Beginnings of the Inuits
The land the Inuit Indians occupied were from eastern Russia, across Alaska, to Northern Canada, to Greenland. The Inuits ancestors came from Russia over the land bridge that was formed between Siberia, Russia and Alaska. This is how the inuits came over to the Americas. "Inuids" mean the people in the Inukitut language, which most Inuit Indians spoke. This was average of all Indian tribes to call themselves "The people" in their own language.
Environment
The environment which the Inuits lived on was the artic tundra. The land was frozen subsoil and permafrost. In the summer once the top permafrost layer thawed, it turned into just mud over a frozen layer of ground. There was no water drainage because of this. In the lower artic it was considered a polar desert.
Food Sources
Since the Inuit Indians lived on frozen land, they could not grow any plants. This means they never grew anything they cooked and ate. They mostly hunted for their food. Their diet contained of mostly meat that they hunted. The meat they hunted were meats such as whales, walruses, seals, caribou, and fish. Some fish they hunted for were salmon, smelt, halibut, cod and much more. They also hunted birds, for their meat and for their eggs.
Housing
Many of the inuits lived in a home called an igloo. An igloo is a home made out of ice bricks around the same size. They are layed and stacked in a spherical way, the openings of the homes were dug out tunnels. If Inuits lived in an igloo they could not settle and would have to move because of the melting ice and movement of ice. In eastern greenland houses were made out of wood, stone, and sod. In central Canda there were no settlements, because of the sea ice they were living on and their housing of igloos. Along the Northern Alaskan coast were permanent villages, with houses made out of wood and sod. Around the summer, the inuits who lived in igloos would have to make tents made of stretched animals skins. They did this because there wasn't enough snow for the igloos. I also think that they made tents instead of houses so that they could still be able to move around and not have a permanent settlement.
Art
The Inuits loved the creation of art. A lot of their art was carved ivory, because ivroy is an easy access. The ivory came from walruses and whales. Much of their art work is linked to their spiritual beliefs and the environment of their land. They liked to have a good humour because their environment was so harsh. Cartoon strips were carved into ivory for enjoyment. Inuits had good mechanical skills, especially with the tools they made. Mostly all of their tools were made of ivory. It is to be said that their tools are just as good as their creations in art. They used these tools to carve their artwork and also for hunting and much more. They also used wood, especially for masks that they created for ceremonies. These wooden masks were for their cremonial dances. Many of their ceremonies are based around the though of having harmony between themsleves and the environment.
Clothing and New Inventions
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| These Inuit women prepare to go hunting in a kayak. |
For the Inuit Indians, heavy materials for clothing were needed for their harsh weather. The women wore hooded skirts made of birds, their socks were made out of rabbit skin, long boots, also called "mukunks" were made from caribou and seal, and pants and gloves were made out of fox skin. The men wore almost the same except they wore shorter boots and wore polar bear for their pants. They also invented the kayak for hunting, and the umiaq for transportation.
Sources:
http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/polar/inuit_culture.html
http://www.cabrillo.edu/~crsmith/noamer_arctic.html
http://school.eb.com/eb/article-77655?query=inuit&ct=
http://preterhuman.net/texts/other/crystalinks/inuit.html
