• • • The Inuit (pronounced or;:, 'the people' ) are a group of culturally similar inhabiting the regions of, and. Inuit is a plural noun; the singular is Inuk.

The are part of the. Is a critically endangered spoken in. In the United States and Canada, the term ' was commonly used to describe the Inuit and Alaska's and peoples. However, 'Inuit' is not accepted as a term for the Yupik, and ' is the only term that includes, and Inuit. However, and view 'Eskimo' as, and 'Inuit' is more commonly used in self-reference for these groups. In Canada, and of the classified the Inuit as a distinctive group of Aboriginal Canadians who are not included under either the or the. The Inuit live throughout most of in the of, in the northern third of, and in, and in various parts of the, particularly around the.

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These areas are known in as the 'Inuit Nunangat'. In the, the live primarily on the and on. The are descendants of indigenous migrations from. They are citizens of, although not of the. Inuit are the descendants of what call the, who emerged from western around 1000 CE.

They had split from the related group about 4,000 years ago and from northeastern Siberian migrants, possibly related to the group, still earlier. They spread eastwards across the Arctic. They displaced the related, the last major culture (in, called the Tuniit).

Inuit legends speak of the Tuniit as 'giants', people who were taller and stronger than the Inuit. Less frequently, the legends refer to the Dorset as 'dwarfs'. Researchers believe that the Dorset culture lacked the dogs, larger weapons and other technologies of the Inuit society, which gave the latter an advantage. By 1300, Inuit migrants had reached west Greenland, where they settled, moving into east Greenland over the following century. Faced with population pressures from the Thule and other surrounding groups, such as the and to the south, the Tuniit gradually receded.

They were thought to have become completely extinct as a people by about 1400 or 1500. But, in the mid-1950s, researcher Henry B.

Collins determined that, based on the ruins found at, the were likely the last remnants of the Dorset culture, or Tuniit. The Sadlermiut population survived up until winter 1902–03, when exposure to new brought by contact with Europeans led to their extinction as a people. In the early 21st century, research has supported the theory of continuity between the Tuniit and the Sadlermiut peoples.

It also provided evidence that a population displacement did not occur within the between the Dorset and Thule transition. In contrast to other Tuniit populations, the and Sadlermiut benefited from both geographical isolation and their ability to adopt certain Thule technologies. In and, Inuit circulated almost exclusively north of the ', the effective southern border of Inuit society. The most southern 'officially recognized' Inuit community in the world is in Nunatsiavut. South of Nunatsiavut, the descendants of the southern Inuit in NunatuKavut continued their traditional semi-nomadic way of life until the mid-1900s. The Nunatukavummuit people usually moved among islands and bays on a seasonal basis. They did not establish stationary communities.

In other areas south of the tree line, and First Nations cultures were well established. The culture and technology of Inuit society that served so well in the were not suited to subarctic regions, so they did not displace their southern neighbors.

Inuit had trade relations with more southern cultures; boundary disputes were common and gave rise to aggressive actions. Warfare was not uncommon among those Inuit groups with sufficient population density. Inuit such as the ( ), who inhabited the delta area, often engaged in warfare. The more sparsely settled Inuit in the Central Arctic, however, did so less often. Their first contact was with the who settled in and explored the eastern coast. The recorded meeting, probably an undifferentiated label for all the indigenous peoples whom the Norse encountered, whether Tuniit, Inuit,.

After about 1350, the climate grew colder during the period known as the. During this period, natives were able to continue their activities.

But, in the high Arctic, the Inuit were forced to abandon their hunting and whaling sites as disappeared from and. These Inuit had to subsist on a much poorer diet, and lost access to the essential raw materials for their tools and architecture which they had previously derived from whaling. The changing climate forced the Inuit to work their way south, forcing them into marginal niches along the edges of the tree line. These were areas which Native Americans had not occupied or where they were weak enough for the Inuit to live near them. Researchers have difficulty defining when Inuit stopped this territorial expansion. There is evidence that they were still moving into new territory in southern Labrador when they first began to interact with in the 17th century.

