INUIT 1: General Introduction

INUIT

http://www.saskschools.ca/~gregory/arctic/Apeople.html

INUIT QUIZZ

http://www.ccin.ca/cms/en/kids/InuitQuiz.aspx

THE PEOPLE

Many groups of people live in the Arctic. Some have moved there from a southern place. Some groups have lived there for thousands of years. The largest group of people in the Canadian Arctic are the Inuit. They live along the coast and hunt seal, caribou and whales. They also trap fish. The Inuit were called Eskimos (which means "eaters of raw flesh"). The term Inuit means "the people".The language they speak is Inuktitut.There are seven different dialects of the Inuit language. TRANSPORTATION The severe cold makes it difficult to start vehicles. Air travel is often the only way to go to many northern communites. Many people have snowmobiles (also called snow machines). . Motorboats are used on the water when the ice thaws. ATV's ( all-terrain vehicles ) can drive over the ground in the summer and in snow during the winter. Dog sledding is still a means of transportation for tourists and for racing. In the summer, there are twenty hours of daylight. The sky is never totally dark. HOMES Houses cannot be built on the ground. The heat from the buildings would melt the frozen ground and the buildings would start to sink. Buildings must be on stilts, about a metre off the ground. Building houses is expensive because the materials have to be brought from the south. Homes must be well built to keep out the cold winds.