-nunavut}}</ref> (''Qimmiq''; Inuktitut for dog), the [[Greenland Dog]], the [[Siberian Husky]] and the [[Alaskan Malamute]]. |
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===Industry, art, and clothing=== |
===Industry, art, and clothing=== |
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{{Main|Inuit art|Inuit clothing}} |
{{Main|Inuit art|Inuit clothing}} |
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[[File:Tøj til kvinde fra Rensdyr-inuit i arktisk Canada - Woman’s clothing from Caribou Inuit in Arctic Canada (15307253096).jpg|Caribou skin |
[[File:Tøj til kvinde fra Rensdyr-inuit i arktisk Canada - Woman’s clothing from Caribou Inuit in Arctic Canada (15307253096).jpg|Caribou skin [[amauti]] from Nunavut|thumb|upright]] |
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[[File:Tøj til pige fra inuit i Vestgrønland - Girl’s clothing from Inuit in West Greenland (15143578500).jpg|[[Kalaallit]] girl's clothing from Western Greenland|thumb]] |
[[File:Tøj til pige fra inuit i Vestgrønland - Girl’s clothing from Inuit in West Greenland (15143578500).jpg|[[Kalaallit]] girl's clothing from Western Greenland|thumb|upright]] |
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Inuit industry relied almost exclusively on animal hides, [[driftwood]], and bones, although some tools were also made out of worked stones, particularly the readily worked [[soapstone]]. [[Walrus ivory]] was a particularly essential material, used to make knives. Art played a big part in Inuit society and continues to do so today. Small sculptures of animals and human figures, usually depicting everyday activities such as [[hunting]] and whaling, were carved from [[ivory]] and bone. In modern times [[Printmaking|prints]] and figurative works carved in relatively soft stone such as [[soapstone]], [[serpentinite]], or [[argillite]] have also become popular. |
Inuit industry relied almost exclusively on animal hides, [[driftwood]], and bones, although some tools were also made out of worked stones, particularly the readily worked [[soapstone]]. [[Walrus ivory]] was a particularly essential material, used to make knives. Art played a big part in Inuit society and continues to do so today. Small sculptures of animals and human figures, usually depicting everyday activities such as [[hunting]] and whaling, were carved from [[ivory]] and bone. In modern times [[Printmaking|prints]] and figurative works carved in relatively soft stone such as [[soapstone]], [[serpentinite]], or [[argillite]] have also become popular. |
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Traditional [[Inuit clothing]] and footwear is made from animal skins, sewn together using needles made from animal bones and threads made from other animal products, such as [[Tendon|sinew]]. The [[anorak]] (parka) is made in a similar fashion by Arctic peoples from Europe through [[Asia]] and the Americas, including |
Traditional [[Inuit clothing]] and footwear is made from animal skins, sewn together using needles made from animal bones and threads made from other animal products, such as [[Tendon|sinew]]. The [[anorak]] (parka) is made in a similar fashion by Arctic peoples from Europe through [[Asia]] and the Americas, including Inuit. The back part of an ''[[amauti]]'' (women's parka) was traditionally made extra-large with a separate compartment below the hood to allow the mother to carry a baby against her back and protect it from the harsh wind.{{sfnp|Ohokak|Kadlun|Harnum|p=10}} Styles vary from region to region, from the shape of the hood to the length of the tails. Boots (''[[mukluk]]''<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Gadacz |first=René R. |title=Mukluk |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |date=20 October 2015 |publisher=[[Historica Canada]] |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/mukluk}}</ref> or ''kamik''<ref>{{cite web |title=Kamik |work=Collins Dictionary |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/kamik |access-date=12 July 2021}}</ref>), could be made of caribou or seal skin, and designed for men and women. |
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[[File:Inuit- |
[[File:Inuit-Igloo P.png|thumb|Group of Inuit building an igloo]] |
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During the winter, certain Inuit lived in a temporary shelter made from snow called an ''[[igloo]]'', and during the few months of the year when temperatures were above freezing, they lived in tents, known as ''[[tupiq]]'', |
During the winter, certain Inuit lived in a temporary shelter made from snow called an ''[[igloo]]'', and during the few months of the year when temperatures were above freezing, they lived in tents, known as ''[[tupiq]]'',{{sfnp|Ohokak|Kadlun|Harnum|p=10}} made of animal skins supported by a frame of bones or wood.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Larsen|first1=Olga Popovic|last2=Tyas|first2=Andy|title=Conceptual Structural Design: Bridging the Gap Between Architects and Engineers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8H2q0KUZeOsC&pg=PA19|year=2003|publisher=Thomas Telford|isbn=978-0-7277-3235-4|page=19}} |
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</ref><ref>{{ |
</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.inuvialuitsodhouse.ca/dwellings/warm-season/ |title=Warm Season Dwellings: Tupiq |access-date=20 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021052212/http://www.inuvialuitsodhouse.ca/dwellings/warm-season/ |archive-date=21 October 2013 }}</ref> Some, such as the [[Siglit]], used driftwood,<ref>{{cite Q|Q56521440|last1=Arnold|first1=Charles D.|last2=Hart|first2=Elisa J.}}</ref> while others built [[sod]] houses.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Richard M. |last1=Levy |first2=Peter C. |last2=Dawson |first3=Charles |last3=Arnold |title=Reconstructing traditional Inuit house forms using three-dimensional interactive computer modelling |journal=[[Visual Studies (journal)|Visual Studies]] |volume=19 |issue=1 |date=2004 |pages=26–36 |url=https://www.ucalgary.ca/~rmlevy/Thule/Documents/Visual%20Studies%20Final%20Copy.pdf |doi=10.1080/1472586042000204825 |s2cid=53394477}}</ref> |
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Inuit also used the [[Cape York Meteorite]] as a primary resource of Iron, using a technique called [[cold forging]], which consisted in slicing a piece of the meteorite and giving it shape by smashing it with rocks until getting the desired shape, for example, tools for fishing. They used this meteorite for centuries until [[Robert E. Peary]] sold it to the [[American Natural History Museum]] in 1883.<ref>{{cite report |title=The Cultural History of the Innaanganeq/Cape York Meteorite |url=https://now.ku.dk/documents/Meteorit2014FinalReportLight.pdf |publisher=Greenland National Museum & Archives |date=2015 |access-date=2 July 2021 |archive-date=6 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506114615/https://now.ku.dk/documents/Meteorit2014FinalReportLight.pdf}}</ref> |
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===Gender roles, marriage, birth, and community=== |
===Gender roles, marriage, birth, and community=== |
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{{See also|Eskimo kinship|Inuit women}} |
{{See also|Eskimo kinship|Inuit women}} |
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[[File:Inuit Woman 1907 Crisco edit 2.jpg|thumb|Inupiat woman, [[Alaska]], circa 1907]] |
[[File:Inuit Woman 1907 Crisco edit 2.jpg|thumb|upright|Inupiat woman, [[Alaska]], circa 1907]] |
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The [[division of labor]] in traditional Inuit society had a strong gender component, but it was not absolute. The men were traditionally hunters and fishermen and the women took care of the children, cleaned the home, sewed, processed food, and cooked. However, there are numerous examples of women who hunted, out of necessity or as a personal choice. At the same time men, who could be away from camp for several days at a time, would be expected to know how to sew and cook. |
The [[division of labor]] in traditional Inuit society had a strong gender component, but it was not absolute. The men were traditionally hunters and fishermen, and the women took care of the children, cleaned the home, sewed, processed food, and cooked. However, there are numerous examples of women who hunted, out of necessity or as a personal choice. At the same time, men, who could be away from camp for several days at a time, would be expected to know how to sew and cook.{{sfnp|Billson|Mancini|2007|p=38}} |
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The marital customs among |
The marital customs among Inuit were not strictly [[Monogamy|monogamous]]: many Inuit relationships were implicitly or explicitly sexual. [[Open marriage]]s, [[polygamy]], [[divorce]], and remarriage were known. Among some Inuit groups, if there were children, divorce required the approval of the community and particularly the agreement of the elders. Marriages were often [[Arranged marriage|arranged]], sometimes [[child marriage|in infancy]], and occasionally [[forced marriage|forced on the couple]] by the community.{{sfnp|Billson|Mancini|2007|p=65}} |
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[[File:Inupiat Family from Noatak, Alaska, 1929, Edward S. Curtis (restored).jpg|thumb|An Inupiat family from [[Noatak, Alaska]], 1929 |
[[File:Inupiat Family from Noatak, Alaska, 1929, Edward S. Curtis (restored).jpg|thumb|An Inupiat family from [[Noatak, Alaska]], 1929]] |
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Marriage was common for women at puberty and for men when they became productive hunters. [[Family]] structure was flexible: a household might consist of a [[Nuclear family| |
Marriage was common for women at puberty and for men when they became productive hunters. [[Family]] structure was flexible: a household might consist of a [[Nuclear family|husband and wife]] (or wives) and children; it might include his [[Complex family|parents or his wife's parents]] as well as adopted children; it might be a [[Extended family|larger formation]] of several siblings with their parents, wives, and children; or even more than one family sharing dwellings and resources. Every household had its head, either an elder or a particularly respected man.{{sfnp|Billson|Mancini|2007|p=56}} |
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There was also a larger notion of community as, generally, several families shared a place where they wintered. Goods were shared within a household, and also, to a significant extent, within a whole community. |
There was also a larger notion of community as, generally, several families shared a place where they wintered. Goods were shared within a household, and also, to a significant extent, within a whole community. |
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Inuit were [[hunter–gatherer]]s,<ref>{{cite book |last=Snow |first=Dean R. |chapter=The first Americans and the differentiation of hunter-gatherer cultures North America. |editor1=Bruce G. Trigger |editor-link1=Bruce Trigger |editor2=Wilcomb E. Washburn |editor-link2=Wilcomb E. Washburn |volume= I: North America |title=The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1996 |pages=125–200 |isbn=978-1-1390-5555-0 |doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521573924.004}}</ref> and have been referred to as [[nomad]]ic.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dsp-psd.communication.gc.ca/Collection/R2-251-2003E-3.pdf |title=The Inuit |access-date=24 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706181657/http://dsp-psd.communication.gc.ca/Collection/R2-251-2003E-3.pdf |archive-date=6 July 2011}}</ref> |
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One of the customs following the birth of an infant was for an ''[[Angakkuq]]'' ([[Shamanism|shaman]]) to place a tiny [[ivory]] carving of a whale into the baby's mouth, in hopes this would make the child good at hunting. Loud singing and drumming were also customary |
One of the customs following the birth of an infant was for an ''[[Angakkuq]]'' ([[Shamanism|shaman]]) to place a tiny [[ivory]] carving of a whale into the baby's mouth, in hopes this would make the child good at hunting. Loud singing and drumming were also customary at birth.<ref>{{cite book |last=Olmert |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Olmert |title=Milton's Teeth and Ovid's Umbrella: Curiouser and Curiouser Adventures in History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IiNBAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA158|year=1996|publisher=Touchstone|isbn=978-0-684-80164-3|page=158}}</ref> |
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===Raiding=== |
===Raiding=== |
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Virtually all Inuit cultures have [[oral tradition]]s of raids by other |
Virtually all Inuit cultures have [[oral tradition]]s of raids by other Indigenous peoples, including fellow Inuit, and of taking vengeance on them in return, such as the [[Bloody Falls massacre]]. Western observers often regarded these tales as generally not entirely accurate historical accounts, but more as self-serving myths. However, evidence shows that Inuit cultures had quite accurate methods of teaching historical accounts to each new generation.<ref name="burch">{{cite magazine |title=From Skeptic to Believer: The Making of an Oral Historian | first=Ernest S. Jr. |last=Burch |url=http://www.alaskool.org/projects/traditionalife/oralhistory/skeptic_to_believer.htm |magazine=Alaska History |volume=6 |issue=1 |date=Spring 1991}}</ref> In northern Canada, historically there were ethnic feuds between the [[Dene]] and Inuit, as witnessed by [[Samuel Hearne]] in 1771.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hearne|first=Samuel|author-link=Samuel Hearne|title=A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay, to the Northern Ocean |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V5NcAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP1|year=1795|publisher=A. Strahan and T. Cadell|location=London|pages=114–162}}</ref> In 1996, Dene and Inuit representatives participated in a healing ceremony to reconcile the centuries-old grievances.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/cbc-s-david-mclauchlin-dies-at-56-1.382941 |publisher=CBC News |title=CBC's David McLauchlin dies at 56 |date=26 May 2003 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080620203125/http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2003/05/26/mclauchlin_obit030526.html |archive-date=20 June 2008}}</ref> |
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The historic accounts of violence against outsiders |
The historic accounts of violence against outsiders make it clear that there was a history of hostile contact within Inuit cultures and with other cultures.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fienup-Riordan|first=Ann|title=Eskimo Essays: Yup'ik Lives and how We See Them|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=erhrp9-RHiYC&pg=PP1|year=1990|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-1589-2}}</ref> It also makes it clear that Inuit nations existed through history, as well as confederations of such nations. The known confederations were usually formed to defend against a more prosperous, and thus stronger, nation. Alternately, people who lived in less productive geographical areas tended to be less warlike, as they had to spend more time producing food. |
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Justice within Inuit culture was moderated by the form of governance that gave significant power to the elders. As in most cultures around the world, justice could be harsh and often included capital punishment for serious crimes against the community or the individual. During raids against other peoples, |
Justice within Inuit culture was moderated by the form of governance that gave significant power to the elders. As in most cultures around the world, justice could be harsh and often included capital punishment for serious crimes against the community or the individual. During raids against other peoples, Inuit, like their non-Inuit neighbors, tended to be merciless.<ref name="attituq">{{cite web|url=http://www.nunatsiaq.com/archives/nunavut000131/nunani.html|title=War |first=Rachel Attituq |last=Qitsualik |work=Nunatsiaq.com |access-date=24 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090823183025/http://www.nunatsiaq.com/archives/nunavut000131/nunani.html |archive-date=23 August 2009}}</ref> |
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===Suicide, murder, and death=== |
===Suicide, murder, and death=== |
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{{anchor|Suicide}} |
{{anchor|Suicide}} |
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{{further|Suicide in Greenland|Suicide in Canada#Among the Inuit|l2=Suicide among Canadian aboriginal people}} |
{{further|Suicide in Greenland|Suicide in Canada#Among the Inuit|l2=Suicide among Canadian aboriginal people}} |
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A pervasive European myth about Inuit is that they killed elderly ([[senicide]]) and "unproductive people",<ref>{{cite |
A pervasive European myth about Inuit is that they killed elderly ([[senicide]]) and "unproductive people",<ref>{{cite Q|Q56521443}}</ref> but this is not generally true.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Senilicide and Invalidicide among the Eskimos |first=Rolf |last=Kjellstrom |journal=Folk: Dansk Etnografisk Tidsskrift |volume=16/17 |issue=1 |pages=117–124 |date=1974 |hdl=10822/767368}}</ref><ref>{{cite Q|Q64013807|author1=Leighton, Alexander H. |author2=Hughes, Charles C.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Oswalt|first=Wendell H.|title=Eskimos and Explorers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1qK0Hn4qsjwC&pg=PP1|edition=second|year=1999|orig-year=1979|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|isbn=0-8032-8613-9}}{{page needed|date=July 2021}}</ref> In a culture with an [[oral history]], elders are the keepers of communal knowledge, effectively the community library.<ref name="nso0">{{cite web |url=http://www.nativescience.org/html/traditional_knowledge.html |title=What is Traditional Knowledge? |publisher=Alaska Native Science Commission |access-date=5 May 2008}}</ref> Because they are of extreme value as the repository of knowledge, there are cultural [[taboo]]s against sacrificing elders.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kawagley|first=Angayuqaq Oscar|title=A Yupiaq Worldview: A Pathway to Ecology and Spirit, Second Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hdEYAAAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|edition=Second|year=2006|publisher=Waveland Press|isbn=978-1-4786-0921-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Eskimos|first=Ernest S.|last=Burch |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-2126-0|year=1988|page=21 |quote=Given the importance that Eskimos attached to the aged, it is surprising that so many Westerners believe that they systematically eliminated elderly people as soon as they became incapable of performing the duties related to hunting or sewing.|url=https://archive.org/details/eskimos00burc/page/21}}</ref> |
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In [[Antoon Leenaars|Antoon A. Leenaars]]' book ''Suicide in Canada'' he states that "[[Knud Rasmussen|Rasmussen]] found that the death of elders by suicide was a commonplace among the Iglulik Inuit". |