Postcontact history [ ]. A European ship coming into contact with the Inuit in the ice of Hudson Bay in 1697. Canada [ ] Early contact with Europeans [ ] The lives of Paleo-Eskimos of the far north were largely unaffected by the arrival of visiting Norsemen except for mutual trade.

Labrador Inuit have had the longest continuous contact with Europeans. After the disappearance of the, the Inuit had no contact with Europeans for at least a century. By the mid-16th century, whalers and fishermen were already working the Labrador coast and had established whaling stations on land, such as the one that has been excavated. The Inuit appear not to have interfered with their operations, but they raided the stations in winter for tools and items made of worked iron, which they adapted to their own needs. 's 1576 search for the was the first well-documented post- contact between Europeans and Inuit. Frobisher's expedition landed in, Baffin Island, not far from the settlement now called The City of which was long known as Frobisher Bay. Frobisher encountered Inuit on where five sailors left the ship, under orders from Frobisher, and became part of Inuit mythology.

The homesick sailors, tired of their adventure, attempted to leave in a small vessel and vanished. Frobisher brought an unwilling Inuk to, possibly the first Inuk ever to visit Europe. The Inuit oral tradition, in contrast, recounts the natives helping Frobisher's crewmen, whom they believed had been abandoned. The semi-nomadic eco-centred Inuit were fishers and hunters harvesting lakes, seas, ice platforms and.

While there are some allegations that Inuit were hostile to early and English explorers, fishers and whalers, more recent research suggests that the early relations with whaling stations along the Labrador coast and later were based on a mutual interest in trade. In the final years of the 18th century, the Moravian Church began missionary activities in Labrador, supported by the British who were tired of the raids on their whaling stations. The Moravian missionaries could easily provide the Inuit with the iron and basic materials they had been stealing from whaling outposts, materials whose real cost to Europeans was almost nothing, but whose value to the Inuit was enormous and from then on contacts in Labrador were far more peaceful. Main article: Inuit speak,,, and, which belong to the Inuit-Inupiaq branch of the. The Greenlandic languages are divided into: (Western), (Northern), and (Eastern). Inuktitut is spoken in Canada and along with Inuinnaqtun is one of the official languages of Nunavut and are known collectively as the Inuit Language. In the Northwest Territories, Inuvialuktun, Inuinnaqtun and Inuktitut are all official langues.

Kalaallisut is the official language of Greenland. As Inuktitut was the language of the Eastern Canadian Inuit and Kalaallisut is the language of the Western Greenlandic Inuit, they are related more closely than most other dialects. Inuit in Alaska and Northern Canada also typically speak. [ ] In Greenland, Inuit also speak and learn in school. Canadian Inuit may also speak.

Finally, Deaf Inuit speak, often called Inuiuuk, which is a and almost extinct as only around 50 people still speak it. Main article: The Inuit have traditionally been fishers and hunters. They still hunt (esp. ),,,,,,, and and at times other less commonly eaten animals such as the. The typical Inuit diet is high in and very high in – in their traditional diets, Inuit consumed an average of 75% of their daily energy intake from fat. While it is not possible to cultivate plants for food in the Arctic, the Inuit have traditionally gathered those that are naturally available.,,,,, and ( kuanniq or edible seaweed) were collected and preserved depending on the season and the location.

There is a vast array of different that the Inuit used to gather their food. In the 1920s anthropologist lived with and studied a group of Inuit. The study focused on the fact that the Inuit's had no adverse effects on their health, nor indeed, Stefansson's own health. Stefansson (1946) also observed that the Inuit were able to get the necessary vitamins they needed from their traditional winter diet, which did not contain any plant matter. In particular, he found that adequate could be obtained from items in their traditional diet of such as and whale skin (). While there was considerable skepticism when he reported these findings, they have been borne out in recent studies and analyses. However, the Inuit have lifespans 12 to 15 years shorter than the average Canadian's, which is thought to be a result of limited access to medical services.

The life expectancy gap is not closing. Furthermore, studies have failed to support claims of preventing heart attacks or strokes. Transport, navigation, and dogs [ ]. Inupiat, with an ivory handle, made by Kinguktuk (1871–1941) of. Displayed at the,,. Inuit also made ('woman's boat'), larger open boats made of wood frames covered with animal skins, for transporting people, goods, and dogs.

