The Inuit People of the Arctic
The Inuit are one of the many self-designations of the Eskimo people. They are considered to be of Asian decent, which is noticeable from their small hands and feet. Another distinguishing feature is the appreciable percentage of the B blood type, which seems to be totally absent from the American Indian, whom they are usually mistaken to be descendants of (Mastny 25). These Inuit are scattered in small communities across Northern Alaska, northern Canada, Greenland, and the Chukotka region of Eastern Siberia. The Inuit in these regions total around 150,000 that makes up barely 4 percent of the Arctic's total population of 3.8 million (Mastny 25). The origins of the Inuit living in this region is very unclear, it is believed that they have been there for more than 4,000 years surviving the cold harsh winters and cool to cold summers. Temperatures in the regions range from -31 degrees F in the winter to 50 degrees F in the summer months(Mastny 24). With this temperature range and the smaller amount of sunlight the Inuit have not been able to become true agriculturalists. Lichen, mosses, small shrubs, and a variety of small flowering plants are the only types of vegetation this climate can support. So, for the Inuit thei
Snowmobiles have replaced the traditional dogsled for land transport and rifles have replaced the harpoon during the hunt. If we were to make contact with them today this tragedy could have been prevented by using our new knowledge of medicine. With global temperatures rising every year the Arctic regions have been feeling the effects before any other regions on the planet. Nunavut takes up 20 percent of Canada's area, and 85 percent of the residents are Inuit. This is Canada's first de facto experiment with native self-government-and only the second of its kind in the world, Greenland's Inuit established their own territory in 1979 (Thompson 76). Not only did the Inuit survive from the sale of their products, they were also hired by commercial whalers to serve as guides on their expeditions or as crewmembers on the whaling vessels. This will prove to be a great challenge for them to get new laws and ideas through to the people living in the region. government and the crusades of people in the mid 80's, which eventually caused the European market to crash. r lives have depended on the animals that inhabit the region. If they were to try to do things on their own they may become extinct over the next 100 years. May 3, 1999 v 153 i17 p6 76-77.
Common topics in this essay:
Protection Act,
Siberia Inuit,
Greenland's Inuit,
Inuit ICC,
Canada Greenland,
,
Nunavut Canada,
Northwest Territories,
Inuit Territory,
Circumpolar Conference,
inuit communities,
cultural devastation inuit,
living region,
inuit life,
devastation inuit,
cultural devastation,
whale meat,
mastny 25,
canada greenland,
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Acceptance Essays