In [[Antoon Leenaars|Antoon A. Leenaars]]' book ''Suicide in Canada,'' he states that "[[Knud Rasmussen|Rasmussen]] found that the death of elders by suicide was a commonplace among the Iglulik Inuit".{{sfnp|Leenaars|Kral|Dyck|1998|page=196}} |
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According to [[Franz Boas]], suicide was "not of rare occurrence" and was generally accomplished through hanging.<ref>Boas, Franz (1964, p. 207)</ref> Writing of the Labrador Inuit, Hawkes (1916) was considerably more explicit on the subject of suicide and the burden of the elderly: |
According to [[Franz Boas]], suicide was "not of rare occurrence" and was generally accomplished through hanging.<ref>Boas, Franz (1964), p. 207){{full citation needed|date=July 2021}}</ref> Writing of the Labrador Inuit, Hawkes (1916) was considerably more explicit on the subject of suicide and the burden of the elderly: |
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{{ |
{{blockquote |text=Aged people who have outlived their usefulness and whose life is a burden both to themselves and their relatives are put to death by stabbing or strangulation. This is customarily done at the request of the individual concerned, but not always so. Aged people who are a hindrance on the trail are abandoned. |author=Leenaars et al. |source=''Suicide in Canada''{{sfnp|Leenaars|Kral|Dyck|1998|page=195}} }} |
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When food is not sufficient, the elderly are the least likely to survive. In the extreme case of [[famine]], |
When food is not sufficient, the elderly are the least likely to survive. In the extreme case of [[famine]], Inuit fully understood that, if there was to be any hope of obtaining more food, a hunter was necessarily the one to feed on whatever food was left. However, a common response to desperate conditions and the threat of starvation was [[infanticide]].{{sfnp|Billson|Mancini|2007|p=64}}<ref>{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1200/is_n22_v146/ai_15952600/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120720002434/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1200/is_n22_v146/ai_15952600/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1|archive-date=20 July 2012|title=Female infanticide: northern exposure – {{sic|nolink=yes|Intuit}} may have killed one out of every five female babies between 1880 and 1940|publisher=Findarticles.com|date=26 November 1994|access-date=24 January 2011|first=Bruce|last=Bower}}</ref> A mother abandoned an infant in hopes that someone less desperate might find and adopt the child before the cold or animals killed it. The belief that Inuit regularly resorted to infanticide may be due in part to studies done by Asen Balikci,<ref>{{cite book|last=Balikci|first=Asen|title=The Netsilik Eskimo|url=https://archive.org/details/netsilikeskimo0000bali|year=1970|publisher=American Museum of Natural History|location=Garden City, New York|isbn=978-0-385-05766-0}}</ref> Milton Freeman<ref>{{cite Q|Q56521444|author=Freeman, Milton M.R.|jstor=672815|doi-access=free}}</ref> and David Riches<ref>{{cite Q|Q56521445|author=Riches, David|jstor=3773051}}</ref> among the Netsilik, along with the trial of [[Kikkik]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nunatsiaq.com/archives/nunavut020621/news/features/20621_1.html |title=Remembering Kikkik |work=Nunatsiaq News |date=21 June 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080607013315/http://www.nunatsiaq.com/archives/nunavut020621/news/features/20621_1.html |archive-date=7 June 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://mysteriesofcanada.com/nunavut/kikkik/ |title=Kikkik, When Justice Was Done |website=MysteriesofCanada.com |access-date=24 January 2011}}</ref> Other recent research has noted that "While there is little disagreement that there were examples of infanticide in Inuit communities, it is presently not known the depth and breadth of these incidents. The research is neither complete nor conclusive to allow for a determination of whether infanticide was a rare or a widely practiced event."<ref>{{cite book|last=Hund|first=Andrew |editor1=Brigitte Bechtold |editor2=Donna Cooper Graves|title=An Encyclopedia of Infanticide|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yj6acQAACAAJ&pg=PP1|year=2010|location=[[Lewiston, New York]]|publisher=[[Edwin Mellen Press]]|isbn=978-0-7734-1402-0|chapter=Inuit}}</ref> There is no agreement about the actual estimates of the frequency of newborn female infanticide in Inuit population. [[Carmel Schrire]] mentions diverse studies ranging from 15 to 80 percent.<ref>{{cite Q|Q56049886|last1=Schrire |first1=Carmel |author-link=Carmel Schrire |first2=William Lee|last2=Steiger |jstor=2800072}}</ref> |
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Anthropologists believed that Inuit cultures routinely killed children born with physical defects because of the demands of the extreme climate. These views were changed by late 20th century discoveries of burials at an archaeological site. Between 1982 and 1994, a storm with high winds caused ocean waves to erode part of the bluffs near [[ |
Anthropologists believed that Inuit cultures routinely killed children born with physical defects because of the demands of the extreme climate. These views were changed by late 20th century discoveries of burials at an archaeological site. Between 1982 and 1994, a storm with high winds caused ocean waves to erode part of the bluffs near [[Utqiaġvik, Alaska]], and a body was discovered to have been washed out of the mud. Unfortunately, the storm claimed the body, which was not recovered. But examination of the eroded bank indicated that an ancient house, perhaps with other remains, was likely to be claimed by the next storm. The site, known as the "Ukkuqsi archaeological site", was excavated. Several frozen bodies (now known as the "frozen family") were recovered, autopsies were performed, and they were re-interred as the first burials in the then-new Imaiqsaun Cemetery south of Barrow.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hess|first=Bill|title=Gift of the Whale: The Inupiat Bowhead Hunt, a Sacred Tradition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nb2-rZLR95EC&pg=PP1|year=2003|publisher=Sasquatch Books|isbn=978-1-57061-382-1}}{{page needed|date=July 2021}}</ref> Years later another body was washed out of the bluff. It was a female child, approximately nine years old, who had clearly been born with a [[Congenital disorder|congenital birth defect]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.echonsb.org/docs/BarrowVisitorsGuide2006.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529083129/http://www.echonsb.org/docs/BarrowVisitorsGuide2006.pdf |archive-date=29 May 2008|title=Barrow Visitors Guide 2006|work=Touch Alaska}}</ref> This child had never been able to walk, but must have been cared for by family throughout her life.<ref name="deargirl">{{cite web|url=http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/html/dear_young_girl.html|title=Dear Young Girl|access-date=12 April 2008|archive-date=24 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151224202352/http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic//html/dear_young_girl.html}}</ref> She was the best preserved body ever recovered in Alaska, and radiocarbon dating of grave goods and of a strand of her hair all place her back to about 1200 CE.<ref name="deargirl"/> |
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===Health=== |
===Health=== |
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{{See also|Indian hospital}} |
{{See also|Indian hospital}} |
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During the 19th century, the Western Arctic suffered a population decline of close to 90 |
During the 19th century, the Western Arctic suffered a population decline of close to 90 per cent, resulting from exposure to new diseases, including [[tuberculosis]], [[measles]], [[influenza]], and [[smallpox]]. Autopsies near Greenland reveal that, more commonly [[pneumonia]], [[Nephrology|kidney diseases]], [[trichinosis]], [[malnutrition]], and [[Degenerative disease|degenerative disorders]] may have contributed to mass deaths among different Inuit tribes. Inuit believed that the causes of the disease were of a spiritual origin.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Morrison|first1=David A.|last2=Germain|first2=Georges-Hébert|title=Inuit: Glimpses of an Arctic Past|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AWd1AAAAMAAJ&pg=PP1|year=1995|publisher=Canadian Museum of Civilization|isbn=978-0-660-14038-4}}{{Page needed|date=July 2021}}</ref> |
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Canadian churches and, eventually, the federal government |
Canadian churches and, eventually, the federal government ran the earliest health facilities for Inuit population, whether fully segregated hospitals or "annexes" and wards attached to settler hospitals. These "[[Indian hospital]]s" were focused on treating people for tuberculosis, though diagnosis was difficult and treatment involved forced removal of individuals from their communities for in-patient confinement in other parts of the country. |
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"In October (2017) the federal Minister of Indigenous Services, Jane Philpott, announced that in 2015 tuberculosis |
Dr. Kevin Patterson, a physician, wrote an op-ed in ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'': "In October (2017) the federal Minister of Indigenous Services, Jane Philpott, announced that in 2015 tuberculosis{{spaces|1}}... Was 270 times{{spaces|1}}... More common among the Canadian Inuit than it is among non-Indigenous southern Canadians." The Canadian Medical Association Journal published in 2013 that "tuberculosis among Canadian Inuit has dramatically increased since 1997. In 2010 the incidence in Nunavut{{spaces|1}}... Was 304 per 100,000—more than 66 times the rate seen in the general population.<ref>{{cite news |first=Kevin |last=Patterson |title=Out in the cold: What the TB crisis in Nunavut reveals about Canada |work=[[The Globe and Mail]] |date=29 March 2018 |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-out-in-the-cold-what-the-tb-crisis-in-nunavut-reveals-about-canada/}}</ref> |
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===Traditional law=== |
===Traditional law=== |
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{{Main|Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit}} |
{{Main|Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit}} |
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Inuit traditional laws are anthropologically different from [[Western law]] concepts. [[Custom (law)|Customary law]] was thought non-existent in Inuit society before the introduction of the [[Law of Canada|Canadian legal system]]. [[E. Adamson |
[[Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit]] or Inuit traditional laws are anthropologically different from [[Western law]] concepts. [[Custom (law)|Customary law]] was thought non-existent in Inuit society before the introduction of the [[Law of Canada|Canadian legal system]]. In 1954, [[E. Adamson Hoebel]] concluded that only "rudimentary law" existed amongst Inuit. No known Western observer before 1970 was aware that any form of governance existed among any Inuit;<ref name=tpm>{{cite web|url=http://nac.nu.ca/OnlineBookSite/vol2/introduction.html |title=Tirigusuusiit, Piqujait and Maligait: Inuit Perspectives on Traditional Law |access-date=17 October 2007|work=Nunavut Arctic College |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221063926/http://nac.nu.ca/OnlineBookSite/vol2/introduction.html |archive-date=21 February 2011}}</ref> however, there was a set way of doing things that had to be followed: |
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* ''maligait'' refers to what has to be followed |
* ''maligait'' refers to what has to be followed |
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* ''piqujait'' refers to what has to be done |
* ''piqujait'' refers to what has to be done |
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* ''tirigusuusiit'' refers to what has to be avoided |
* ''tirigusuusiit'' refers to what has to be avoided |
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If an individual's actions went against the tirigusuusiit, maligait or piqujait, the [[angakkuq]] (shaman) might have to intervene, lest the consequences be dire to the individual or the community.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tradition-orale.ca/english/tirigusuusiit-and-maligait-58.html|title=Tirigusuusiit and Maligait| |
If an individual's actions went against the tirigusuusiit, maligait or piqujait, the [[angakkuq]] (shaman) might have to intervene, lest the consequences be dire to the individual or the community.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tradition-orale.ca/english/tirigusuusiit-and-maligait-58.html|title=Tirigusuusiit and Maligait|access-date=17 October 2007|work=Listening to our past}}</ref> |
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{{ |
{{Blockquote|We are told today that Inuit never had laws or "maligait". Why? They say because they are not written on paper. When I think of paper, I think you can tear it up, and the laws are gone. The laws of the Inuit are not on paper.|Mariano Aupilaarjuk, Rankin Inlet, Nunavut|''Perspectives on Traditional Law''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://voices-unabridged.net/format/creat_ss_format.php?id_ss_article=14|title=When Survival Means Preserving Oral Traditions|access-date=17 October 2007|last=Eileen|first=Travers|date=1 January 2003|publisher=voices-unabridged.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511032958/http://voices-unabridged.net/format/creat_ss_format.php?id_ss_article=14 |archive-date=11 May 2011}}</ref>}} |
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==Traditional beliefs== |
==Traditional beliefs== |
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{{See also|Inuit |
{{See also|Inuit religion|Inuit astronomy}} |
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[[File:Polarlicht.jpg|thumb|Some Inuit (including Alaska Natives) believed that the spirits of their ancestors could be seen in the [[Aurora (astronomy)|aurora borealis]] ]] |
[[File:Polarlicht.jpg|thumb|Some Inuit (including Alaska Natives) believed that the spirits of their ancestors could be seen in the [[Aurora (astronomy)|aurora borealis]]. ]] |
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The environment in which |
The environment in which Inuit lived inspired a [[mythology]] filled with adventure tales of whale and walrus hunts. Long winter months of waiting for caribou herds or sitting near breathing holes hunting seals gave birth to stories of the mysterious and sudden appearance of ghosts and fantastic creatures. Some Inuit looked into the ''[[Aurora (astronomy)|aurora borealis]]'', or northern lights, to find images of their family and friends dancing in the next life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/M2634?Lang=1&accessnumber=M2634|title=Aurora borealis observation journal of Sir George Back|publisher=Mccord-museum.qc.ca|access-date=24 January 2011}}</ref> However, some Inuit believed that the lights were more sinister and if you [[Whistling|whistled]] at them, they would come down and cut off your head. This tale is still told to children today.<ref name="CAAE">{{cite web|url=http://www.aurora-inn.mb.ca/borealis.html|title=The Canadian Association of Aboriginal Entrepreneurship|publisher=Aurora-inn.mb.ca|access-date=24 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511084622/http://www.aurora-inn.mb.ca/borealis.html |archive-date=11 May 2011}}</ref> For others they were invisible giants, the souls of animals, a guide to hunting and as a spirit for the ''angakkuq'' to help with healing.<ref name="CAAE"/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/firstnationsinui0000robe|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/firstnationsinui0000robe/page/6 6]|quote=aurora borealis Inuit.|title=First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples : exploring their past, present, and future|publisher=Emond Montgomery Publications|access-date=24 January 2011|isbn=978-1-55239-167-9|year=2006|last1=Roberts|first1=John A.|last2=Sproule|first2=Fredrick C.|last3=Montgomery|first3=Randy}}</ref> They relied upon the ''angakkuq'' (shaman) for spiritual interpretation. The nearest thing to a central deity was the Old Woman (''[[Sedna (mythology)|Sedna]]''), who lived beneath the sea. The waters, a central food source, were believed to contain great gods. |
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Inuit practiced a form of shamanism based on [[Animism|animist]] principles. They believed that all things had a form of spirit, including humans, and that to some extent these spirits could be influenced by a [[Pantheon (gods)|pantheon]] of supernatural entities that could be appeased when one required some animal or inanimate thing to act in a certain way. The ''angakkuq'' of a community of Inuit was not the leader, but rather a sort of healer and [[Psychotherapy|psychotherapist]], who tended wounds and offered advice, as well as invoking the spirits to assist people in their lives. Their role was to see, interpret and exhort the subtle and unseen. ''Angakkuit'' were not trained; they were held to be born with the ability and recognized by the community as they approached adulthood. |
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Inuit religion was closely tied to a system of rituals integrated into the daily life of the people. These rituals were simple but held to be necessary. According to a customary Inuit saying, |
[[Inuit religion]] was closely tied to a system of rituals integrated into the daily life of the people. These rituals were simple but held to be necessary. According to a customary Inuit saying, "The great peril of our existence lies in the fact that our diet consists entirely of souls".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.first-nations.info/inuit-spirit-mythology.html |publisher=First-Nations.info|title=Inuit Spirit Mythology|date=21 September 2014|access-date=4 June 2021}}</ref> |
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By believing that all things, including animals, have souls like those of humans,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://oceanwide-expeditions.com/blog/the-greenland-inuit-s-belief-of-soul-and-body|title=Greenlandic Inuit Beliefs|publisher=Aurora-inn.mb.ca|access-date=4 June 2021|last=Brears|first=Robert C.}}</ref> any hunt that failed to show appropriate respect and customary supplication would only give the liberated spirits cause to avenge themselves. |
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{{Quote|The great peril of our existence lies in the fact that our diet consists entirely of souls.}} |
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The harshness and unpredictability of life in the Arctic ensured that Inuit lived with concern for the uncontrollable, where a streak of bad luck could destroy an entire community. To offend a spirit was to risk its interference with an already marginal existence. Inuit understood that they had to work in harmony with supernatural powers to provide the necessities of day-to-day life. |
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By believing that all things, including animals, have souls like those of humans, any hunt that failed to show appropriate respect and customary supplication would only give the liberated spirits cause to avenge themselves. |