They were 6–12 m (20–39 ft) long and had a flat bottom so that the boats could come close to shore. In the winter, Inuit would also hunt by patiently watching an aglu (breathing hole) in the ice and waiting for the air-breathing seals to use them. This technique is also used by the polar bear, who hunts by seeking holes in the ice and waiting nearby. In winter, both on land and on sea ice, the Inuit used ( qamutik) for transportation.

The dog breed comes from Inuit breeding of dogs and wolves for transportation. A in either a tandem/side-by-side or fan formation would pull a sled made of wood, animal bones, or the from a whale's mouth and even frozen fish, over the snow and ice. The Inuit used stars to navigate at sea and landmarks to navigate on land; they possessed a comprehensive native system of. Where natural landmarks were insufficient, the Inuit would erect an.

Dogs played an integral role in the annual routine of the Inuit. During the summer they became pack animals, sometimes dragging up to 20 kg (44 lb) of baggage and in the winter they pulled the sled. Yearlong they assisted with hunting by sniffing out seals' holes and pestering polar bears. They also protected the Inuit villages by barking at bears and strangers. The Inuit generally favored, and tried to breed, the most striking and handsome of dogs, especially ones with bright eyes and a healthy coat. Common husky dog breeds used by the Inuit were the, the official animal of Nunavut, ( Qimmiq; Inuktitut for dog), the, the and the.

The Inuit would perform rituals over the newborn pup to give it favorable qualities; the legs were pulled to make them grow strong and the nose was poked with a pin to enhance the sense of smell. Industry, art, and clothing [ ]. Main article: Inuit industry relied almost exclusively on animal hides,, and bones, although some tools were also made out of worked stones, particularly the readily worked. Filemaker Pro 10 Download Crack. Was a particularly essential material, used to make knives. Art played a big part in Inuit society and continues to do so today.

Small sculptures of animals and human figures, usually depicting everyday activities such as and whaling, were carved from and bone. In modern times and figurative works carved in relatively soft stone such as,, or have also become popular. Inuit made clothes and footwear from animal skins, sewn together using needles made from animal bones and threads made from other animal products, such as. The (parka) is made in a similar fashion by Arctic peoples from Europe through and the Americas, including the Inuit.

The hood of an, (women's parka, plural amautiit) was traditionally made extra large with a separate compartment below the hood to allow the mother to carry a baby against her back and protect it from the harsh wind. Styles vary from region to region, from the shape of the hood to the length of the tails. Boots ( or kamik ), could be made of caribou or seal skin, and designed for men and women.

Inupiat woman,, circa 1907 The in traditional Inuit society had a strong gender component, but it was not absolute. The men were traditionally hunters and fishermen and the women took care of the children, cleaned the home, sewed, processed food, and cooked.

However, there are numerous examples of women who hunted, out of necessity or as a personal choice. At the same time men, who could be away from camp for several days at a time, would be expected to know how to sew and cook. The marital customs among the Inuit were not strictly: many Inuit relationships were implicitly or explicitly sexual.,,, and remarriage were known. Among some Inuit groups, if there were children, divorce required the approval of the community and particularly the agreement of the elders. Marriages were often, sometimes, and occasionally by the community. An Inupiat family from, 1929.

Marriage was common for women at puberty and for men when they became productive hunters. Structure was flexible: a household might consist of a (or wives) and children; it might include his as well as adopted children; it might be a of several siblings with their parents, wives and children; or even more than one family sharing dwellings and resources. Every household had its head, an elder or a particularly respected man.

There was also a larger notion of community as, generally, several families shared a place where they wintered. Goods were shared within a household, and also, to a significant extent, within a whole community. The Inuit were, and have been referred to as. One of the customs following the birth of an infant was for an () to place a tiny carving of a whale into the baby's mouth, in hopes this would make the child good at hunting. Loud singing and drumming were also customary after a birth. Raiding [ ] Virtually all Inuit cultures have of raids by other indigenous peoples, including fellow Inuit, and of taking vengeance on them in return, such as the. Western observers often regarded these tales as generally not entirely accurate historical accounts, but more as self-serving myths.

