The Inuit are people that inhabit small enclaves in the coastal areas of
Greenland, Arctic North America, and extreme northeastern Siberia. The
name Inuit means the real people. In 1977 the Inuit Circumpolar
Conference officially adopted Inuit as the replacement for the term
"Eskimo." There are several related linguistic groups of Arctic people.
Many of these groups prefer to be called by their specific "tribal" names
rather than as Inuits. In Alaska the term "Eskimo" is still commonly used.
I. Physical Characteristics and Regional Groupings
The Inuit vary within about 2 inches of an average height of 5 foot 4 inches,
and they display metabolic, circulatory, and other adaptations to the Arctic
climate. They inhabit an area spanning almost 3200 miles and have a wider
geographical range than any other aboriginal people and are the most
sparsely distributed people on earth.
The Inuit share many cultural traits with Siberian Arctic peoples and with
their own closest relatives, the Aleuts. The oldest archaeological sites
identifiable as Inuit date from about 2000 BC and are somewhat distinct
from later Inuit sites. By about 1800 BC the highly developed Old Whaling
or Bering Sea culture and related cultures had emerged in Siberia and in the
Bering Strait region. In eastern Canada the Old Dorset culture flourished
from about 1000 to 800 BC until about AD 1000 to 1300. The Thule Inuit,
who by AD 1000 to 1200 had reached Greenland, overran the Dorset people.
There, Inuit culture was influenced by medieval Norse colonists and, after
The languages of the Inuit people constitute a subfamily of the Eskimo-Aleut
language family. A major linguistic division occurs in Alaska, according to
whether the speakers call themselves Inuit or Yuit. The eastern branch of
the subfamily stretches from eastern Alaska across Canada and through
nor...