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The harshness and unpredictability of life in the Arctic ensured that Inuit lived with concern for the uncontrollable, where a streak of bad luck could destroy an entire community. To offend a spirit was to risk its interference with an already marginal existence. The Inuit understood that they had to work in harmony with supernatural powers to provide the necessities of day-to-day life. |
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==Demographics== |
==Demographics== |
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In total there are about 148,000 Inuit living in four countries, Canada, Greenland, Denmark |
In total, there are about 148,000 Inuit living in four countries, Canada, Greenland, Denmark and the United States.<ref name="caninu"/><ref name="geinu"/><ref name="dkinu"/><ref name="usinu"/> |
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{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible" |
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|+Inuit Demographics by Region |
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!Country |
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!Region |
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!data-sort-type=number |Inuit population |
|||
!data-sort-type=number |Inuit population concentration |
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!Inuit territory |
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|- |
|||
|Canada |
|||
|[[Nunavut]] |
|||
|30,865<ref name=":2" /> |
|||
|84.33% |
|||
|[[Inuit Nunangat]] |
|||
|- |
|||
|Canada |
|||
|[[Quebec]] |
|||
|15,800<ref name=":2" /> |
|||
|0.19% |
|||
|[[Nunavik]] ([[Inuit Nunangat]]) |
|||
|- |
|||
|Canada |
|||
|[[Newfoundland and Labrador]] |
|||
|7,330<ref name=":2" /> |
|||
|1.46% |
|||
|[[Nunatsiavut]] ([[Inuit Nunangat]]) |
|||
|- |
|||
|Canada |
|||
|[[Ontario]] |
|||
|4,310<ref name=":2" /> |
|||
|0.03% |
|||
|No |
|||
|- |
|||
|Canada |
|||
|[[Northwest Territories]] |
|||
|4,155<ref name=":2" /> |
|||
|10.29% |
|||
|[[Inuvialuit Settlement Region]] ([[Inuit Nunangat]]) |
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|- |
|||
|Canada |
|||
|[[Alberta]] |
|||
|2,950<ref name=":2" /> |
|||
|0.07% |
|||
|No |
|||
|- |
|||
|Canada |
|||
|[[British Columbia]] |
|||
|1,720<ref name=":2" /> |
|||
|0.03% |
|||
|No |
|||
|- |
|||
|Canada |
|||
|[[Nova Scotia]] |
|||
|1,100<ref name=":2" /> |
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|0.12% |
|||
|No |
|||
|- |
|||
|Canada |
|||
|[[Manitoba]] |
|||
|730<ref name=":2" /> |
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|0.06% |
|||
|No |
|||
|- |
|||
|Canada |
|||
|[[New Brunswick]] |
|||
|685<ref name=":2" /> |
|||
|0.09% |
|||
|No |
|||
|- |
|||
|Canada |
|||
|[[Saskatchewan]] |
|||
|460<ref name=":2" /> |
|||
|0.04% |
|||
|No |
|||
|- |
|||
|Canada |
|||
|[[Yukon]] |
|||
|260<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Indigenous Population Profile, Statistics Canada 2021 |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/ipp-ppa/search-recherche/lst/results-resultats.cfm?Lang=E&GEOCODE=10#resgeo |website=Statistics Canada| date=21 June 2023 }}</ref> |
|||
|0.66% |
|||
|[[Inuvialuit Settlement Region]] ([[Inuit Nunangat]]) |
|||
|- |
|||
|Canada |
|||
|[[Prince Edward Island]] |
|||
|180<ref name=":2" /> |
|||
|0.12% |
|||
|No |
|||
|- |
|||
|Denmark |
|||
|[[Capital Region of Denmark|Hovedstaden]] |
|||
|5,498<ref name=":3" /> |
|||
|0.31% |
|||
|No |
|||
|- |
|||
|Denmark |
|||
|[[Region of Southern Denmark|Syddanmark]] |
|||
|4,411<ref name=":3" /> |
|||
|0.34% |
|||
|No |
|||
|- |
|||
|Denmark |
|||
|[[Central Denmark Region|Midtjylland]] |
|||
|3,822<ref name=":3" /> |
|||
|0.33% |
|||
|No |
|||
|- |
|||
|Denmark |
|||
|[[Region Zealand|Sjælland]] |
|||
|2,664<ref name=":3" /> |
|||
|0.33% |
|||
|No |
|||
|- |
|||
|Denmark |
|||
|[[North Jutland Region|Nordjylland]] |
|||
|2,168<ref name=":3">"Grønlænderebosiddende i Danmark" (PDF). The North Atlantic Group in the Danish Parliament. 1 January 2006. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2020.</ref> |
|||
|0.44% |
|||
|No |
|||
|- |
|||
|Greenland |
|||
|[[Sermersooq]] |
|||
|23,416<ref name=":1" /> |
|||
|95.20% (90.44%) |
|||
|Yes |
|||
|- |
|||
|Greenland |
|||
|[[Avannaata]] |
|||
|10,693<ref name=":1" /> |
|||
|92.14% (87.53%) |
|||
|Yes |
|||
|- |
|||
|Greenland |
|||
|[[Qeqqata]] |
|||
|9,252<ref name=":1" /> |
|||
|98.10% (93.20%) |
|||
|Yes |
|||
|- |
|||
|Greenland |
|||
|[[Qeqertalik]] |
|||
|6,284<ref name=":1" /> |
|||
|98.56% (93.63%) |
|||
|Yes |
|||
|- |
|||
|Greenland |
|||
|[[Kujalleq]] |
|||
|6,266<ref name=":1" /> |
|||
|96.28% (91.47%) |
|||
|Yes |
|||
|- |
|||
|United States |
|||
|[[Alaska]] |
|||
|14,718<ref name="usinu" /><ref name="akinu" /> |
|||
|2.00% |
|||
|Yes |
|||
|- |
|||
|United States |
|||
|[[Washington (state)|Washington]] |
|||
|1,863<ref name="usinu" /><ref name="seattle" /> |
|||
|0.02% |
|||
|No |
|||
|} |
|||
===Canada=== |
===Canada=== |
||
{{As of|2016|alt=As of the [[2016 Canadian census]]}}, there were 65,025 people identifying as Inuit living in Canada. This was up 29.1 per cent from the [[2006 Canadian census]]. Close to three-quarters (72.8 per cent) of Inuit lived in one of the four regions comprising [[Inuit Nunangat]] (Nunavut, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut, and Inuvialuit Settlement Region). From 2006 to 2016, Inuit population grew by 20.1 per cent inside Inuit Nunangat.<ref name="2016 Key Results">{{cite web |date=25 October 2017|title=Aboriginal peoples in Canada: Key results from the 2016 Census |work=The Daily |publisher=[[Statistics Canada]] |url=https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/171025/dq171025a-eng.htm}}</ref> |
|||
Although the 50,480<ref name="caninu2">{{cite web |url = http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/prof/92-594/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=01&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&Data=Count&SearchText=Canada&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&GeoLevel=PR&GeoCode=01 |title = 2006 Aboriginal Population Profile (Canada) |website = [[Statistics Canada]] |date = January 15, 2008 |accessdate = October 20, 2013}}</ref> Inuit listed in the [[Canada 2006 Census|2006 Canada Census]] can be found throughout Canada the majority, 44,470, live in four regions.<ref name="nlinu"/><ref name="ntinu"/><ref name="nuinu"/><ref name="qcinu"/> |
|||
The largest population of Inuit in Canada {{as of|2016|lc=y}} live in [[Nunavut]] with 30,140<ref name="2016 Key Results"/> Inuit out of a total population of 35,580 residents.<ref name=caninu/><ref name="2016 Highlights">{{cite web |title=Aboriginal Peoples Highlight Tables, 2016 Census |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/hlt-fst/abo-aut/Table.cfm?Lang=Eng&T=101&S=99&O=A |publisher=Statistics Canada |date=2 October 2020}}</ref> Between 2006 and 2016, Inuit population of Nunavut grew by 22.5 per cent.<ref name="2016 Key Results"/> In Nunavut, Inuit population forms a majority in all communities and is the only [[Provinces and territories of Canada|jurisdiction of Canada]] where Aboriginal peoples form a majority.<ref name="2016 Highlights"/> |
|||
{{As of|2016}}, there were 13,945 Inuit living in [[Quebec]].<ref name="2016 Highlights"/> The majority, about 11,795, live in [[Nunavik]].<ref name=caninu/> Inuit population of Nunavik grew 23.3 per cent between the 2006 and 2016 censuses. This was the fastest growth among all four regions of Inuit Nunangat.<ref name="2016 Key Results"/> |
|||
As of the 2006 Canada Census there were 4,715 Inuit living in [[Newfoundland and Labrador]]<ref name="nlinu">{{cite web |url = http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/prof/92-594/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=10&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&Data=Count&SearchText=Newfoundland%20and%20Labrador&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&GeoLevel=PR&GeoCode=10 |title = 2006 Aboriginal Population Profile (Newfoundland and Labrador) |website = [[Statistics Canada]] |date = January 15, 2008 |accessdate = October 20, 2013}}</ref> and about 2,160 live in [[Nunatsiavut]].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/prof/92-594/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=BAND&Code1=10640001&Geo2=PR&Code2=10&Data=Count&SearchText=Nunatsiavut&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&GeoLevel=PR&GeoCode=10640001 |title = 2006 Aboriginal Population Profile (Nunatsiavut) |website = [[Statistics Canada]] |date = January 15, 2008 |accessdate = October 20, 2013}}</ref> There are also about 6,000 [[NunatuKavut people]] (Labrador Metis or Inuit-metis) living in southern [[Labrador]] in what is called [[NunatuKavut]].<ref>[http://www.nunatukavut.ca/home/about.htm NunatuKavut About Us]</ref> |
|||
{{As of|2016|alt=The 2016}} Canada Census found there were 6,450 Inuit living in [[Newfoundland and Labrador]]<ref name="2016 Highlights"/> including 2,285 who live in [[Nunatsiavut]].<ref name=caninu/> In Nunatsiavut, Inuit population grew by 6.0 per cent between 2006 and 2016.<ref name="2016 Key Results"/> |
|||
As of the 2006 Canada Census there were 4,165 Inuit living in the [[Northwest Territories]].<ref name="ntinu">{{cite web |url = http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/prof/92-594/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=61&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&Data=Count&SearchText=Northwest%20Territories&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&GeoLevel=PR&GeoCode=61 |title = 2006 Aboriginal Population Profile (Northwest Territories) |website = [[Statistics Canada]] |date = January 15, 2008 |accessdate = October 20, 2013}}</ref> The majority, about 3,115, live in the six communities of the [[Inuvialuit Settlement Region]].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/prof/92-594/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=BAND&Code1=61640004&Geo2=PR&Code2=61&Data=Count&SearchText=Inuvialuit&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&GeoLevel=PR&GeoCode=61640004 |title = 2006 Aboriginal Population Profile (Inuvialuit) |website = [[Statistics Canada]] |date = January 15, 2008 |accessdate = October 20, 2013}}</ref> |
|||
{{As of|2016}}, there were 4,080 Inuit living in the [[Northwest Territories]].<ref name="2016 Highlights"/> The majority, 3,110, live in the six communities of the [[Inuvialuit Settlement Region]].<ref name=caninu/> Inuit population growth in the region was largely flat between 2006 and 2016.<ref name="2016 Key Results"/> |
|||
As of the 2006 Canada Census there were 24,640 Inuit living in [[Nunavut]].<ref name="nuinu">{{cite web |url = http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/prof/92-594/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=62&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&Data=Count&SearchText=Nunavut&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&GeoLevel=PR&GeoCode=62 |title = 2006 Aboriginal Population Profile (Nunavut) |website = [[Statistics Canada]] |date = January 15, 2008 |accessdate = October 20, 2013}}</ref> In Nunavut the Inuit population forms a majority in all communities and is the only [[Provinces and territories of Canada|jurisdiction of Canada]] where Aboriginal peoples form a majority. |
|||
Outside of Inuit Nunangat, Inuit population was 17,695 {{as of|2016|lc=y}}.<ref name=caninu/> This was a growth of 61.9 per cent between the 2006 and 2016 censuses.<ref name="2016 Key Results"/> The highest populations of Inuit outside of Inuit Nunangat lived in the Atlantic provinces (30.6 per cent) with 23.5 per cent lived in Newfoundland and Labrador. A further 21.8 per cent outside of Inuit Nunangat lived in Ontario, 28.7 per cent lived in the western provinces, 12.1 per cent lived in Quebec, while 6.8 per cent lived in the Northwest Territories (not including the Inuvialuit region) and Yukon.<ref name="2016 Key Results"/> |
|||
As of the 2006 Canada Census there were 10,950 Inuit living in [[Quebec]].<ref name="qcinu">{{cite web |url = http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/prof/92-594/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=24&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&Data=Count&SearchText=Quebec&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&GeoLevel=PR&GeoCode=24 |title = 2006 Aboriginal Population Profile (Quebec) |website = [[Statistics Canada]] |date = January 15, 2008 |accessdate = October 20, 2013}}</ref> The majority, about 9,565, live in [[Nunavik]].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/prof/92-594/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=BAND&Code1=24640002&Geo2=PR&Code2=24&Data=Count&SearchText=Nunavik&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&GeoLevel=PR&GeoCode=24640002 |title = 2006 Aboriginal Population Profile (Nunavik) |website = [[Statistics Canada]] |date = January 15, 2008 |accessdate = October 20, 2013}}</ref> |
|||
Included in the population of Newfoundland and Labrador outside of Inuit Nunangat is the unrecognized Inuit territory of [[NunatuKavut]] where about 6,000 [[NunatuKavummiut]] (formerly known as "Labrador-metis") reside in southern [[Labrador]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Who We Are |url=https://nunatukavut.ca/about/who-we-are/ |website=Nunatukavut.ca |access-date=15 July 2021}}</ref> The numbers are not projected to rise in any significant way because of the enrollment requirements, which require proof Inuit ancestry and demonstrated connection with NunatuKavut society.<ref>{{cite web |title=NunatuKavut Constitution |url=https://nunatukavut.ca/site/uploads/2019/05/Revised-Constitution-November-2019-clean-copy.pdf/ |access-date=29 April 2024}}</ref> |
|||
{| class="wikitable sortable" |
|||
|+Inuit '''population in Canada by region in selected censuses''' |
|||
!Province/Territory |
|||
!1931 |
|||
!1941 |
|||
!1951 |
|||
!1961 |
|||
!1971 |
|||
!1981 |
|||
!1996 |
|||
!2011 |
|||
!2016 |
|||
!2021 |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[Newfoundland and Labrador]] |
|||
| - |
|||
| - |
|||
|769 |
|||
|815 |
|||
|1055 |
|||
|1850 |
|||
|4265 |
|||
|6265 |
|||
|6450 |
|||
|7330 |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[Prince Edward Island]] |
|||
|0 |
|||
|0 |
|||
|0 |
|||
|0 |
|||
|0 |
|||
|30 |
|||
|15 |
|||
|55 |
|||
|75 |
|||
|180 |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[Nova Scotia]] |
|||
|0 |
|||
|4 |
|||
|3 |
|||
|4 |
|||
|20 |
|||
|130 |
|||
|210 |
|||
|695 |
|||
|790 |
|||
|1100 |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[New Brunswick]] |
|||
|0 |
|||
|0 |
|||
|0 |
|||
|0 |
|||
|5 |
|||
|5 |
|||
|120 |
|||
|485 |
|||
|385 |
|||
|685 |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[Quebec]] |
|||
|1159 |
|||
|1778 |
|||
|1989 |
|||
|2467 |
|||
|3755 |
|||
|4875 |
|||
|8300 |
|||
|12570 |
|||
|13945 |
|||
|15800 |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[Ontario]] |
|||
|0 |
|||
|3 |
|||
|18 |
|||
|212 |
|||
|760 |
|||
|1095 |
|||
|1300 |
|||
|3360 |
|||
|3860 |
|||
|4310 |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[Manitoba]] |
|||
|62 |
|||
|1 |
|||
|26 |
|||
|208 |
|||
|130 |
|||
|230 |
|||
|360 |
|||
|580 |
|||
|605 |
|||
|730 |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[Saskatchewan]] |
|||
|0 |
|||
|4 |
|||
|3 |
|||
|2 |
|||
|75 |
|||
|145 |
|||
|190 |
|||
|295 |
|||
|360 |
|||
|460 |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[Alberta]] |
|||
|3 |
|||
|4 |
|||
|47 |
|||
|85 |
|||
|135 |
|||
|515 |
|||
|795 |
|||
|1985 |
|||
|2495 |
|||
|2950 |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[British Columbia]] |
|||
|0 |
|||
|7 |
|||
|26 |
|||
|25 |
|||
|210 |
|||
|510 |
|||
|815 |
|||
|1570 |
|||
|1615 |
|||
|1720 |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[Yukon]] |
|||
|85 |
|||
|0 |
|||
|30 |
|||
|40 |
|||
|10 |
|||
|95 |
|||
|110 |
|||
|180 |
|||
|225 |
|||
|260 |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[Northwest Territories]] |
|||
|4670 |
|||
|5404 |
|||
|6822 |
|||
|7977 |
|||
|11400 |
|||
|15910 |
|||
|24600 |
|||
|4335 |
|||
|4080 |
|||
|4155 |
|||
|- |
|||
|[[Nunavut]] |
|||
| - |
|||
| - |
|||
| - |
|||
| - |
|||
| - |
|||
| - |
|||
| - |
|||
|27070 |
|||
|30135 |
|||
|30865 |
|||
|- |
|||
!Canada total |
|||
!5,979 |
|||
!7,205 |
|||
!9,733 |
|||
!11,835 |
|||
!17,555 |
|||
!25,390 |
|||
!41,080 |
|||
!59,440 |
|||
!65,025 |
|||
!70,540 |
|||
|} |
|||
===Greenland=== |
===Greenland=== |
||
{{main|Greenlandic Inuit}} |
{{main|Greenlandic Inuit}} |
||
According to the 2018 edition of ''[[ |
According to the 2018 edition of the ''[[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] [[The World Factbook|World Factbook]]'', Inuit population of Greenland is 88 per cent (50,787) out of a total of 57,713 people.<ref name="geinu">{{cite web |url = https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/greenland/ |title = The World Factbook (Greenland) |website = [[Central Intelligence Agency]] |year = 2018 }}</ref> Like Nunavut, the population lives throughout the habitable areas of the region. |
||
===Denmark=== |
===Denmark=== |
||
The population size of [[Greenlandic people in Denmark]] varies from source to source between 15,000 and 20,000. According to |
The population size of [[Greenlandic people in Denmark]] varies from source to source between 15,000 and 20,000. According to 2023 figures from [[Statistics Denmark]], there are 17,067 people residing in Denmark of Greenlandic Inuit ancestry.<ref name="dkinu">{{cite web |url =https://www.statistikbanken.dk/BEF5G |title = Statistikbanken |website = [[Statistics Denmark]] |year = 2018 |access-date = 22 July 2018}}</ref> Most travel to Denmark for educational purposes, and many remain after finishing their education,<ref name="gebra">{{cite web |url = http://www.thelocal.dk/20150330/greenland-brain-drain-as-young-leave-for-denmark |title = Greenland: Brain drain to Denmark |date =30 March 2015 |access-date =25 January 2016}}</ref> which results in the population being mostly concentrated in the big four educational cities of [[Copenhagen]], [[Aarhus]], [[Odense]], and [[Aalborg]], which all have vibrant Greenlandic communities and cultural centers (Kalaallit Illuutaat). |
||
===United States=== |
===United States=== |
||
According to the [[2000 United States Census]] there were a total of 16,581 Inuit/Inupiat living throughout the country.<ref name="usinu">{{cite web |url = https://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t18/tables/tab001.xls |format = xls |title = Table 1: American Indian and Alaska Native Alone and Alone or in Combination Population by Tribe for the United States: 2000 |website = [[United States Census Bureau]] |year = 2000 | |
According to the [[2000 United States Census]] there were a total of 16,581 Inuit / Inupiat living throughout the country.<ref name="usinu">{{cite web |url = https://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t18/tables/tab001.xls |format = xls |title = Table 1: American Indian and Alaska Native Alone and Alone or in Combination Population by Tribe for the United States: 2000 |website = [[United States Census Bureau]] |year = 2000 |access-date =13 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801210624/https://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t18/tables/tab001.xls |archive-date=1 August 2020}}</ref> The majority, about 14,718, live in the state of [[Alaska]].<ref name="akinu">{{cite web |url = https://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t18/tables/tab016.xls |format = xls |title = Table 16: American Indian and Alaska Native Alone and Alone or in Combination Population by Tribe for Alaska: 2000 |website = [[United States Census Bureau]] |year = 2000 |access-date =20 October 2013}}</ref> According to 2019-based [[U.S. Census Bureau]] data, there are 700 Alaskan Natives in [[Seattle]], many of whom are Inuit and [[Yupik peoples|Yupik]], and almost 7,000 in [[Washington state]].<ref name="seattle">{{cite web |url = https://suburbanstats.org/race/washington/seattle/how-many-alaska-native-tribes-people-live-in-seattle-washington|title =Current Alaska Native Tribes Population demographics in Seattle, Washington 2020, 2019 by gender and age |