However, evidence shows that Inuit cultures had quite accurate methods of teaching historical accounts to each new generation. In northern Canada, historically there were ethnic feuds between the and the Inuit, as witnessed by in 1771. In 1996, Dene and Inuit representatives participated in a healing ceremony to reconcile the centuries-old grievances. The historic accounts of violence against outsiders does make clear that there was a history of hostile contact within the Inuit cultures and with other cultures. It also makes it clear that Inuit nations existed through history, as well as confederations of such nations. The known confederations were usually formed to defend against a more prosperous, and thus stronger, nation.

Alternately, people who lived in less productive geographical areas tended to be less warlike, as they had to spend more time producing food. Justice within Inuit culture was moderated by the form of governance that gave significant power to the elders. As in most cultures around the world, justice could be harsh and often included capital punishment for serious crimes against the community or the individual. During raids against other peoples, the Inuit, like their non-Inuit neighbors, tended to be merciless. Suicide, murder, and death [ ]. Further information: and A pervasive European myth about Inuit is that they killed elderly () and 'unproductive people', but this is not generally true. In a culture with an, elders are the keepers of communal knowledge, effectively the community library.

Because they are of extreme value as the repository of knowledge, there are cultural against sacrificing elders. Leenaar's book Suicide in Canada he states that ' found that the death of elders by suicide was a commonplace among the Iglulik Inuit.' According to, suicide was '.not of rare occurrence.'

And was generally accomplished through hanging. Writing of the Labrador Inuit, Hawkes (1916) was considerably more explicit on the subject of suicide and the burden of the elderly: Aged people who have outlived their usefulness and whose life is a burden both to themselves and their relatives are put to death by stabbing or strangulation. This is customarily done at the request of the individual concerned, but not always so. Aged people who are a hindrance on the trail are abandoned. Leenaars, Suicide in Canada When food is not sufficient, the elderly are the least likely to survive. In the extreme case of, the Inuit fully understood that, if there was to be any hope of obtaining more food, a hunter was necessarily the one to feed on whatever food was left.

However, a common response to desperate conditions and the threat of starvation was. A mother abandoned an infant in hopes that someone less desperate might find and adopt the child before the cold or animals killed it. The belief that the Inuit regularly resorted to infanticide may be due in part to studies done by Asen Balikci, Milton Freeman and David Riches among the Netsilik, along with the trial of. Other recent research has noted that 'While there is little disagreement that there were examples of infanticide in Inuit communities, it is presently not known the depth and breadth of these incidents. The research is neither complete nor conclusive to allow for a determination of whether infanticide was a rare or a widely practiced event.' Anthropologists believed that Inuit cultures routinely killed children born with physical defects because of the demands of the extreme climate. These views were changed by late 20th century discoveries of burials at an archaeological site.

Between 1982 and 1994, a storm with high winds caused ocean waves to erode part of the bluffs near, and a body was discovered to have been washed out of the mud. Unfortunately the storm claimed the body, which was not recovered.

But examination of the eroded bank indicated that an ancient house, perhaps with other remains, was likely to be claimed by the next storm. The site, known as the 'Ukkuqsi archaeological site', was excavated. Several frozen bodies (now known as the 'frozen family') were recovered, autopsies were performed, and they were re-interred as the first burials in the then-new Imaiqsaun Cemetery south of Barrow. Years later another body was washed out of the bluff. It was a female child, approximately 9 years old, who had clearly been born with a. This child had never been able to walk, but must have been cared for by family throughout her life. She was the best preserved body ever recovered in Alaska, and radiocarbon dating of grave goods and of a strand of her hair all place her back to about 1200 CE.

During the 19th century, the Western Arctic suffered a population decline of close to 90%, resulting from exposure to new diseases, including,,, and. Autopsies near Greenland reveal that, more commonly,,,, and may have contributed to mass deaths among different Inuit tribes. The Inuit believed that the causes of the disease were of a spiritual origin. Traditional law [ ] Inuit traditional laws are anthropologically different from concepts. Was thought non-existent in Inuit society before the introduction of the., in 1954, concluded that only 'rudimentary law' existed amongst the Inuit. Indeed, prior to about 1970, it is impossible to find even one reference to a Western observer who was aware that any form of governance existed among any Inuit, however, there was a set way of doing things that had to be followed: • maligait refers to what has to be followed • piqujait refers to what has to be done • tirigusuusiit refers to what has to be avoided If an individual's actions went against the tirigusuusiit, maligait or piqujait, the (shaman) might have to intervene, lest the consequences be dire to the individual or the community. We are told today that Inuit never had laws or 'maligait'.

