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Indigenous

peoples of

CanadaBy: JaJuan Simon

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About the Inuits

Inuit is another way of

saying Eskimo, they

dont like the term

Eskimo. The Inuitpeople live through

out the Canadian

Artic and subartic.

Totalpopulation:150,000

Regions with significant

populations

Alaska, Greenland, Northwest

Territories, Nunatsiavut, Nunavut,

Nunavik, Russian Far East, Yukon

Languages

Various National Eskimo-Aleut

languages Langueges

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaskahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Territorieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Territorieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunatsiavuthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunavuthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunavikhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Far_Easthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Far_Easthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunavikhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunavuthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunatsiavuthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Territorieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Territorieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska

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Where are Inuits from???

The Inuit are the descendants of what anthropologistscall the Thule culture, who emerged from westernAlaska around 1000 AD and spread eastwards acrossthe Arctic, displacing the related Dorsets, the lastmajor Paleo-Eskimo culture (in Inuktitut, the Tuniit).Inuit legends speak of the Tuniit as "giants", although

they were sometimes called "dwarfs, people whowere taller and stronger than the Inuit. Researchersbelieve that the Dorset culture lacked dogs, largerweapons and other technologies that gave theexpanding Inuit society an advantage. By 1300, theInuit had settled in west Greenland, and they movedinto east Greenland over the following century.

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Beliefs

Spirit Passing to Heaven ina Death Ceremony

Inuit people believed in spirits. According to theInuit people, everyone, everything and everyanimal had a spirit. Other spirits they consideredwere the wind, weather, sun and the moon. Inuitpeople followed special rules to please all thespirits. If they did not follow the rules, theythought they would be punished by sickness ormisfortune. The most powerful spirit was agoddess named Sedna. They believed shecontrolled all the sea mammals. The Alaskan Inuitwould save the bladder from the dead seal. Theybelieved that the spirit was in the seal'sbladder. The Inuit then returned the bladder to theocean. In doing so, this would ensure good

hunting in the year to come. Sea mammals wereone of the main sources of food for the Inuit, thus,this was a very important custom to follow.

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Art and traditions

Around 4000 BCE nomads known as the Pre-Dorset or the Arcticsmall tool tradition (ASTT) crossed over the Bering Strait fromSiberia into Alaska, the Canadian Arctic, Greenland, andNewfoundland. Very little remains of them, and only a few preservedartifacts carved in ivory could be considered works of art. TheDorset culture, which became culturally distinct around 600 BCE,

produced a significant amount of figurative art in the mediums ofivory, bone, antler, and on rare occasion stone. Subjects includedbirds, bears, walruses, seals, and human figures, as well asremarkably small masks. The Dorsets depicted bears and otheranimals in ivory with lines indicating their skeletal system incised onthe surface of the ivory; bears in such a style are known as "flyingbears". These items had a magical or religious significance, andwere either worn as amulets to ward off evil spirits, or used inshamanic rituals.

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Encounters with Europeans

First Nations peoples of the Arctic region had onlysporadic encounters with Europeans. The earliestEuropeans to reach the Arctic were the Norse whoarrived via Greenland around 1,000 C.E. They

established a settlement in Newfoundland (consideredpart of the Arctic because the Beothuk who inhabited theisland were considered descendants of a Dorset group)where they came into contact with the Beothuk.Europeans began exploring the Arctic as early as the

sixteenth century. Inuit peoples who inhabited eastern orwestern coastal regions had the earliest and most directcontact with Europeans.

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Problems

The narrative below was told by an Inuit named Qaqortingneq to the European explorerKnut Rasmussen during his expedition of 1921-24. This story tells of the Inuit encounterwith what is believed to be either the Erebus or the Terror, the two ships commanded bySir John Franklin during the 1845-1847 expedition to find the Northwest Passage,providing an insight into the fate of the failed expedition. It is an example of howhistorians utilise Inuit oral tradition to fill gaps in European historical record, and also togain a different perspective of the past.

One spring sealing season off the coast of Qeqertaq (King William's Land), two brothersset off to hunt. They searched for seal breathing holes and discovered what appeared tobe a black mass on the horizon. The mass did not move as an animal might and thebrothers moved closer to see what was this large thing stuck in the ice. They determinedit was a great ship of wood and returned to their people to tell of their discovery. Aftermuch discussion, a decision to search the ship for useable items was made. The groupreached the ship the next day and searched for utilitarian goods. They found guns andused percussion caps as thimbles. Barrels were broken up and the metal was shapedinto harpoon heads. The group of villagers was at first afraid to venture into the depthsof the ship. Overcoming their fear they descended below deck where they discoveredrows of white men dead on their bunks. Venturing into the dark middle of the ship, theyfound tools and began to cut a hole for a window. Unfortunately, the spot chosen for thewindow was below the waterline and water rushed in flooding the ship's hold. Thevillagers escaped before the ship sank into the ice, but they lost all of the valuable goodsthey had found. Later in that same year, a boat with six dead white men was found bycaribou hunters. Knives, guns, and food were also discovered in this small boat.