||
|publisher= [[U.S. Census Bureau]] and SuburbanStats.org}}</ref><ref name="wa">{{cite web |url = https://suburbanstats.org/race/washington/how-many-alaska-native-tribes-people-live-in-washington|title =Current Alaska Native Tribes Population demographics in Washington 2020, 2019 by gender and age |
|||
|publisher= [[U.S. Census Bureau]] and SuburbanStats.org}}</ref> |
|||
==Governance== |
==Governance== |
||
[[File:Inuit conf map.png|thumb|upright=1|Inuit Circumpolar Conference members]] |
[[File:Inuit conf map.png|thumb|upright=1|Inuit Circumpolar Conference members]] |
||
The [[Inuit Circumpolar Council]] is a [[United Nations]]-recognized [[non-governmental organization]] (NGO), which defines its constituency as Canada's Inuit and [[Inuvialuit]], Greenland's [[Kalaallit Inuit]], Alaska's [[Inupiat]] and [[Yup'ik]], and Russia's [[Siberian Yupik]],<ref name="ICCcharter">Inuit Circumpolar Council |
The [[Inuit Circumpolar Council]] is a [[United Nations]]-recognized [[non-governmental organization]] (NGO), which defines its constituency as Canada's Inuit and [[Inuvialuit]], Greenland's [[Kalaallit Inuit]], Alaska's [[Inupiat]] and [[Yup'ik]], and Russia's [[Siberian Yupik]],<ref name="ICCcharter">{{cite web|publisher=[[Inuit Circumpolar Council]]|url=https://www.inuitcircumpolar.com/icc-international/icc-charter/ |title=Inuit Circumpolar Council Charter|date=3 January 2019 |access-date=16 January 2024}}</ref> despite the last two neither speaking an Inuit dialect<ref name="kaplanold"/> or considering themselves "Inuit". Nonetheless, it has come together with other circumpolar cultural and political groups to promote Inuit and other northern people in their fight against [[ecology|ecological]] problems such as [[climate change]] which disproportionately affects Inuit population. The [[Inuit Circumpolar Council]] is one of the six group of Arctic Indigenous peoples that have a seat as a so-called "Permanent Participant" on the [[Arctic Council]],<ref>See: [http://www.arctic-council.org/ Arctic Council]</ref> an international high level forum in which the eight Arctic Countries (United States, Canada, Russia, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland) discuss Arctic policy. On 12 May 2011, Greenland's Prime Minister [[Kuupik Kleist]] hosted the ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council, an event for which the American Secretary of State [[Hillary Clinton]] came to Nuuk, as did many other high-ranking officials such as Russian Foreign Minister [[Sergei Lavrov]], Swedish Foreign Minister [[Carl Bildt]] and Norwegian Foreign Minister [[Jonas Gahr Støre]]. At that event they signed the Nuuk Declaration.<ref>[http://arctic-council.org/filearchive/nuuk_declaration_2011_signed_copy-1..pdf Nuuk Declaration] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016021822/http://arctic-council.org/filearchive/nuuk_declaration_2011_signed_copy-1..pdf |date=16 October 2011}}</ref> |
||
===Canada=== |
===Canada=== |
||
{{see also |
{{see also|Nunavut|Nunavik|Nunatsiavut|Nunangit}} |
||
While [[Inuit Nunangat]] is within Canada, and the [[Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami]] oversees only the four official regions, there remains [[NunatuKavut]] in southern Labrador. |
While [[Inuit Nunangat]] is within Canada, and the [[Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami]] oversees only the four official regions, there remains the unrecognized [[NunatuKavut]] in southern Labrador. |
||
[[File:Map-regions-inuit.jpg|thumb|Regions of Inuit Nunangat]] |
[[File:Map-regions-inuit.jpg|thumb|Regions of Inuit Nunangat]] |
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The [[Inuvialuit]] are western Canadian Inuit who remained in the Northwest Territories when Nunavut split off. They live primarily in the Mackenzie River delta, on [[Banks Island]], and parts of [[Victoria Island (Canada)|Victoria Island]] in the Northwest Territories. They are officially represented by the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and, in 1984, received a comprehensive land claims settlement, the first in Northern Canada, with the signing of the Inuvialuit Final Agreement.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irc.inuvialuit.com/about/finalagreement.html|title=Inuvialuit Final Agreement|publisher=Irc.inuvialuit.com|date=1984 |
The [[Inuvialuit]] are western Canadian Inuit who remained in the Northwest Territories when Nunavut split off. They live primarily in the Mackenzie River delta, on [[Banks Island]], and parts of [[Victoria Island (Canada)|Victoria Island]] in the Northwest Territories. They are officially represented by the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and, in 1984, received a comprehensive land claims settlement, the first in Northern Canada, with the signing of the Inuvialuit Final Agreement.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irc.inuvialuit.com/about/finalagreement.html|title=Inuvialuit Final Agreement|publisher=Irc.inuvialuit.com|date=5 June 1984|access-date=24 January 2011|archive-date=10 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120210184606/http://www.irc.inuvialuit.com/about/finalagreement.html}}</ref> |
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The TFN worked for ten years and, in September 1992, came to a final agreement with the Government of Canada. This agreement called for the separation of the Northwest Territories into an eastern territory whose Aboriginal population would be predominately Inuit,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www12.statcan.ca/english/profil01/AP01/details/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=62&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&Data=Count&SearchText=Nunavut&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&Custom=All|title=Aboriginal identity population in 2001|publisher=2.statcan.ca|date= |
The TFN worked for ten years and, in September 1992, came to a final agreement with the Government of Canada. This agreement called for the separation of the Northwest Territories into an eastern territory whose Aboriginal population would be predominately Inuit,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www12.statcan.ca/english/profil01/AP01/details/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=62&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&Data=Count&SearchText=Nunavut&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&Custom=All|title=Aboriginal identity population in 2001|publisher=2.statcan.ca|date=21 January 2003|access-date=24 January 2011|archive-date=13 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213064709/http://www12.statcan.ca/english/profil01/AP01/details/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=62&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&Data=Count&SearchText=Nunavut&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&Custom=All}}</ref> the future Nunavut, and a rump Northwest Territories in the west. It was the largest [[Comprehensive land claim|land claim]] agreement in Canadian history. In November 1992, the ''Nunavut Final Agreement'' was approved by nearly 85 per cent of Inuit of what would become Nunavut. As the final step in this long process, the ''[[Nunavut Land Claims Agreement]]'' was signed on May 25, 1993, in Iqaluit by Prime Minister [[Brian Mulroney]] and by Paul Quassa, the president of [[Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated]], which replaced the TFN with the ratification of the Nunavut Final Agreement. The [[Parliament of Canada|Canadian Parliament]] passed the supporting legislation in June of the same year, enabling the 1999 establishment of Nunavut as a territorial entity. |
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===Greenland=== |
===Greenland=== |
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{{see also|Kalaallit|History of Greenland}} |
{{see also|Kalaallit|History of Greenland}} |
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In 1953, Denmark put an end to the colonial status of Greenland and granted [[home rule]] in 1979 and in 2008 a [[2008 Greenlandic self-government referendum|self-government referendum]] was passed with 75 |
In 1953, Denmark put an end to the colonial status of Greenland and granted [[home rule]] in 1979 and in 2008 a [[2008 Greenlandic self-government referendum|self-government referendum]] was passed with 75 per cent approval. Although still a part of the [[Danish Realm|Kingdom of Denmark]] (along with [[Denmark]] proper and the [[Faroe Islands]]), Greenland, known as Kalaallit Nunaat in the [[Greenlandic language]], maintains much autonomy today. Of a population of 56,000, 80 per cent of Greenlanders identify as Inuit. Their economy is based on [[fishing]] and [[Shrimp fishery|shrimping]].{{sfnp|Hessel|2006| p=20}} |
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The Thule people arrived in Greenland in the 13th century. There they encountered the Norsemen, who had established colonies there since the late 10th century, as well as a later wave of the Dorset people. Because most of Greenland is covered in ice, the Greenland Inuit (or Kalaallit) only live in coastal settlements, particularly the northern polar coast, the eastern Amassalik coast and the central coasts of western Greenland. |
The Thule people arrived in Greenland in the 13th century. There they encountered the Norsemen, who had established colonies there since the late 10th century, as well as a later wave of the Dorset people. Because most of Greenland is covered in ice, the Greenland Inuit (or Kalaallit) only live in coastal settlements, particularly the northern polar coast, the eastern Amassalik coast and the central coasts of western Greenland.{{sfnp|Hessel|2006| p=11}} |
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===Alaska=== |
===Alaska=== |
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{{see also|Alaska Native Regional Corporations|Russian America|Alaska Statehood Act|List of Alaska Native tribal entities}} |
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Alaska is governed as a state with very [[Alaska Native Regional Corporations|limited autonomy]] for [[Alaska Native]] peoples. European colonization of Alaska started in the 18th century by Russia. By the 1860s, the Russian government was considering ridding itself of its [[Russian America]] colony. Alaska was officially [[Alaska Statehood Act|incorporated]] to United States on January 3, 1959. |
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Inuit of Alaska are the [[Iñupiat]] who live in the [[Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska|Northwest Arctic Borough]], the [[North Slope Borough, Alaska|North Slope Borough]] and the [[Bering Strait]] region. [[Utqiagvik, Alaska|Utqiagvik]], the [[Extreme points of the United States|northernmost city in the United States]], is in the Inupiat region. Their language is [[Inupiaq language|Iñupiaq]]. |
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==Genetics== |
==Genetics== |
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{{See also|Saqqaq culture#Genetics|Dorset culture#Genetics|Birnirk culture#Genetics|Thule people#Genetics|Sadlermiut#Genetics}} |
{{See also|Saqqaq culture#Genetics|Dorset culture#Genetics|Birnirk culture#Genetics|Thule people#Genetics|Sadlermiut#Genetics}} |
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A genetic study published in ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'' in August 2014 examined a large number of remains from the [[Dorset culture]], [[Birnirk culture]] and the [[Thule people]]. Genetic contuinity was observed between the Inuit, Thule and Birnirk, who overwhelmingly carried the maternal haplogroup [[Haplogroup A (mtDNA)|A2a]] and were genetically very different from the Dorset. The evidence suggested that the Inuit descend from the Birnirk of Siberia, who through the Thule culture expanded into northern Canada and Greenland, where they genetically and culturally completely replaced the indigenous Dorset people some time after 1300 AD.{{sfn|Raghavan et al.|2014|p=1}}{{sfn|Raghavan et al.|2014|loc=Supplementary Materials, pp. 109-112, Table S1}} |
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A genetic study published in ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'' in August 2014 examined a large number of remains from the [[Dorset culture]], [[Birnirk culture]] and the [[Thule people]]. Genetic continuity was observed between Inuit, Thule and Birnirk, who overwhelmingly carried the maternal haplogroup [[Haplogroup A (mtDNA)|A2a]] and were genetically very different from the Dorset. The evidence suggested that Inuit descend from the Birnirk of Siberia, who through the Thule culture expanded into northern Canada and Greenland, where they genetically and culturally completely replaced the Indigenous Dorset people some time after 1300 AD.{{sfnp|Raghavan|DeGiorgio|Albrechtsen|2014|p=1 |loc=Supplementary Materials, pp. 109–112, Table S1}} |
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Inuit people tend to have the [[Earwax#Wet or dry|dry variant of human earwax]].<ref>{{cite journal| url=https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330470203| doi=10.1002/ajpa.1330470203| title=Cerumen types in Eskimos| year=1977| last1=Bass| first1=Edward J.| last2=Jackson| first2=John F.| journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology| volume=47| issue=2| pages=209–210| pmid=910884}}</ref> |
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==Modern culture== |
==Modern culture== |
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[[File:Maktaaq_2_2002-08-10.jpg|thumb|Two Inuit elders share [[Muktuk|Maktaaq]] in 2002]] |
[[File:Maktaaq_2_2002-08-10.jpg|thumb|Two Inuit elders share [[Muktuk|Maktaaq]] in 2002.]] |
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[[Inuit art]], carving, print making, textiles and [[Inuit throat singing]], are very popular, not only in Canada but globally, and Inuit artists are widely known. Canada has adopted some of the Inuit culture as national symbols, using Inuit cultural icons like the inukshuk in unlikely places, such as its use as a symbol at the [[2010 Winter Olympics]] in Vancouver. Respected art galleries display Inuit art, the largest collection of which is at the [[Winnipeg Art Gallery]]. Their traditional New Year is called [[Quviasukvik]].<ref>https://journals.openedition.org/jsa/2772</ref> |
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[[Inuit art]], carving, print making, textiles and [[Inuit throat singing]], are very popular, not only in Canada but globally, and Inuit artists are widely known. Canada has adopted some of Inuit culture as national symbols, using Inuit cultural icons like the inuksuk in unlikely places, such as its use as a symbol at the [[2010 Winter Olympics]] in Vancouver. Respected art galleries display Inuit art, the largest collection of which is at the [[Winnipeg Art Gallery]]. Their traditional New Year is called ''[[Quviasukvik]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://journals.openedition.org/jsa/2772|doi = 10.4000/jsa.2772 |title = ''Quviasukvik.'' The celebration of an Inuit winter feast in the central Arctic |year=2002 |last1=Laugrand |first1=Frédéric |last2=Oosten |first2=Jarich |journal=Journal de la Société des Américanistes |volume=88 |issue= 88|pages=203–225|doi-access=free }}</ref> |
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Some Inuit languages, such as Inuktitut, appears to have a more secure future in Quebec and Nunavut. There are a surprising number of Inuit, even those who now live in urban centres such as [[Ottawa]], [[Montreal]] and [[Winnipeg]], who have experienced living on the land in the traditional life style. People such as [[Legislative Assembly of Nunavut]] member, [[Levinia Brown]] and former [[Commissioners of Nunavut|Commissioner of Nunavut]] and the [[Commissioners of Northwest Territories|NWT]], [[Helen Maksagak]] were born and lived the early part of their life "on the land". Inuit culture is alive and vibrant today in spite of the negative impacts of recent history. |
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Some Inuit languages, such as Inuktitut, appear to have a more secure future in Quebec and Nunavut. There are a number of Inuit, even those who now live in urban centres such as [[Ottawa]], [[Montreal]] and [[Winnipeg]], who have experienced living on the land in the traditional life style. People such as [[Legislative Assembly of Nunavut]] member, [[Levinia Brown]] and former [[Commissioners of Nunavut|Commissioner of Nunavut]] and the [[Commissioners of Northwest Territories|NWT]], [[Helen Maksagak]] were born and lived the early part of their life "on the land". Inuit culture is alive and vibrant today in spite of the negative impacts of recent history. |
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An important biennial event, the [[Arctic Winter Games]], is held in communities across the northern regions of the world, featuring traditional Inuit and northern sports as part of the events. A cultural event is also held. The games were first held in 1970, and while rotated usually among Alaska, Yukon and the Northwest Territories, they have also been held in [[Schefferville]], Quebec, in 1976, in [[Slave Lake, Alberta|Slave Lake]], [[Alberta]], and a joint Iqaluit, Nunavut-[[Nuuk]], Greenland staging in 2002. In other sporting events, [[Jordin Tootoo]] became the first Inuk to play in the [[National Hockey League]] in the 2003–04 season, playing for the [[Nashville Predators]]. |
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An important biennial event, the [[Arctic Winter Games]], is held in communities across the northern regions of the world, featuring traditional Inuit and northern sports as part of the events. A cultural event is also held. The games were first held in 1970, and while rotated usually among Alaska, Yukon and the Northwest Territories, they have also been held in [[Schefferville]], Quebec, in 1976, in [[Slave Lake]], Alberta, and a joint Iqaluit, Nunavut-[[Nuuk]], Greenland staging in 2002. In other sporting events, [[Jordin Tootoo]] became the first Inuk to play in the [[National Hockey League]] in the 2003–2004 season, playing for the [[Nashville Predators]]. |
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[[File:Baby_Carriage_2002-08-02.jpg|thumb|An Inuit woman uses a traditional amauti and a modern western stroller]] |
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Although Inuit life has changed significantly over the past century, many traditions continue. ''[[Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit]]'', or traditional knowledge, such as storytelling, mythology, [[Inuit music|music]], and dancing remain important parts of the culture. Family and community are very important. The Inuktitut language is still spoken in many areas of the Arctic and is common on radio and in television programming. |
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[[File:Baby Carriage 2002-08-02.jpg|thumb|left|An Inuit woman uses a traditional amauti and a modern western stroller.]] |