They say because they are not written on paper. When I think of paper, I think you can tear it up, and the laws are gone. The laws of the Inuit are not on paper.

Some Inuit believed that the spirits of their ancestors could be seen in the The environment in which the Inuit lived inspired a filled with adventure tales of whale and walrus hunts. Long winter months of waiting for caribou herds or sitting near breathing holes hunting seals gave birth to stories of mysterious and sudden appearance of ghosts and fantastic creatures. Some Inuit looked into the, or northern lights, to find images of their family and friends dancing in the next life.

However, some Inuit believed that the lights were more sinister and if you at them, they would come down and cut off your head. This tale is still told to children today. For others they were invisible giants, the souls of animals, a guide to hunting and as a spirit for the angakkuq to help with healing. They relied upon the angakkuq (shaman) for spiritual interpretation.

The nearest thing to a central deity was the Old Woman ( ), who lived beneath the sea. The waters, a central food source, were believed to contain great gods.

The Inuit practiced a form of shamanism based on principles. They believed that all things had a form of spirit, including humans, and that to some extent these spirits could be influenced by a of supernatural entities that could be appeased when one required some animal or inanimate thing to act in a certain way. The angakkuq of a community of Inuit was not the leader, but rather a sort of healer and, who tended wounds and offered advice, as well as invoking the spirits to assist people in their lives.

His or her role was to see, interpret and exhort the subtle and unseen. Angakkuit were not trained; they were held to be born with the ability and recognized by the community as they approached adulthood. Inuit religion was closely tied to a system of rituals integrated into the daily life of the people.

These rituals were simple but held to be necessary. According to a customary Inuit saying, The great peril of our existence lies in the fact that our diet consists entirely of souls. By believing that all things, including animals, have souls like those of humans, any hunt that failed to show appropriate respect and customary supplication would only give the liberated spirits cause to avenge themselves. The harshness and unpredictability of life in the Arctic ensured that Inuit lived with concern for the uncontrollable, where a streak of bad luck could destroy an entire community. To offend a spirit was to risk its interference with an already marginal existence. The Inuit understood that they had to work in harmony with supernatural powers to provide the necessities of day-to-day life.

Before the 1940s, Inuit had minimal contact with Europeans, who passed through on their way to hunt whales or but seldom had any interest in settling down on the frozen land of the Arctic. So the Inuit had the place to themselves. They moved between summer and winter camps to always be living where there were animals to hunt. But that changed. As ended and the began, the Arctic became a place where countries that did not get along were close to each other.

Peugeot Planet 2000 Keygen Free. The Arctic had always been seen as inaccessible, but the invention of aircraft made it easier for non-Arctic dwellers to get there. As new were built in the Arctic to monitor rival nations, permanent settlements were developed around them, including schools and health care centres. In many places, Inuit children were required to attend schools that emphasized non-native traditions. With better health care, the Inuit population grew too large to sustain itself solely by hunting.

[ ] Many Inuit from smaller camps moved into permanent settlements because there was access to jobs and food. In many areas [ ] Inuit were required to live in towns by the 1960s. Demographics [ ] In total there are about 134,241 Inuit living in four countries, Canada, Greenland, Denmark, and the United States.

Canada [ ] Although the 50,480 Inuit listed in the can be found throughout Canada the majority, 44,470, live in four regions. As of the 2006 Canada Census there were 4,715 Inuit living in and about 2,160 live in. There are also about 6,000 (Labrador Metis or Inuit-metis) living in southern in what is called. As of the 2006 Canada Census there were 4,165 Inuit living in the. The majority, about 3,115, live in the six communities of the.

As of the 2006 Canada Census there were 24,640 Inuit living in. In Nunavut the Inuit population forms a majority in all communities and is the only where Aboriginal peoples form a majority. As of the 2006 Canada Census there were 10,950 Inuit living in. The majority, about 9,565, live in. Greenland [ ].

