Inuit People

Eskimo is the name used for groups in Canada and Greenland. One of the group names are the Inuit. The types of shelters are an igloo or a karmak for the winter and tepee, in the warmer weather. They used typical materials that were hard to find in the artic. Some of the materials were mud and wood. During the summer they would make homes.

Inuit people needed thick and warm clothing to survive the cold weather. They made shirts, pants, boots, hats, and big jackets. They would make their clothes with furs from animals like polar bears, rabbits, and foxes. Food was hard to find, they could not live in the same place all the time. They had to keep moving, following the animals. The caribou was the most important, it provided food and warm fur to make clothes. They rubbed noses to say hello instead of shaking hands.

The Inuit had strong, working dogs with thick furs, like huskies. The people used sleds to transport people and things across the snow. A kayak was boat that help one or two people. Kayaks were made by stretching hide over a wooden frame.

The food of the Inuit were fish products. These were meat from sea animals such as the seal, whale, sea lions and walrus. Caribou was eaten also were small birds and otters. There are almost no trees in the Arctic. There are few plants. It is cold most of the year. Like the other early people who lived in the Arctic, they were hunters and gatherers. In the short summer, they gathered berries, seaweed, and eggs. Their main food year around was