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Well-known Inuit politicians include [[Premier of Nunavut]], [[Peter Taptuna]], Nancy Karetak-Lindell, former MP for the [[Nunavut (electoral district)|riding of Nunavut]], and [[Kuupik Kleist]], Prime Minister of Greenland. Leona Aglukkaq, current MP, was the first Inuk to be sworn into the Canadian Federal Cabinet as Health Minister in 2008. In May 2011 after being re-elected for her second term, Ms. Aglukkaq was given the additional portfolio of Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency. In July 2013 she was sworn in as the Minister of the Environment.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.leonaaglukkaq.ca/about/about-leona/ |title=Biography of the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141227200005/http://www.leonaaglukkaq.ca/about/about-leona/ |archivedate=2014-12-27}}</ref> |
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Although Inuit life has changed significantly over the past century, many traditions continue. ''[[Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit]]'', or [[traditional knowledge]], such as storytelling, mythology, [[Inuit music|music]], and dancing remain important parts of the culture. Family and community are very important. The Inuktitut language is still spoken in many areas of the Arctic and is common on radio and in television programming. |
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Well-known Inuit politicians include [[Premier of Nunavut]], [[P.J. Akeeagok]], [[Lori Idlout]], member of parliament for the [[Nunavut (electoral district)|riding of Nunavut]], [[Eva Aariak]], [[Commissioner of Nunavut]] and [[Múte Bourup Egede]], [[Prime Minister of Greenland]]. [[Leona Aglukkaq]], former MP, was the first Inuk to be sworn into the Canadian Federal Cabinet as Health Minister in 2008. In May 2011 after being re-elected for her second term, Aglukkaq was given the additional portfolio of Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency. In July 2013 she was sworn in as the minister of the environment.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.leonaaglukkaq.ca/about/about-leona/ |title=Biography of the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq |work=LeonaAglukkaq.ca |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141227200005/http://www.leonaaglukkaq.ca/about/about-leona/ |archive-date=27 December 2014}}</ref> |
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[[File:Greenland kayak seal hunter 2006.jpg|thumb|Inuit seal hunter in a kayak, armed with a harpoon]] |
[[File:Greenland kayak seal hunter 2006.jpg|thumb|Inuit seal hunter in a kayak, armed with a harpoon]] |
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Visual and performing arts are strong features of Inuit culture. In 2002 the first [[feature film]] in Inuktitut, ''[[Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner]]'', was released worldwide to great critical and popular acclaim. It was directed by [[Zacharias Kunuk]], and written, filmed, produced, directed, and acted almost entirely by |
Visual and performing arts are strong features of Inuit culture. In 2002 the first [[feature film]] in Inuktitut, ''[[Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner]]'', was released worldwide to great critical and popular acclaim. It was directed by [[Zacharias Kunuk]], and written, filmed, produced, directed, and acted almost entirely by Inuit of Igloolik. In 2009, the film ''[[Le Voyage D'Inuk]]'', a Greenlandic-language feature film, was [[film director|directed]] by Mike Magidson and co-written by Magidson and French [[film producer]] Jean-Michel Huctin.<ref name=R0>{{cite web |first=Samir |last=Ardjoum |title=Entretien avec Jean-Michel Huctin, co-auteur du Voyage d'Inuk |trans-title=Interview with Jean-Michel Huctin, co-author of Tour Inuk |language=fr |website=iletaitunefoisleCinema.com |access-date=20 January 2009 |url=http://www.iletaitunefoislecinema.com/entretien/2594/entretien-avec-jeanmichel-huctin-coauteur-du-voyage-dinuk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171015151548/http://www.iletaitunefoislecinema.com/entretien/2594/entretien-avec-jeanmichel-huctin-coauteur-du-voyage-dinuk |archive-date=15 October 2017}}</ref> One of the most famous Inuit artists is [[Pitseolak Ashoona]]. [[Susan Aglukark]] is a popular singer. [[Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk|Mitiarjuk Attasie Nappaaluk]] worked at preserving Inuktitut and wrote one of the first novels ever published in that language.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.ammsa.com/publications/windspeaker/northern-resident-helps-bridge-gap-between-cultures-0 |title=Northern resident helps bridge the gap between cultures |magazine=Windspeaker |publisher=[[Aboriginal Multi-Media Society]] |volume=16 |issue=12 |date=1 April 1999 |first=Joan |last=Black}}</ref> In 2006, [[Cape Dorset, Nunavut|Cape Dorset]] was hailed as Canada's most artistic city, with 23 per cent of the labor force employed in the arts.<ref>{{cite news|author=CBC Arts |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/cape-dorset-named-most-artistic-municipality-1.574437 |title=Cape Dorset named most 'artistic' municipality |publisher=CBC News |date=13 February 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808115551/http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2006/02/13/report-artistic-capedorset.html |archive-date=8 August 2007}}</ref> Inuit art such as soapstone carvings is one of Nunavut's most important industries. [[Ada Eyetoaq]] was an Inuit artist who made miniature sculptures out of soapstone. |
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Recently, there has been an identity struggle among the younger generations of Inuit, between their traditional heritage and the modern society which their cultures have been forced to assimilate into in order to maintain a livelihood. With current dependence on modern society for necessities, (including governmental jobs, food, aid, medicine, etc.), Inuit have had much interaction with and exposure to the [[Norm (sociology)|societal norms]] outside their previous cultural boundaries. The stressors regarding the [[Identity crisis (psychology)|identity crisis]] among teenagers have led to disturbingly high numbers of suicide.<ref name="analysis">{{cite report |title=Suicide in Inuit Nunaat: An analysis of suicide rates and the effect of Community-level factors |last1=Penney |first1=Christopher |last2=Senecal |first2=Sacha |last3=Guimond |first3=Eric |last4=Bobet |first4=Ellen |last5=Uppal |first5=Sharanjit |date=27 June 2008 |work=Position paper for the 5th NRF open Assembly, September 24th–27th 2008 |publisher=Indian and Northern Affairs Canada |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265120789}}</ref> |
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A series of authors have focused upon the increasing [[myopia]] in the youngest generations of Inuit. Myopia was almost unknown prior to Inuit adoption of [[Western culture]]. Principal theories are the change to a Western style diet with more refined foods, and extended education.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2120-short-sightedness-may-be-tied-to-refined-diet |first=Doulas |last=Fox |title=Short-sightedness may be tied to refined diet |work=[[New Scientist]] |date=5 April 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite Q|Q24673311|last1=Morgan |first1=R.W. |last2=Speakman |first2=J.S. |last3=Grimshaw |first3=S.E.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Rosenfield|first1=Mark|last2=Gilmartin|first2=Bernard|title=Myopia and Nearwork|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mNT577S8uywC&pg=PA21|year=1998|publisher=Butterworth-Heinemann|isbn=978-0-7506-3784-8|page=21}}</ref> |
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Recently, there has been an identity struggle among the younger generations of Inuit, between their traditional heritage and the modern society which their cultures have been forced to assimilate into in order to maintain a livelihood. With current dependence on modern society for necessities, (including governmental jobs, food, aid, medicine, etc.), the Inuit have had much interaction with and exposure to the [[Norm (sociology)|societal norms]] outside their previous cultural boundaries. The stressors regarding the [[Identity crisis (psychology)|identity crisis]] among teenagers have led to disturbingly high numbers of suicide.<ref name="analysis">{{cite web|url=http://old.nrf.is/Open%20Meetings/Anchorage/Position%20Papers/Penney_Sen%C3%A9cal_Guimond_Bobet_and_Uppal_5thNRF_position_paper_session2.pdf |archiveurl=http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20081114162357/http://old.nrf.is/Open%20Meetings/Anchorage/Position%20Papers/Penney_Sen%C3%A9cal_Guimond_Bobet_and_Uppal_5thNRF_position_paper_session2.pdf |archivedate=2008-11-14 |title=Suicide in Inuit Nunaat:An analysis of suicide rates and the effect of Community-level factors |last=Penney |first=Christopher |author2=Senecal S |author3=Guimond E |author4=Bobet E |author5=Uppal S. |date=27 June 2008 |work=Position paper for the 5th NRF open assembly |publisher=INAC |accessdate=2009-11-05 |url-status=dead}}</ref> |
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[[David Pisurayak Kootook]] was awarded the Meritorious Service Cross, posthumously, for his heroic efforts in a 1972 plane crash. Other notable Inuit include the freelance journalist Ossie Michelin, whose iconic photograph of the activist [[Amanda Polchies]] went viral after the 2013 anti-fracking protests at [[Elsipogtog First Nation]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Inuk journalist awarded for best image in human rights exhibition |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/inuk-journalist-ossie-micheline-best-image-museum-1.4174047 |publisher=CBC News |date=23 June 2017}}</ref> |
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A series of authors has focused upon the increasing [[myopia]] in the youngest generations of Inuit. Myopia was almost unknown prior to the Inuit adoption of [[western culture]]. Principal theories are the change to a western style diet with more refined foods, and extended education.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn2120|title=Short-sightedness may be tied to refined diet|publisher=Newscientist.com|date=5 April 2002|accessdate=2011-01-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Morgan RW, Speakman JS, Grimshaw SE |title=Inuit myopia: an environmentally induced "epidemic"?|journal=Can Med Assoc J|volume=112|issue=5|pages=575–7|date=March 1975|pmid=1116086|pmc=1956268}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Bernard Gilmartin |author2=Mark Rosenfield |title=Myopia and nearwork|publisher=Butterworth-Heinemann|location=Oxford|year=1998|page=21|isbn=978-0-7506-3784-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mNT577S8uywC&q=myopia+inuit&pg=PA21}}</ref> |
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==Notes== |
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[[David Pisurayak Kootook]] was awarded the Meritorious Service Cross, posthumously, for his heroic efforts in a 1972 plane crash. Other notable Inuk people include the freelance journalist Ossie Michelin, whose iconic photograph of the activist [[Amanda Polchies]] went viral after the 2013 anti-fracking protests at [[Elsipogtog First Nation]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Inuk journalist awarded for best image in human rights exhibition |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/inuk-journalist-ossie-micheline-best-image-museum-1.4174047 |accessdate=9 April 2019 |publisher=CBC News |date=June 23, 2017}}</ref> |
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{{notelist}} |
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==References== |
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==Notes and references== |
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=== Citations === |
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{{reflist|colwidth=30em}} |
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{{NoteFoot}} |
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=== General and cited references === |
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* {{Cite book |last=Alia |first=Valerie |year=2009 |title=Names and Nunavut: Culture and Identity in Arctic Canada |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVoNxuS4n1gC&pg=PP1 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-1-84545-165-3}} |
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{{Reflist|30em}} |
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* {{Cite book |last1=Billson |first1=Janet Mancini|first2=Kyra |last2=Mancini |year=2007 |title=Inuit Women: Their Powerful Spirit in a Century of Change |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8M8aihnBACwC&q=Inuit&pg=PP1 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-7425-3597-8}} |
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* {{cite book |last=Hessel |first=Ingo |title=Arctic Spirit: Inuit Art from the Albrecht Collection at the Heard Museum |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CXiAQgAACAAJ&pg=PP1 |year=2006 |publisher=Heard Museum |isbn=978-1-55365-189-5}} |
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* {{cite book |title=Suicide in Canada |last1=Leenaars |first1=Antoon A. |author-link1=Antoon Leenaars |first2=Michael J. |last2=Kral |first3=Ronald J. |last3=Dyck |year=1998 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-7791-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/suicideincanada00leen |url-access=registration}} |
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* {{cite book |editor-last1=Leenaars|editor-first1=Antoon A.|editor-last2=Wenckstern|editor-first2=Susanne|editor-last3=Sakinofsky|editor-first3=Isaac|editor-first4=Ron |editor-last4=Dyck |editor-first5=Michael J. |editor-last5=Kral |editor-first6=Roger |editor-last6=Bland |display-editors=3 |title=Suicide in Canada |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=spGsTJFoMTAC&pg=PP1|year=1998|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-7791-2}} |
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* {{cite book| last=Mitchell |first=Marybelle |title=From Talking Chiefs to a Native Corporate Elite: The Birth of Class and Nationalism among Canadian Inuit |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YqwCYgMlnsAC&pg=PA49 |year=1996 |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |isbn=978-0-7735-6580-7}} |
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* {{cite book |last1=Ohokak |first1=Gwen |first2=Margo |last2=Kadlun |first3=Betty |last3=Harnum |title=Inuinnaqtun to English Dictionary |publisher=Kitikmeot Heritage Society |url=http://en.copian.ca/library/learning/nac/nac_dictionary/nac_dictionary.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904191006/http://www.nald.ca/library/learning/nac/nac_dictionary/nac_dictionary.pdf |archive-date=4 September 2012}} |
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* {{cite Q|Q29606641|last1=Raghavan |first1=Maanasa |last2=DeGiorgio |first2=Michael |last3=Albrechtsen |first3=Anders |display-authors=et al |date=2014}} |
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* {{cite book |editor-last=Sturtevant |editor-first=William C. |editor-link=William C. Sturtevant |title=[[Handbook of North American Indians]] |volume=5 (Arctic) |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]] |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-16-004580-6}} |
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==Further reading== |
==Further reading== |
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{{further|Bibliography of Canadian Aboriginals}} |
{{further|Bibliography of Canadian Aboriginals}} |
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{{Refbegin}} |
{{Refbegin}} |
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* {{ |
* {{cite book |last=Briggs |first=Jean L. |title=Never in Anger: Portrait of an Eskimo Family |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A9QuJjQbh7MC&pg=PP1 |year=1970|publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-60828-3}} |
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* {{cite encyclopedia |title=Collections: Inuit |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |publisher=[[Historica Canada]] |url=https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/collection/inuit-peoples |access-date=11 July 2021}} |
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* {{Cite book|last=Billson|first=Janet Mancini|author2=Kyra Mancini|year=2007|title=Inuit women: their powerful spirit in a century of change|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8M8aihnBACwC&q=Inuit&pg=PP1|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-7425-3596-1}} |
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* {{ |
* {{cite book |last=Crandall |first=Richard C. |title=Inuit Art: A History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M4p8ZrkbSCkC&pg=PP1 |year=2000|publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-0711-8}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Eber |first=Dorothy |year=1997 |title=Images of Justice: A Legal History of the Northwest Territories and Yellowknife |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g7Qcr7vzQbQC&pg=PP1|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |isbn=978-0-7735-1675-5}} |
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* {{Cite book|author1=Forman, Werner |author2=Burch, Ernest S. |title=The Eskimos|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|location=Norman|year=1988|url=https://archive.org/details/eskimos00burc|url-access=registration |quote=The Eskimos. |isbn=978-0-8061-2126-0}} |
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* {{Cite book |last=Eber |first=Dorothy |year=2008 |title=Encounters on the Passage: Inuit meet the explorers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zG50985kCSUC&pg=PP1|publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1-4426-8798-1}} |
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* [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130825230419/http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/natureofthings/2009/inuitodyssey/history.html History of the Thule Migration], ''[[The Nature of Things]]'', [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]]. Informational webpage related to the TV documentary, ''Inuit Odyssey'', shown below in the External links section. |
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* {{Cite book| |
* {{Cite book |author1=Forman, Werner |author2=Burch, Ernest S. |title=The Eskimos |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=1988 |url=https://archive.org/details/eskimos00burc |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-8061-2126-0}} |
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* {{cite book |last=Fossett |first=Renée |title=In Order to Live Untroubled: Inuit of the Central Arctic 1550 to 1940 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yK7cac_mXGgC&pg=PP1 |year=2001|publisher=University of Manitoba Press |isbn=978-0-88755-328-8}} |
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* De Poncins, Gontran. ''[[Kabloona]]''. St. Paul, MN: Graywolf Press, 1996 (originally 1941). {{ISBN|1-55597-249-7}} |
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* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Freeman |first=Milton M. R. |title=Arctic Indigenous Peoples in Canada |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |date=24 October 2017 |publisher=Historica Canada |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/aboriginal-people-arctic}} |