Main article: According to the 2013 edition of, published by the, the Inuit population of Greenland is 89% (51,365) out of a total of 57,714 people. Like Nunavut the population lives throughout the region. Denmark [ ] The population size of varies from source to source between 15,000 and 20,000. According to 2015 figures from there are 15,815 people residing in Denmark of Greenlandic Inuit ancestry. Most travel to Denmark for educational purposes, and many remain after finishing their education, which results in the population being mostly concentrated in the big 4 educational cities of,,, and, which all have vibrant Greenlandic communities and cultural centers (Kalaallit Illuutaat). United States [ ] According to the there were a total of 16,581 Inuit/Inupiat living throughout the country. The majority, about 14,718, live in the state of.

Russia [ ] According to the 2010 Russian Census there were a total of 1,738 Inuit/Eskimo living throughout the country, mostly in the East of the. Governance [ ]. Map showing the members of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference. The is a -recognized (NGO), which defines its constituency as Canada's Inuit and, Greenland's, Alaska's and, and Russia's, despite the last two neither speaking an Inuit dialect or considering themselves 'Inuit'. Nonetheless, it has come together with other circumpolar cultural and political groups to promote the Inuit and other northern people in their fight against problems such as which disproportionately affects the Inuit population. The is one of the six group of Arctic indigenous peoples that have a seat as a so-called 'Permanent Participant' on the, an international high level forum in which the eight Arctic Countries (USA, Canada, Russia, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland) discuss Arctic policy. On 12 May 2011, Greenland's Prime Minister hosted the ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council, an event for which the American Secretary of State came to Nuuk, as did many other high-ranking officials such as Russian Foreign Minister, Swedish Foreign Minister and Norwegian Foreign Minister.

At that event they signed the Nuuk Declaration. Regional autonomy in Canada [ ]. Map of all Inuit regions The are western Canadian Inuit who remained in the Northwest Territories when Nunavut split off. They live primarily in the Mackenzie River delta, on, and parts of in the Northwest Territories.

They are officially represented by the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and, in 1984, received a comprehensive land claims settlement, the first in Northern Canada, with the signing of the Inuvialuit Final Agreement. The TFN worked for ten years and, in September 1992, came to a final agreement with the Government of Canada. This agreement called for the separation of the Northwest Territories into an eastern territory whose Aboriginal population would be predominately Inuit, the future Nunavut, and a rump Northwest Territories in the west. It was the largest agreement in Canadian history. In November 1992, the Nunavut Final Agreement was approved by nearly 85% of the Inuit of what would become Nunavut. As the final step in this long process, the was signed on May 25, 1993, in Iqaluit by Prime Minister and by Paul Quassa, the president of, which replaced the TFN with the ratification of the Nunavut Final Agreement. The passed the supporting legislation in June of the same year, enabling the 1999 establishment of Nunavut as a.

With the establishment of Nunatsiavut in 2005, almost all the traditional Inuit lands in Canada, with the exception in central and South Labrador, are now covered by some sort of land claims agreement providing for regional autonomy. Greenland [ ]. Main articles: and In 1953, Denmark put an end to the colonial status of Greenland and granted in 1979 and in 2008 a was passed with 75% approval. Although still a part of the (along with proper and the ), Greenland, known as Kalaallit Nunaat in the, maintains much autonomy today. Of a population of 56,000, 80% of Greenlanders identify as Inuit. Their economy is based on and. The Thule people arrived in Greenland in the 13th century.

There they encountered the Norsemen, who had established colonies there since the late 10th century, as well as a later wave of the Dorset people. Because most of Greenland is covered in ice, the Greenland Inuit (or Kalaallit) only live in coastal settlements, particularly the northern polar coast, the eastern Amassalik coast and the central coasts of western Greenland. See also:,,, and Currently Alaska is governed as a State within United States with very for peoples. European Colonization of Alaska started in the 18th century by Russia.

By the 1860s, the Russian government was considering ridding itself of its colony. Alaska was officially to United States on January 3, 1959. The Inuit of Alaska are the Inupiat (from Inuit- people – and piaq/piat real, i.e.

