OLogy Cards > Inuit

Inuit

For over 1,000 years, people called the Inuit lived in the Arctic. Long ago, they relied on fishing and hunting for survival in this frigid habitat. Their lives were closely tied with Arctic animals such as seals, caribou, and whales. Today, many Inuit still hunt and fish, but they also hold jobs in industries such as oil exploration and commercial fishing. Sadly, warming temperatures and melting ice are threatening the traditions and lands of this rich culture.

Stats

Meaning: Inuit means "The People" in Inuktitut
Definition: Indigenous peoples who live in Arctic regions of North America and Greenland.
Location: Arctic region of Canada, Alaska, and Greenland.
Language: Inuktitut (different dialects are spoken)
Cool fact: "Throat singing" is an Inuit tradition in which two people face each other and create songs and sounds that imitate sounds in nature, like birds, the wind, and running water.

Stumper

Some anthropologists believe the ancestors of the Inuit came to North America:

in large ships over the Atlantic Ocean

by migrating up from South America

by crossing over a frozen land bridge from Asia

Correct!

During an ice age thousands of years ago, part of the Bering Sea between Alaska and northern Asia was frozen solid. The Inuit may have walked across this "bridge" following caribou.

Fact or Fiction

Today, most Inuit get around using dogsleds during the winter months.

Fact

Fiction

Snowmobiles and airplanes are the main winter transportation. But the annual Iditarod race honors the dog-sledding tradition. The route changed recently to avoid melting snow.

Fact or Fiction

When Inuit hunted animals like caribou and seal, they used almost every part of the animal.

Fact

Fiction

Fact

Skin was used in clothing, tents, and boats. Bones and tusks were made into tools. And their oil was used in lamps.

Image credits: main image, courtesy of J. Hollens.

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