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* {{Cite book|last=Eber|first=Dorothy|year=1997|title=Images of Justice: A Legal History of the Northwest Territories and Yellowknife|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g7Qcr7vzQbQC&q=Inuit&pg=PP1|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|isbn=978-0-7735-1675-5}} |
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* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Freeman |first=Minnie Aodla |title=Inuit |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |date=24 September 2020 |publisher=Historica Canada |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/inuit}} |
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* {{Cite book|last=Eber|first=Dorothy|year=2008|title=Encounters on the Passage: Inuit meet the explorers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zG50985kCSUC&q=Inuit&pg=PP1|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-1-4426-8798-1}} |
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* {{Cite book| |
* {{Cite book |last1=Hauser |first1=Michael |first2=Erik |last2=Holtved |first3=Bent |last3=Jensen |year=2010 |title=Traditional Inuit songs from the Thule area |volume=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NjgysV2UGygC&pg=PP1|publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |isbn=978-87-635-2589-3}} |
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* {{Cite book| |
* {{Cite book |author=Hund, Andrew |year=2012 |title=Inuit |publisher=Sage Publications, Inc.|isbn=978-1412992619}} |
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* {{cite book |last1=Kulchyski |first1=Peter Keith|last2=Tester |first2=Frank J. |title=Kiumajut (talking Back): Game Management and Inuit Rights, 1900–70 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RGB7w2x0sa0C&pg=PP1 |year=2007|publisher=UBC Press |isbn=978-0-7748-1241-2}} |
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* {{Cite book|author=Hund, Andrew|year=2012|title=Inuit.|publisher=SAGE Publications, Inc.|isbn=978-1412992619}} |
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* {{ |
* {{cite book |last1=King |first1=J. C. H. |last2=Pauksztat |first2=Birgit|last3=Storrie |first3=Robert |title=Arctic Clothing of North America – Alaska, Canada, Greenland |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZD2_7LRxGwsC&pg=PP1 |year=2005 |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |isbn=978-0-7735-3008-9}} |
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* {{ |
* {{cite book |last=McGrath |first=Melanie |title=The Long Exile: A Tale of Inuit Betrayal and Survival in the High Arctic |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7p3rBU6aDb0C&pg=PP1 |year=2006|publisher=Knopf Doubleday |isbn=978-0-307-53786-7}} Also at {{Internet Archive|longexiletaleofi00mcgr|The long exile: a tale of Inuit betrayal and survival in the high Arctic}} |
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* {{cite episode |title=Inuit Odyssey: History of the Thule Migration |series=[[The Nature of Things]] |date=12 February 2009 |season=48 |network=CBC |url=https://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episodes/inuit-odyssey/history.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825230419/http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/natureofthings/2009/inuitodyssey/history.html |archive-date=25 August 2013}} |
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* {{Cite book|author=McGrath, Melanie|title=The long exile: a tale of Inuit betrayal and survival in the high Arctic|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|location=New York|year=2007|isbn=978-1-4000-4047-6|url=https://archive.org/details/longexiletaleofi00mcgr}} |
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* {{ |
* {{cite book |last=Paver |first=Michelle |title=Chronicles of Ancient Darkness: Wolf Brother; Spirit Walker; Soul Eater |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0uAyLgAACAAJ&pg=PP1|series=Issues 1–3 of Chronicles of ancient darkness |year=2008|publisher=Orion Children's |isbn=978-1-84255-705-1}} |
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* {{cite book |last1=Poncins |first1=Gontran De|author-link1=Gontran de Poncins|last2=Galantiere |first2=Lewis |title=Kabloona: Among the Inuit |title-link=Kabloona |year=1996 |publisher=Graywolf Press |isbn=978-1-55597-249-3 |orig-year=1941}} |
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* {{cite journal |last1=Raghavan |first1=Maanasa |author-link1= |last2=DeGiorgio |first2=Michael |author-link2= |display-authors=1 |date=August 29, 2014 |editor1-last= |editor1-first= |editor1-link= |title=The genetic prehistory of the New World Arctic |script-title= |trans-title= |url=https://science.sciencemag.org/content/345/6200/1255832/ |access-date=July 5, 2020 |department= |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |type= |series= |language= |edition= |publisher=[[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] |publication-date= |volume=345 |issue=6200 |pages= |nopp= |arxiv= |asin= |bibcode= |bibcode-access= |biorxiv= |citeseerx= |doi=10.1126/science.1255832 |doi-access=free |issn= |jfm= |jstor= |jstor-access= |lccn= |mr= |oclc= |ol= |ol-access= |osti= |osti-access= |pmc= |pmid= 25170159|rfc= |ssrn= |zbl= |id= |layurl= |laysource= |laydate= |quote= |ref={{harvid|Raghavan et al.|2014}}}} |
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* {{cite book |last=Sowa |first=Frank |chapter=Inuit |editor=Andrew J. Hund |title=Antarctica and the Arctic Circle: A Geographic Encyclopedia of the Earth's Polar Regions |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wRvFBAAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|volume=1: A–I |year=2014|publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-61069-393-6|pages=390–395}} |
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* {{Cite book|author=Ruesch, Hans|title=Top of the World|publisher=Pocket|location=New York|year=1986|isbn=978-950-637-164-7}} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20030405232342/http://www.geocities.com/proppentrecker/ernenek-00.html Hebrew version]) |
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* {{Cite book |last1=Stern |first1=Pamela R. |first2=Lisa |last2=Stevenson |year=2006 |title=Critical Inuit studies: an anthology of contemporary Arctic ethnography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=71lBFUBkrMwC&pg=PP1|publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-4303-3}} |
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* Sowa, F. 2014. ''Inuit.'' in: Hund, A. ''Antarctica and the Arctic Circle: A Geographic Encyclopedia of the Earth's Polar Regions.'' Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, pp. 390–395. |
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* {{Cite book|last= |
* {{Cite book |last=Steckley |first=John |year=2008 |title=White Lies about the Inuit |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i-osjdNH3g8C&pg=PP1|publisher=Broadview Press |isbn=978-1-55111-875-8}} |
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* {{Cite book|last= |
* {{Cite book |last=Stern |first=Pamela R. |year=2004 |title=Historical Dictionary of the Inuit |url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000ster |url-access=registration |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-5058-3}} |
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* {{Cite book|last= |
* {{Cite book |last=Walk |first=Ansgar |title=Kenojuak: The Life Story of an Inuit Artist |publisher=Penumbra Press |location=Manotick, Ontario |year=1999|isbn=978-0-921254-95-9 |title-link=Kenojuak Ashevak}} |
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* {{Cite book|author=Walk, Ansgar.|title=Kenojuak: the life story of an Inuit artist|publisher=Penumbra Press|location=Manotick, Ontario|year=1999|isbn=978-0-921254-95-9|title-link=Kenojuak Ashevak}} |
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{{Refend}} |
{{Refend}} |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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{{Commons|Inuit|Inuit}} |
{{Commons|Inuit|Inuit}} |
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* [https://www.inuitcircumpolar.com/ Inuit Circumpolar Council] |
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* [https://inuit.org/en/ Inuit Circumpolar Council Greenland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625200339/https://inuit.org/en/ |date=25 June 2022 }} |
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* [https://iccalaska.org/ Inuit Circumpolar Council Alaska] |
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* [http://www.itk.ca/ National Inuit Organization in Canada] |
* [http://www.itk.ca/ National Inuit Organization in Canada] |
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* [https://sites.google.com/view/inuittp/home Inuit Treaty Project] |
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* {{Curlie|Society/Ethnicity/The_Americas/Indigenous/Inuit|Inuit}} |
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* [https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1T2DrO4oZI3xPsjimwdre1mWcpFTU2HA&usp=sharing Inuit Atlas Project] |
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* [http://www.livingdictionary.com/index.jsp;jsessionid=6451902113FC1DE7E2CF0B986F7B923E Inuktitut Living Dictionary] |
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090212133522/http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/natureofthings/2009/inuitodyssey/ ''Inuit Odyssey''], produced by ''[[The Nature of Things]]'' and first broadcast 29 June 2009 on the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] network. This is a documentary on the Thule people, the ancestors of the Inuit, and their eastward migration across the Arctic to Greenland. The webpage contains a link to [https://web.archive.org/web/20131024023424/http://www.cbc.ca/player/Shows/The%2BNature%2Bof%2BThings/ID/1233750269/ view the documentary online here] (length: 44:03; may not be viewable online outside of Canada). Note: ''Nature of Things'' episodes are also viewable on iTunes. |
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* [https://archives-manuscripts.dartmouth.edu/repositories/2/resources/355 The Papers of Joel M. Halpern on Inuit Life] at Dartmouth College Library |
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{{Inuit}} |
{{Inuit}} |
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[[Category:Indigenous peoples in the Arctic]] |
Latest revision as of 19:50, 30 October 2024
Total population | |
---|---|
155,792[1][2][3][4] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Canada | 70,540 (2021)[1] |
Greenland | 51,479 (2023)[2] |
United States | 16,581 (2010)[3] |
Denmark | 17,067 (2023) |
Languages | |
Inuit languages and Inuit Sign Language Non-native European languages: English, Danish, French, and Russian | |
Religion | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Inu- ᐃᓄ- / nuna ᓄᓇ "person" / "land" | |
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Person | Inuk ᐃᓄᒃ Dual: Inuuk ᐃᓅᒃ |
People | Inuit ᐃᓄᐃᑦ |
Language | Inuit languages |
Country | Chukotsky District Alaska Inuit Nunangat / ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᓄᓇᖓᑦ (Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Nunavut, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut) Greenland |
Part of a series on |
Indigenous peoples in Canada |
---|
Indigenous North Americas Canada portal |
Inuit[a] are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of North America, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Yukon (traditionally[b]), 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.[9] Inuit Sign Language is a critically endangered language isolate used in Nunavut.[10]
Canadian Inuit live throughout most of Northern Canada in 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.[b] These areas are known, primarily by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, as Inuit Nunangat.[11][12] In Canada, sections 25 and 35 of the Constitution Act of 1982 classify Inuit as a distinctive group of Aboriginal Canadians who are not included under either the First Nations or the Métis.[13][14]
Greenlandic Inuit, also known as Kalaallit, are descendants of Thule migrations from Canada by 1100 CE.[15] Although Greenland withdrew from the European Communities in 1985, Inuit of Greenland are Danish citizens and, as such, remain citizens of the European Union.[16][17][18] In the United States, 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 a colonial way; Inuit is now a common autonym for a large sub-group of these people.[19][20][21][22] 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 the exclusion of other, closely related groups (e.g. Yupik, Aleut).[23][24][25][26] 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.[23][better source needed]
History
Pre-contact history
Inuit are the descendants of what anthropologists call the Thule people,[27] who emerged from the Bering Strait and western Alaska around 1000 CE. They had split from the related Aleut group about 4000 years ago and from northeastern Siberian migrants. They spread eastward across the Arctic.[28] They displaced the related Dorset culture, called the Tuniit in Inuktitut, which was the last major Paleo-Eskimo culture.[29]
Inuit legends speak of the Tuniit as "giants", people who were taller and stronger than Inuit.[30] Less frequently, the legends refer to the Dorset as "dwarfs".[31] 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.[32] By 1100 CE, Inuit migrants had reached west Greenland, where they settled.[15] During the 12th century, they also settled in East Greenland.[33][34]
Faced with population pressures from the Thule and other surrounding groups, such as the Algonquian and Siouan-speaking peoples to the south, the Tuniit gradually receded.[35] 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 the last remnants of the Dorset culture, or Tuniit.[36] 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.[37]
In the early 21st century, mitochondrial DNA research has supported the theory of continuity between the Tuniit and the Sadlermiut peoples.[38][39] It also provided evidence that a population displacement did not occur within the Aleutian Islands between the Dorset and Thule transition.[40] However a subsequent 2012 genetic analysis showed no genetic link between the Sadlermiut and the Dorset or Tuniit people.[41] In contrast to other Tuniit populations, the Aleut and Sadlermiut benefited from both geographical isolation and their ability to adopt certain Thule technologies.[citation needed]
In Canada and Greenland, Inuit circulated almost exclusively north of 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[42] while the most southern community within the traditional Inuit territory of NunatuKavut and in the world is L'anse au Clair, Labrador.[43]
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 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 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.[44]
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 the high Arctic, Inuit were forced to abandon their hunting and whaling sites as bowhead whales disappeared from Canada and Greenland.[45] 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.[45]
Post-contact history
Canada
Early contact with Europeans
The lives of Paleo-Eskimos of the far north were largely unaffected by the arrival of visiting Norsemen except for mutual trade.[46] After 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.[47][48] 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 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 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.[49] 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.[50]
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 the early relations with whaling stations along the Labrador coast and later James Bay were based on a mutual interest in trade.[51] In the final years of the 18th century, the Moravian Church began missionary activities in Labrador, supported by the British[52] 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 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 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 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.[53] 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.[54] Captain George Comer's Inuk wife Shoofly, known for her sewing skills and elegant attire,[55] was influential in convincing him to acquire more sewing accessories and beads for trade with Inuit.
Early 20th century
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 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 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 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.
The Second World War to the 1960s
World War II and the Cold War made Arctic Canada strategically important to 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 the traditional structure and culture of Inuit society.[56]
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 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.[57] 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 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.[58][59][60][61]
By 1953, Canada's prime minister Louis St. Laurent publicly admitted, "Apparently we have administered the vast territories of the north in an almost continuing absence of mind."[62][63] The government began to establish about forty permanent administrative centers to provide education, health, and economic development services.[63] Inuit from hundreds of smaller camps scattered across the north began to congregate in these hamlets.[64]
Regular visits from doctors and access to modern medical care raised the birth rate and decreased 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.[65] By 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 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.
Cultural renewal
In the 1960s, the Canadian government funded 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 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 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 the Original People's Entitlement (representing the Inuvialuit),[66] 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 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 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.[14] 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 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.
Inuit cabinet members at the federal level
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."[67] Jack Anawak and Nancy Karetak-Lindell were both parliamentary secretaries respectively from 1993 to 1996 and in 2003.
Nomenclature
The term Eskimo is still used by people;[19][68][69] however in the 21st century, usage in North America has declined.[20][21]
In the United States the term Eskimo was, as of 2016, commonly[19] 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.[68][69]
In 2011, Lawrence Kaplan of 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.[70] Since then Kaplan has updated this to indicate that the term Inuit has gained acceptance in Alaska.[20]
Though there is much debate, the word Eskimo likely derives from a Innu-aimun (Montagnais)[71][72][73] exonym meaning 'a person who laces a snowshoe',[22][26][71][74] but is also used in folk etymology as meaning 'eater of raw meat' in the Cree language.[75] Though the Cree etymology has been discredited, "Eskimo" is considered pejorative by some Canadian and English-speaking Greenlandic Inuit.[75][76][77][78]
In Canada and Greenland, Inuit is preferred. Inuit is the Eastern Canadian Inuit (Inuktitut) and West Greenlandic (Kalaallisut) word for 'the people'.[6] Since Inuktitut and Kalaallisut are 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.