'real people') who live in the, the and the region. Barrow, the, is in the Inupiat region.

Their language is (which is the singular form of Inupiat). Modern culture [ ].

Inuit women at, carving, print making, textiles and, are very popular, not only in Canada but globally, and Inuit artists are widely known. Canada has adopted some of the Inuit culture as national symbols, using Inuit cultural icons like the inukshuk in unlikely places, such as its use as a symbol at the in Vancouver. Respected art galleries display Inuit art, the largest collection of which is at the. Some Inuit languages such as Inuktitut, appears to have a more secure future in Quebec and Nunavut.

There are a surprising number of Inuit, even those who now live in urban centres such as, and, who have experienced living on the land in the traditional life style. People such as member, and former and the, were born and lived the early part of their life 'on the land'. Inuit culture is alive and vibrant today in spite of the negative impacts of recent history. An important biennial event, the, is held in communities across the northern regions of the world, featuring traditional Inuit and northern sports as part of the events.

A cultural event is also held. The games were first held in 1970, and while rotated usually among Alaska, Yukon and the Northwest Territories, they have also been held in in 1976, in,, and a joint Iqaluit, Nunavut-, Greenland staging in 2002.

In other sporting events, became the first Inuk to play in the in the 2003–04 season, playing for the. Although Inuit life has changed significantly over the past century, many traditions continue., or traditional knowledge, such as storytelling, mythology, and dancing remain important parts of the culture.

Family and community are very important. The Inuktitut language is still spoken in many areas of the Arctic and is common on radio and in television programming. Well-known Inuit politicians include,, Nancy Karetak-Lindell, former MP for the, and, Prime Minister of Greenland. Leona Aglukkaq, current MP, was the first Inuk to be sworn into the Canadian Federal Cabinet as Health Minister in 2008.

In May 2011 after being re-elected for her second term, Ms. Aglukkaq was given the additional portfolio of Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency. In July 2013 she was sworn in as the Minister of the Environment. Inuit seal hunter in a kayak, armed with a harpoon. Visual and performing arts are strong. In 2002 the first in Inuktitut,, was released worldwide to great critical and popular acclaim.

It was directed by, and written, filmed, produced, directed, and acted almost entirely by the Inuit of Igloolik. In 2009, the film, a Greenlandic language feature film, was by Mike Magidson and co-written by Magidson and French Jean-Michel Huctin. One of the most famous Inuit artists is. Is a popular singer. Worked at preserving Inuktitut and wrote one of the first novels ever published in that language. In 2006, was hailed as Canada's most artistic city, with 23% of the labor force employed in the arts.

Inuit art such as soapstone carvings is one of Nunavut's most important industries. Recently, there has been an identity struggle among the younger generations of Inuit, between their traditional heritage and the modern society which their cultures have been forced to assimilate into in order to maintain a livelihood. With current dependence on modern society for necessities, (including governmental jobs, food, aid, medicine, etc.), the Inuit have had much interaction with and exposure to the outside their previous cultural boundaries. The stressors regarding the among teenagers have led to disturbingly high numbers of suicide. A series of authors has focused upon the increasing in the youngest generations of Inuit. Myopia was almost unknown prior to the Inuit adoption of. Principal theories are the change to a western style diet with more refined foods, and extended education.

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Top of the World. New York: Pocket.. () • Sowa, F.

Antarctica and the Arctic Circle: A Geographic Encyclopedia of the Earth’s Polar Regions. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, pp. 390–395. • Stern, Pamela R; Lisa Stevenson (2006).. University of Nebraska Press.. • Steckley, John (2008).. Broadview Press.. • Stern, Pamela R (2004)..

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(1999).: the life story of an Inuit artist. Manotick, Ontario: Penumbra Press.. External links [ ] Wikimedia Commons has media related to. • • at Curlie (based on ) • •, produced by and first broadcast 29 June 2009 on the network. This is a documentary on the Thule people, the ancestors of the Inuit, and their eastward migration across the Arctic to Greenland. The webpage contains a link to (length: 44:03; may not be viewable online outside of Canada). Note: Nature of Things episodes are also viewable on iTunes.