Cultural history
Languages
Inuit speak Inupiaq (Inupiatun), Inuinnaqtun,[79] Inuktitut,[80] Inuvialuktun, and Greenlandic languages,[81] which belong to the Inuit-Inupiaq branch of the Inuit-Yupik-Unangan language family.[23]
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 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 the Northwest Territories, where it is also an official language.[82][83][84][85][86][87]
Kalaallisut is the official language of Greenland.[88] The Greenlandic languages are divided into: Kalaallisut (Western), Inuktun (Northern), and Tunumiit (Eastern). As Inuktitut was the language of the Eastern Canadian Inuit[80] and Kalaallisut is the language of the Western Greenlandic Inuit,[81] they are related more closely than most other dialects.[89]
Inuit in Alaska and Northern Canada also typically speak English.[90] 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 is a language isolate and is almost extinct as only around 50 people still use it.[91]
Diet
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 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.[92] 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 the season and the location.[93][94][95][96] 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.[97] 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 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 the 1970s,[98] and more recently.[99][100]
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[101] and limited access to medical services.[102] The life expectancy gap is not closing and remains stagnant.[102][103][104]
Tattoos
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 the women's lives, such as where they were from, who their family was, their life achievements, and their position in the community.[105] When Catholic missionaries arrived in the area in the early 20th century[106] they outlawed the practice,[citation needed] 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.[107] The traditional method of tattooing was done with needles made of sinew or bone soaked in suet and sewn into the skin, but today they use ink.[105] The Inuit Tattoo Revitalization Project is a community that was created to highlight the revitalization of this ancient tradition.[108][109][110]
Transport, navigation, and dogs
Inuit hunted sea animals from single-passenger, seal-skin covered boats called qajaq (Inuktitut syllabics: ᖃᔭᖅ)[111] which were extraordinarily buoyant, and could be righted by 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 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 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,[112] 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 the coastline.
Dogs played an integral role in the annual routine of Inuit. During the summer they became pack animals, sometimes dragging up to 20 kg (44 lb) of baggage and in the winter they pulled the sled. Yearlong they assisted with hunting by sniffing out seals' holes and pestering polar bears. They also protected Inuit villages by barking at bears and strangers. Inuit generally favoured, and tried to breed, the most striking and handsome of dogs, especially ones with bright eyes and healthy coats. Common husky dog breeds used by Inuit were the Canadian Eskimo Dog, the official animal of Nunavut,[113] (Qimmiq; Inuktitut for dog), the Greenland Dog, the Siberian Husky and the Alaskan Malamute.
Industry, art, and clothing
Inuit industry relied almost exclusively on animal hides, driftwood, and bones, although some tools were also made out of worked stones, particularly the readily worked soapstone. Walrus ivory was a particularly essential material, used to make knives. Art played a big part in Inuit society and continues to do so today. Small sculptures of animals and human figures, usually depicting everyday activities such as hunting and whaling, were carved from ivory and bone. In modern times prints and figurative works carved in relatively soft stone such as soapstone, serpentinite, or argillite have also become popular.
Traditional Inuit clothing and footwear is made from animal skins, sewn together using needles made from animal bones and threads made from other animal products, such as sinew. The anorak (parka) is made in a similar fashion by Arctic peoples from Europe through Asia and the Americas, including Inuit. The back part of an amauti (women's parka) was traditionally made extra-large with a separate compartment below the hood to allow the mother to carry a baby against her back and protect it from the harsh wind.[114] Styles vary from region to region, from the shape of the hood to the length of the tails. Boots (mukluk[115] or kamik[116]), could be made of caribou or seal skin, and designed for men and women.
During the winter, certain Inuit lived in a temporary shelter made from snow called an igloo, and during the few months of the year when temperatures were above freezing, they lived in tents, known as tupiq,[114] made of animal skins supported by a frame of bones or wood.[117][118] Some, such as the Siglit, used driftwood,[119] while others built sod houses.[120]
Inuit also used the Cape York Meteorite as a primary resource of Iron, using a technique called cold forging, which consisted in slicing a piece of the meteorite and giving it shape by smashing it with rocks until getting the desired shape, for example, tools for fishing. They used this meteorite for centuries until Robert E. Peary sold it to the American Natural History Museum in 1883.[121]
Gender roles, marriage, birth, and community
The division of labor in traditional Inuit society had a strong gender component, but it was not absolute. The men were traditionally hunters and fishermen, and the women took care of the children, cleaned the home, sewed, processed food, and cooked. However, there are numerous examples of women who hunted, out of necessity or as a personal choice. At the same time, men, who could be away from camp for several days at a time, would be expected to know how to sew and cook.[122]
The marital customs among Inuit were not strictly monogamous: many Inuit relationships were implicitly or explicitly sexual. Open marriages, polygamy, divorce, and remarriage were known. Among some Inuit groups, if there were children, divorce required the approval of the community and particularly the agreement of the elders. Marriages were often arranged, sometimes in infancy, and occasionally forced on the couple by the community.[123]
Marriage was common for women at puberty and for men when they became productive hunters. Family structure was flexible: a household might consist of a husband and wife (or wives) and children; it might include his parents or his wife's parents as well as adopted children; it might be a larger formation of several siblings with their parents, wives, and children; or even more than one family sharing dwellings and resources. Every household had its head, either an elder or a particularly respected man.[124]
There was also a larger notion of community as, generally, several families shared a place where they wintered. Goods were shared within a household, and also, to a significant extent, within a whole community.
Inuit were hunter–gatherers,[125] and have been referred to as nomadic.[126] One of the customs following the birth of an infant was for an Angakkuq (shaman) to place a tiny ivory carving of a whale into the baby's mouth, in hopes this would make the child good at hunting. Loud singing and drumming were also customary at birth.[127]
Raiding
Virtually all Inuit cultures have oral traditions of raids by other Indigenous peoples, including fellow Inuit, and of taking vengeance on them in return, such as the Bloody Falls massacre. Western observers often regarded these tales as generally not entirely accurate historical accounts, but more as self-serving myths. However, evidence shows that Inuit cultures had quite accurate methods of teaching historical accounts to each new generation.[128] In northern Canada, historically there were ethnic feuds between the Dene and Inuit, as witnessed by Samuel Hearne in 1771.[129] In 1996, Dene and Inuit representatives participated in a healing ceremony to reconcile the centuries-old grievances.[130]
The historic accounts of violence against outsiders make it clear that there was a history of hostile contact within Inuit cultures and with other cultures.[131] It also makes it clear that Inuit nations existed through history, as well as confederations of such nations. The known confederations were usually formed to defend against a more prosperous, and thus stronger, nation. Alternately, people who lived in less productive geographical areas tended to be less warlike, as they had to spend more time producing food.
Justice within Inuit culture was moderated by the form of governance that gave significant power to the elders. As in most cultures around the world, justice could be harsh and often included capital punishment for serious crimes against the community or the individual. During raids against other peoples, Inuit, like their non-Inuit neighbors, tended to be merciless.[132]
Suicide, murder, and death
A pervasive European myth about Inuit is that they killed elderly (senicide) and "unproductive people",[133] but this is not generally true.[134][135][136] In a culture with an oral history, elders are the keepers of communal knowledge, effectively the community library.[137] Because they are of extreme value as the repository of knowledge, there are cultural taboos against sacrificing elders.[138][139]
In Antoon A. Leenaars' book Suicide in Canada, he states that "Rasmussen found that the death of elders by suicide was a commonplace among the Iglulik Inuit".[140]
According to Franz Boas, suicide was "not of rare occurrence" and was generally accomplished through hanging.[141] Writing of the Labrador Inuit, Hawkes (1916) was considerably more explicit on the subject of suicide and the burden of the elderly:
Aged people who have outlived their usefulness and whose life is a burden both to themselves and their relatives are put to death by stabbing or strangulation. This is customarily done at the request of the individual concerned, but not always so. Aged people who are a hindrance on the trail are abandoned.
— Leenaars et al., Suicide in Canada[142]
When food is not sufficient, the elderly are the least likely to survive. In the extreme case of famine, Inuit fully understood that, if there was to be any hope of obtaining more food, a hunter was necessarily the one to feed on whatever food was left. However, a common response to desperate conditions and the threat of starvation was infanticide.[143][144] A mother abandoned an infant in hopes that someone less desperate might find and adopt the child before the cold or animals killed it. The belief that Inuit regularly resorted to infanticide may be due in part to studies done by Asen Balikci,[145] Milton Freeman[146] and David Riches[147] among the Netsilik, along with the trial of Kikkik.[148][149] Other recent research has noted that "While there is little disagreement that there were examples of infanticide in Inuit communities, it is presently not known the depth and breadth of these incidents. The research is neither complete nor conclusive to allow for a determination of whether infanticide was a rare or a widely practiced event."[150] There is no agreement about the actual estimates of the frequency of newborn female infanticide in Inuit population. Carmel Schrire mentions diverse studies ranging from 15 to 80 percent.[151]
Anthropologists believed that Inuit cultures routinely killed children born with physical defects because of the demands of the extreme climate. These views were changed by late 20th century discoveries of burials at an archaeological site. Between 1982 and 1994, a storm with high winds caused ocean waves to erode part of the bluffs near Utqiaġvik, Alaska, and a body was discovered to have been washed out of the mud. Unfortunately, the storm claimed the body, which was not recovered. But examination of the eroded bank indicated that an ancient house, perhaps with other remains, was likely to be claimed by the next storm. The site, known as the "Ukkuqsi archaeological site", was excavated. Several frozen bodies (now known as the "frozen family") were recovered, autopsies were performed, and they were re-interred as the first burials in the then-new Imaiqsaun Cemetery south of Barrow.[152] Years later another body was washed out of the bluff. It was a female child, approximately nine years old, who had clearly been born with a congenital birth defect.[153] This child had never been able to walk, but must have been cared for by family throughout her life.[154] She was the best preserved body ever recovered in Alaska, and radiocarbon dating of grave goods and of a strand of her hair all place her back to about 1200 CE.[154]
Health
During the 19th century, the Western Arctic suffered a population decline of close to 90 per cent, resulting from exposure to new diseases, including tuberculosis, measles, influenza, and smallpox. Autopsies near Greenland reveal that, more commonly pneumonia, kidney diseases, trichinosis, malnutrition, and degenerative disorders may have contributed to mass deaths among different Inuit tribes. Inuit believed that the causes of the disease were of a spiritual origin.[155]
Canadian churches and, eventually, the federal government ran the earliest health facilities for Inuit population, whether fully segregated hospitals or "annexes" and wards attached to settler hospitals. These "Indian hospitals" were focused on treating people for tuberculosis, though diagnosis was difficult and treatment involved forced removal of individuals from their communities for in-patient confinement in other parts of the country.
Dr. Kevin Patterson, a physician, wrote an op-ed in The Globe and Mail: "In October (2017) the federal Minister of Indigenous Services, Jane Philpott, announced that in 2015 tuberculosis ... Was 270 times ... More common among the Canadian Inuit than it is among non-Indigenous southern Canadians." The Canadian Medical Association Journal published in 2013 that "tuberculosis among Canadian Inuit has dramatically increased since 1997. In 2010 the incidence in Nunavut ... Was 304 per 100,000—more than 66 times the rate seen in the general population.[156]
Traditional law
Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit or Inuit traditional laws are anthropologically different from Western law concepts. Customary law was thought non-existent in Inuit society before the introduction of the Canadian legal system. In 1954, E. Adamson Hoebel concluded that only "rudimentary law" existed amongst Inuit. No known Western observer before 1970 was aware that any form of governance existed among any Inuit;[157] however, there was a set way of doing things that had to be followed:
- maligait refers to what has to be followed
- piqujait refers to what has to be done
- tirigusuusiit refers to what has to be avoided
If an individual's actions went against the tirigusuusiit, maligait or piqujait, the angakkuq (shaman) might have to intervene, lest the consequences be dire to the individual or the community.[158]
We are told today that Inuit never had laws or "maligait". Why? They say because they are not written on paper. When I think of paper, I think you can tear it up, and the laws are gone. The laws of the Inuit are not on paper.
— Mariano Aupilaarjuk, Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, Perspectives on Traditional Law[159]
Traditional beliefs
The environment in which Inuit lived inspired a mythology filled with adventure tales of whale and walrus hunts. Long winter months of waiting for caribou herds or sitting near breathing holes hunting seals gave birth to stories of the mysterious and sudden appearance of ghosts and fantastic creatures. Some Inuit looked into the aurora borealis, or northern lights, to find images of their family and friends dancing in the next life.[160] However, some Inuit believed that the lights were more sinister and if you whistled at them, they would come down and cut off your head. This tale is still told to children today.[161] For others they were invisible giants, the souls of animals, a guide to hunting and as a spirit for the angakkuq to help with healing.[161][162] They relied upon the angakkuq (shaman) for spiritual interpretation. The nearest thing to a central deity was the Old Woman (Sedna), who lived beneath the sea. The waters, a central food source, were believed to contain great gods.
Inuit practiced a form of shamanism based on animist principles. They believed that all things had a form of spirit, including humans, and that to some extent these spirits could be influenced by a pantheon of supernatural entities that could be appeased when one required some animal or inanimate thing to act in a certain way. The angakkuq of a community of Inuit was not the leader, but rather a sort of healer and psychotherapist, who tended wounds and offered advice, as well as invoking the spirits to assist people in their lives. Their role was to see, interpret and exhort the subtle and unseen. Angakkuit were not trained; they were held to be born with the ability and recognized by the community as they approached adulthood.
Inuit religion was closely tied to a system of rituals integrated into the daily life of the people. These rituals were simple but held to be necessary. According to a customary Inuit saying, "The great peril of our existence lies in the fact that our diet consists entirely of souls".[163]
By believing that all things, including animals, have souls like those of humans,[164] any hunt that failed to show appropriate respect and customary supplication would only give the liberated spirits cause to avenge themselves.
The harshness and unpredictability of life in the Arctic ensured that Inuit lived with concern for the uncontrollable, where a streak of bad luck could destroy an entire community. To offend a spirit was to risk its interference with an already marginal existence. Inuit understood that they had to work in harmony with supernatural powers to provide the necessities of day-to-day life.
Demographics
In total, there are about 148,000 Inuit living in four countries, Canada, Greenland, Denmark and the United States.[11][2][3][4]
Country | Region | Inuit population | Inuit population concentration | Inuit territory |
---|---|---|---|---|
Canada | Nunavut | 30,865[165] | 84.33% | Inuit Nunangat |
Canada | Quebec | 15,800[165] | 0.19% | Nunavik (Inuit Nunangat) |
Canada | Newfoundland and Labrador | 7,330[165] | 1.46% | Nunatsiavut (Inuit Nunangat) |
Canada | Ontario | 4,310[165] | 0.03% | No |
Canada | Northwest Territories | 4,155[165] | 10.29% | Inuvialuit Settlement Region (Inuit Nunangat) |
Canada | Alberta | 2,950[165] | 0.07% | No |
Canada | British Columbia | 1,720[165] | 0.03% | No |
Canada | Nova Scotia | 1,100[165] | 0.12% | No |
Canada | Manitoba | 730[165] | 0.06% | No |
Canada | New Brunswick | 685[165] | 0.09% | No |
Canada | Saskatchewan | 460[165] | 0.04% | No |
Canada | Yukon | 260[165] | 0.66% | Inuvialuit Settlement Region (Inuit Nunangat) |
Canada | Prince Edward Island | 180[165] | 0.12% | No |
Denmark | Hovedstaden | 5,498[166] | 0.31% | No |
Denmark | Syddanmark | 4,411[166] | 0.34% | No |
Denmark | Midtjylland | 3,822[166] | 0.33% | No |
Denmark | Sjælland | 2,664[166] | 0.33% | No |
Denmark | Nordjylland | 2,168[166] | 0.44% | No |
Greenland | Sermersooq | 23,416[7] | 95.20% (90.44%) | Yes |
Greenland | Avannaata | 10,693[7] | 92.14% (87.53%) | Yes |
Greenland | Qeqqata | 9,252[7] | 98.10% (93.20%) | Yes |
Greenland | Qeqertalik | 6,284[7] | 98.56% (93.63%) | Yes |
Greenland | Kujalleq | 6,266[7] | 96.28% (91.47%) | Yes |
United States | Alaska | 14,718[4][167] | 2.00% | Yes |
United States | Washington | 1,863[4][168] | 0.02% | No |
Canada
As of the 2016 Canadian census[update], there were 65,025 people identifying as Inuit living in Canada. This was up 29.1 per cent from the 2006 Canadian census. Close to three-quarters (72.8 per cent) of Inuit lived in one of the four regions comprising Inuit Nunangat (Nunavut, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut, and Inuvialuit Settlement Region). From 2006 to 2016, Inuit population grew by 20.1 per cent inside Inuit Nunangat.[169]
The largest population of Inuit in Canada as of 2016[update] live in Nunavut with 30,140[169] Inuit out of a total population of 35,580 residents.[11][170] Between 2006 and 2016, Inuit population of Nunavut grew by 22.5 per cent.[169] In Nunavut, Inuit population forms a majority in all communities and is the only jurisdiction of Canada where Aboriginal peoples form a majority.[170]
As of 2016[update], there were 13,945 Inuit living in Quebec.[170] The majority, about 11,795, live in Nunavik.[11] Inuit population of Nunavik grew 23.3 per cent between the 2006 and 2016 censuses. This was the fastest growth among all four regions of Inuit Nunangat.[169]
The 2016[update] Canada Census found there were 6,450 Inuit living in Newfoundland and Labrador[170] including 2,285 who live in Nunatsiavut.[11] In Nunatsiavut, Inuit population grew by 6.0 per cent between 2006 and 2016.[169]
As of 2016[update], there were 4,080 Inuit living in the Northwest Territories.[170] The majority, 3,110, live in the six communities of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region.[11] Inuit population growth in the region was largely flat between 2006 and 2016.[169]
Outside of Inuit Nunangat, Inuit population was 17,695 as of 2016[update].[11] This was a growth of 61.9 per cent between the 2006 and 2016 censuses.[169] The highest populations of Inuit outside of Inuit Nunangat lived in the Atlantic provinces (30.6 per cent) with 23.5 per cent lived in Newfoundland and Labrador. A further 21.8 per cent outside of Inuit Nunangat lived in Ontario, 28.7 per cent lived in the western provinces, 12.1 per cent lived in Quebec, while 6.8 per cent lived in the Northwest Territories (not including the Inuvialuit region) and Yukon.[169]
Included in the population of Newfoundland and Labrador outside of Inuit Nunangat is the unrecognized Inuit territory of NunatuKavut where about 6,000 NunatuKavummiut (formerly known as "Labrador-metis") reside in southern Labrador.[171] The numbers are not projected to rise in any significant way because of the enrollment requirements, which require proof Inuit ancestry and demonstrated connection with NunatuKavut society.[172]
Province/Territory | 1931 | 1941 | 1951 | 1961 | 1971 | 1981 | 1996 | 2011 | 2016 | 2021 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Newfoundland and Labrador | - | - | 769 | 815 | 1055 | 1850 | 4265 | 6265 | 6450 | 7330 |
Prince Edward Island | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 15 | 55 | 75 | 180 |
Nova Scotia | 0 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 20 | 130 | 210 | 695 | 790 | 1100 |
New Brunswick | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 120 | 485 | 385 | 685 |
Quebec | 1159 | 1778 | 1989 | 2467 | 3755 | 4875 | 8300 | 12570 | 13945 | 15800 |
Ontario | 0 | 3 | 18 | 212 | 760 | 1095 | 1300 | 3360 | 3860 | 4310 |
Manitoba | 62 | 1 | 26 | 208 | 130 | 230 | 360 | 580 | 605 | 730 |
Saskatchewan | 0 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 75 | 145 | 190 | 295 | 360 | 460 |
Alberta | 3 | 4 | 47 | 85 | 135 | 515 | 795 | 1985 | 2495 | 2950 |
British Columbia | 0 | 7 | 26 | 25 | 210 | 510 | 815 | 1570 | 1615 | 1720 |
Yukon | 85 | 0 | 30 | 40 | 10 | 95 | 110 | 180 | 225 | 260 |
Northwest Territories | 4670 | 5404 | 6822 | 7977 | 11400 | 15910 | 24600 | 4335 | 4080 | 4155 |
Nunavut | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 27070 | 30135 | 30865 |
Canada total | 5,979 | 7,205 | 9,733 | 11,835 | 17,555 | 25,390 | 41,080 | 59,440 | 65,025 | 70,540 |
Greenland
According to the 2018 edition of the CIA World Factbook, Inuit population of Greenland is 88 per cent (50,787) out of a total of 57,713 people.[2] Like Nunavut, the population lives throughout the habitable areas of the region.
Denmark
The population size of Greenlandic people in Denmark varies from source to source between 15,000 and 20,000. According to 2023 figures from Statistics Denmark, there are 17,067 people residing in Denmark of Greenlandic Inuit ancestry.[3] Most travel to Denmark for educational purposes, and many remain after finishing their education,[173] which results in the population being mostly concentrated in the big four educational cities of Copenhagen, Aarhus, Odense, and Aalborg, which all have vibrant Greenlandic communities and cultural centers (Kalaallit Illuutaat).
United States
According to the 2000 United States Census there were a total of 16,581 Inuit / Inupiat living throughout the country.[4] The majority, about 14,718, live in the state of Alaska.[167] According to 2019-based U.S. Census Bureau data, there are 700 Alaskan Natives in Seattle, many of whom are Inuit and Yupik, and almost 7,000 in Washington state.[168][174]
Governance
The Inuit Circumpolar Council is a United Nations-recognized non-governmental organization (NGO), which defines its constituency as Canada's Inuit and Inuvialuit, Greenland's Kalaallit Inuit, Alaska's Inupiat and Yup'ik, and Russia's Siberian Yupik,[175] despite the last two neither speaking an Inuit dialect[70] or considering themselves "Inuit". Nonetheless, it has come together with other circumpolar cultural and political groups to promote Inuit and other northern people in their fight against ecological problems such as climate change which disproportionately affects Inuit population. The Inuit Circumpolar Council is one of the six group of Arctic Indigenous peoples that have a seat as a so-called "Permanent Participant" on the Arctic Council,[176] an international high level forum in which the eight Arctic Countries (United States, Canada, Russia, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland) discuss Arctic policy. On 12 May 2011, Greenland's Prime Minister Kuupik Kleist hosted the ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council, an event for which the American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came to Nuuk, as did many other high-ranking officials such as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. At that event they signed the Nuuk Declaration.[177]
Canada
While Inuit Nunangat is within Canada, and the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami oversees only the four official regions, there remains the unrecognized NunatuKavut in southern Labrador.
The Inuvialuit are western Canadian Inuit who remained in the Northwest Territories when Nunavut split off. They live primarily in the Mackenzie River delta, on Banks Island, and parts of Victoria Island in the Northwest Territories. They are officially represented by the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and, in 1984, received a comprehensive land claims settlement, the first in Northern Canada, with the signing of the Inuvialuit Final Agreement.[178]
The TFN worked for ten years and, in September 1992, came to a final agreement with the Government of Canada. This agreement called for the separation of the Northwest Territories into an eastern territory whose Aboriginal population would be predominately Inuit,[179] the future Nunavut, and a rump Northwest Territories in the west. It was the largest land claim agreement in Canadian history. In November 1992, the Nunavut Final Agreement was approved by nearly 85 per cent of Inuit of what would become Nunavut. As the final step in this long process, the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement was signed on May 25, 1993, in Iqaluit by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and by Paul Quassa, the president of Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, which replaced the TFN with the ratification of the Nunavut Final Agreement. The Canadian Parliament passed the supporting legislation in June of the same year, enabling the 1999 establishment of Nunavut as a territorial entity.
Greenland
In 1953, Denmark put an end to the colonial status of Greenland and granted home rule in 1979 and in 2008 a self-government referendum was passed with 75 per cent approval. Although still a part of the Kingdom of Denmark (along with Denmark proper and the Faroe Islands), Greenland, known as Kalaallit Nunaat in the Greenlandic language, maintains much autonomy today. Of a population of 56,000, 80 per cent of Greenlanders identify as Inuit. Their economy is based on fishing and shrimping.[180]
The Thule people arrived in Greenland in the 13th century. There they encountered the Norsemen, who had established colonies there since the late 10th century, as well as a later wave of the Dorset people. Because most of Greenland is covered in ice, the Greenland Inuit (or Kalaallit) only live in coastal settlements, particularly the northern polar coast, the eastern Amassalik coast and the central coasts of western Greenland.[181]
Alaska
Inuit of Alaska are the Iñupiat who live in the Northwest Arctic Borough, the North Slope Borough and the Bering Strait region. Utqiagvik, the northernmost city in the United States, is in the Inupiat region. Their language is Iñupiaq.
Genetics
A genetic study published in Science in August 2014 examined a large number of remains from the Dorset culture, Birnirk culture and the Thule people. Genetic continuity was observed between Inuit, Thule and Birnirk, who overwhelmingly carried the maternal haplogroup A2a and were genetically very different from the Dorset. The evidence suggested that Inuit descend from the Birnirk of Siberia, who through the Thule culture expanded into northern Canada and Greenland, where they genetically and culturally completely replaced the Indigenous Dorset people some time after 1300 AD.[182]
Inuit people tend to have the dry variant of human earwax.[183]
Modern culture
Inuit art, carving, print making, textiles and Inuit throat singing, are very popular, not only in Canada but globally, and Inuit artists are widely known. Canada has adopted some of Inuit culture as national symbols, using Inuit cultural icons like the inuksuk in unlikely places, such as its use as a symbol at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Respected art galleries display Inuit art, the largest collection of which is at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Their traditional New Year is called Quviasukvik.[184]
Some Inuit languages, such as Inuktitut, appear to have a more secure future in Quebec and Nunavut. There are a number of Inuit, even those who now live in urban centres such as Ottawa, Montreal and Winnipeg, who have experienced living on the land in the traditional life style. People such as Legislative Assembly of Nunavut member, Levinia Brown and former Commissioner of Nunavut and the NWT, Helen Maksagak were born and lived the early part of their life "on the land". Inuit culture is alive and vibrant today in spite of the negative impacts of recent history.
An important biennial event, the Arctic Winter Games, is held in communities across the northern regions of the world, featuring traditional Inuit and northern sports as part of the events. A cultural event is also held. The games were first held in 1970, and while rotated usually among Alaska, Yukon and the Northwest Territories, they have also been held in Schefferville, Quebec, in 1976, in Slave Lake, Alberta, and a joint Iqaluit, Nunavut-Nuuk, Greenland staging in 2002. In other sporting events, Jordin Tootoo became the first Inuk to play in the National Hockey League in the 2003–2004 season, playing for the Nashville Predators.
Although Inuit life has changed significantly over the past century, many traditions continue. Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, or traditional knowledge, such as storytelling, mythology, music, and dancing remain important parts of the culture. Family and community are very important. The Inuktitut language is still spoken in many areas of the Arctic and is common on radio and in television programming.
Well-known Inuit politicians include Premier of Nunavut, P.J. Akeeagok, Lori Idlout, member of parliament for the riding of Nunavut, Eva Aariak, Commissioner of Nunavut and Múte Bourup Egede, Prime Minister of Greenland. Leona Aglukkaq, former MP, was the first Inuk to be sworn into the Canadian Federal Cabinet as Health Minister in 2008. In May 2011 after being re-elected for her second term, Aglukkaq was given the additional portfolio of Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency. In July 2013 she was sworn in as the minister of the environment.[185]
Visual and performing arts are strong features of Inuit culture. In 2002 the first feature film in Inuktitut, Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, was released worldwide to great critical and popular acclaim. It was directed by Zacharias Kunuk, and written, filmed, produced, directed, and acted almost entirely by Inuit of Igloolik. In 2009, the film Le Voyage D'Inuk, a Greenlandic-language feature film, was directed by Mike Magidson and co-written by Magidson and French film producer Jean-Michel Huctin.[186] One of the most famous Inuit artists is Pitseolak Ashoona. Susan Aglukark is a popular singer. Mitiarjuk Attasie Nappaaluk worked at preserving Inuktitut and wrote one of the first novels ever published in that language.[187] In 2006, Cape Dorset was hailed as Canada's most artistic city, with 23 per cent of the labor force employed in the arts.[188] Inuit art such as soapstone carvings is one of Nunavut's most important industries. Ada Eyetoaq was an Inuit artist who made miniature sculptures out of soapstone.
Recently, there has been an identity struggle among the younger generations of Inuit, between their traditional heritage and the modern society which their cultures have been forced to assimilate into in order to maintain a livelihood. With current dependence on modern society for necessities, (including governmental jobs, food, aid, medicine, etc.), Inuit have had much interaction with and exposure to the societal norms outside their previous cultural boundaries. The stressors regarding the identity crisis among teenagers have led to disturbingly high numbers of suicide.[189]
A series of authors have focused upon the increasing myopia in the youngest generations of Inuit. Myopia was almost unknown prior to Inuit adoption of Western culture. Principal theories are the change to a Western style diet with more refined foods, and extended education.[190][191][192]
David Pisurayak Kootook was awarded the Meritorious Service Cross, posthumously, for his heroic efforts in a 1972 plane crash. Other notable Inuit include the freelance journalist Ossie Michelin, whose iconic photograph of the activist Amanda Polchies went viral after the 2013 anti-fracking protests at Elsipogtog First Nation.[193]
Notes
- ^ Pronounced /ˈɪnjuɪt/ IN-ew-it;[5] Inuktitut: ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, ᐃᓄᒃ, dual: Inuuk, ᐃᓅᒃ; Iñupiaq: Iñuit 'the people'; Greenlandic: Inuit)[6][7][8]
- ^ a b The Inuvialuit Settlement Region (ISR) also includes the Yukon North Slope in the territory of Yukon, which is relatively small compared with the ISR in Northwest Territories and has no communities living within it—but is part of traditional and current Inuvialuit hunting, trapping, fishing, etc. grounds.
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General and cited references
- Alia, Valerie (2009). Names and Nunavut: Culture and Identity in Arctic Canada. Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-1-84545-165-3.
- Billson, Janet Mancini; Mancini, Kyra (2007). Inuit Women: Their Powerful Spirit in a Century of Change. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7425-3597-8.
- Hessel, Ingo (2006). Arctic Spirit: Inuit Art from the Albrecht Collection at the Heard Museum. Heard Museum. ISBN 978-1-55365-189-5.
- Leenaars, Antoon A.; Kral, Michael J.; Dyck, Ronald J. (1998). Suicide in Canada. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-7791-2.
- Leenaars, Antoon A.; Wenckstern, Susanne; Sakinofsky, Isaac; et al., eds. (1998). Suicide in Canada. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-7791-2.
- Mitchell, Marybelle (1996). From Talking Chiefs to a Native Corporate Elite: The Birth of Class and Nationalism among Canadian Inuit. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-6580-7.
- Ohokak, Gwen; Kadlun, Margo; Harnum, Betty. Inuinnaqtun to English Dictionary (PDF). Kitikmeot Heritage Society. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 September 2012.
- Raghavan, Maanasa; DeGiorgio, Michael; Albrechtsen, Anders; et al. (2014). "The genetic prehistory of the New World Arctic". Science. 345 (6200) (published 29 August 2014): 1255832. doi:10.1126/SCIENCE.1255832. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 25170159. Wikidata Q29606641.
- Sturtevant, William C., ed. (1984). Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 5 (Arctic). Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 978-0-16-004580-6.
Further reading
- Briggs, Jean L. (1970). Never in Anger: Portrait of an Eskimo Family. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-60828-3.
- "Collections: Inuit". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
- Crandall, Richard C. (2000). Inuit Art: A History. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-0711-8.
- Eber, Dorothy (1997). Images of Justice: A Legal History of the Northwest Territories and Yellowknife. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-1675-5.
- Eber, Dorothy (2008). Encounters on the Passage: Inuit meet the explorers. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-1-4426-8798-1.
- Forman, Werner; Burch, Ernest S. (1988). The Eskimos. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-2126-0.
- Fossett, Renée (2001). In Order to Live Untroubled: Inuit of the Central Arctic 1550 to 1940. University of Manitoba Press. ISBN 978-0-88755-328-8.
- Freeman, Milton M. R. (24 October 2017). "Arctic Indigenous Peoples in Canada". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada.
- Freeman, Minnie Aodla (24 September 2020). "Inuit". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada.
- Hauser, Michael; Holtved, Erik; Jensen, Bent (2010). Traditional Inuit songs from the Thule area. Vol. 2. Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 978-87-635-2589-3.
- Hund, Andrew (2012). Inuit. Sage Publications, Inc. ISBN 978-1412992619.
- Kulchyski, Peter Keith; Tester, Frank J. (2007). Kiumajut (talking Back): Game Management and Inuit Rights, 1900–70. UBC Press. ISBN 978-0-7748-1241-2.
- King, J. C. H.; Pauksztat, Birgit; Storrie, Robert (2005). Arctic Clothing of North America – Alaska, Canada, Greenland. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-3008-9.
- McGrath, Melanie (2006). The Long Exile: A Tale of Inuit Betrayal and Survival in the High Arctic. Knopf Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-307-53786-7. Also at The long exile: a tale of Inuit betrayal and survival in the high Arctic at the Internet Archive
- "Inuit Odyssey: History of the Thule Migration". The Nature of Things. Season 48. 12 February 2009. CBC. Archived from the original on 25 August 2013.
- Paver, Michelle (2008). Chronicles of Ancient Darkness: Wolf Brother; Spirit Walker; Soul Eater. Issues 1–3 of Chronicles of ancient darkness. Orion Children's. ISBN 978-1-84255-705-1.
- Poncins, Gontran De; Galantiere, Lewis (1996) [1941]. Kabloona: Among the Inuit. Graywolf Press. ISBN 978-1-55597-249-3.
- Sowa, Frank (2014). "Inuit". In Andrew J. Hund (ed.). Antarctica and the Arctic Circle: A Geographic Encyclopedia of the Earth's Polar Regions. Vol. 1: A–I. ABC-CLIO. pp. 390–395. ISBN 978-1-61069-393-6.
- Stern, Pamela R.; Stevenson, Lisa (2006). Critical Inuit studies: an anthology of contemporary Arctic ethnography. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-4303-3.
- Steckley, John (2008). White Lies about the Inuit. Broadview Press. ISBN 978-1-55111-875-8.
- Stern, Pamela R. (2004). Historical Dictionary of the Inuit. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-5058-3.
- Walk, Ansgar (1999). Kenojuak: The Life Story of an Inuit Artist. Manotick, Ontario: Penumbra Press. ISBN 978-0-921254-95-9.