Inughuit

Inughuit
	Minik Wallace, Inuk,; c. 1890–1918, in New York
Total population
	800 (2010)
Regions with significant populations
	Greenland
Languages
	Greenlandic (Inuktun), Danish
Religion
	Inuit religion, Evangelical Lutheran

Last updated February 14, 2024

The Inughuit (also spelled Inuhuit), or the Smith Sound Inuit, historically Arctic Highlanders or Polar Eskimos, are Greenlandic Inuit. They are the northernmost group of Inuit and the northernmost people in North America, living in Greenland. Inughuit make up about 1% of the population of Greenland.^[2]

Language

The Inughuit speak Inuktun, also known as North Greenlandic, Thule Inuit, or Polar Eskimo. It is a dialect of Inuktitut, an Eskimo–Aleut language related to the Greenlandic language spoken elsewhere in Greenland.^[3] In Kalaallisut, the official dialect of Greenlandic, Inuktun is called Avanersuarmiutut.

Population

Before 1880, their population was estimated to be between 100 and 200 people. From 1880 to 1930, they were estimated to number 250. In 1980, their estimated population was 700,^[2] and it rose to 800 in 2010.^[1]

History

Early history

The Inughuit are believed to be descended from the Thule people who spread across the North American Arctic around the eleventh century. They used and traded iron from meteorites such as the Cape York meteorite.^[4] The earliest discovered Thule settlement is found in modern-day Uummannaq (Dundas). There were also extensive contacts with other Inuit from different regions. Around the 17th century, climate change cooled the northwest areas of Greenland, which cut off the Inughuit from other Inuit and regions.^[5]

It was during this time that the Inughuit developed their unique language, culture, and fashion — all of which differ significantly from other Inuit. Around this period, the Inughuit also lost the ability and skills to build kayaks or umiaks, which inevitably further restricted travel and contact with other communities.^[5]

Modern history

The Inughuit were first contacted by Europeans in 1818,^[2] when John Ross led an expedition into their territory. Ross dubbed them "Arctic Highlanders". They are believed to have previously lived in total isolation, to the point of being unaware of other humans, and are cited as one of the only non-agricultural societies to live without armed feuds or warfare, a state that continued after contact.^[6] Erik Holtved, a Dane, was the first university-trained ethnologist to study the Inughuit.^[7]

During the mid-19th century, Inuit from Baffin visited and lived with the Inughuits. The Baffin Inuit reintroduced some technologies lost to the Inughuit such as boats, leisters, and bows and arrows. The Inughuit in turn taught the Baffin Inuit a more advanced form of sled technology. American and European explorers in the 19th and early-20th centuries had extensive contacts with the Inughuits. Explorers Robert Peary and Frederick Cook both had Inughuits in their teams acting as guides. However, more sustained contact with outsiders changed many aspects of Inughuit life by creating a dependence on trade goods and introducing new diseases.^[5]

Greenlandic anthropologist and explorer Knud Rasmussen established a trading post in Uummannaq (Dundas) in 1910. He also worked to modernize Inughuit society by establishing a governing hunter's council for the Inughuit in 1927. It was during this period that Christian missionaries arrived in the region to evangelize. As a consequence of the relative isolation of the Inughuit, the Inughuit remained absent from growing Greenlandic Inuit nationalism and the nation-building process sweeping the Inuit of western and southern Greenland. The subsequent Cold War era had substantial effects on the Inughuit. In the 1950s, the United States established Thule Air Base close to Uummannaq (Dundas). This forced many Inughuits to move over 116 kilometres (72 mi) north towards Qaanaaq, which proved disastrous to the cultural and social life of the Inughuit.^[5]

Settlements

Inughuit people live north of the Arctic Circle on the west coast of Greenland, between 75°—80° N and 58°–74° W. The northernmost settlement was at the village of Etah (at 78° 19' N), but it was abandoned due to the extremely harsh conditions there. The northernmost constant settlement is now Hiurapaluk.

Pituffik, also known as "Dundas" or "Thule" to Europeans, was the chief settlement of the Inughuit until 1953 when it was displaced by the United States' Thule Air Base, with its residents relocated to Qaanaaq. Established in 1953, Qaanaaq is the largest Inughuit settlement.^[1]

Related Research Articles

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The Inuit languages are a closely related group of indigenous American languages traditionally spoken across the North American Arctic and the adjacent subarctic regions as far south as Labrador. The Inuit languages are one of the two branches of the Eskimoan language family, the other being the Yupik languages, which are spoken in Alaska and the Russian Far East. Most Inuit people live in one of three countries: Greenland, a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark; Canada, specifically in Nunavut, the Inuvialuit Settlement Region of the Northwest Territories, the Nunavik region of Quebec, and the Nunatsiavut and NunatuKavut regions of Labrador; and the United States, specifically in northern and western Alaska.

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Qaanaaq, formerly known as Thule or New Thule, is the main town in the northern part of the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. It is one of the northernmost towns in the world. The inhabitants of Qaanaaq speak the local Inuktun language and many also speak Kalaallisut and Danish. The town has a population of 646 as of 2020. The population was forcibly relocated from its former, traditional home, which was expropriated for the construction of a United States Air Force base in 1953.

The Thule or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by the year 1000 and expanded eastward across northern Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people of the earlier Dorset culture that had previously inhabited the region. The appellation "Thule" originates from the location of Thule in northwest Greenland, facing Canada, where the archaeological remains of the people were first found at Comer's Midden.

Kalaallit are a Greenlandic Inuit ethnic group, being the largest group in Greenland, concentrated in the west. It is also a contemporary term in the Greenlandic language for the indigenous of Greenland. The Kalaallit are a part of the Arctic Inuit. The language spoken by Inuit in Greenland is known as Kalaallisut, known in English as Greenlandic.

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The Cape York meteorite, also known as the Innaanganeq meteorite, is one of the largest known iron meteorites, classified as a medium octahedrite in chemical group IIIAB. In addition to many small fragments, at least eight large fragments with a total mass of 58 tonnes have been recovered, the largest weighing 31 tonnes. The meteorite is named after the location where the largest fragment was found: 23 miles (37 km) east of Cape York, in Savissivik, Meteorite Island, Greenland.

Pituffik is a former settlement in northern Greenland, located at the eastern end of Bylot Sound by a tombolo known as Uummannaq, near the current site of the American Pituffik Space Base, formerly Thule Air Base. The former inhabitants were relocated to the present-day town of Qaanaaq. The relocation and the fallout from the 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash in the vicinity are a contentious issue in Greenland's relations with Denmark and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siorapaluk</span> Place in Greenland, Kingdom of Denmark

Siorapaluk or Hiurapaluk is a settlement in the Qaanaaq area of the Avannaata municipality in northern Greenland. It is one of the world's northernmost inhabited settlements, the northernmost settlement inhabited by natives, and the northernmost public settlement in Greenland. It has a population of 43 who speak the Inuktun language of the Polar Inuit as well as the Kalaallisut dialect of Greenlandic. Many of the inhabitants are direct descendants of the last migration of Inuit from Canada in the 20th century.

Savissivik or Havighivik (Inuktun) is a settlement in the Avannaata municipality in northern Greenland. Located on Meteorite Island, off the northern shores of Melville Bay, the settlement had 55 inhabitants in 2020.

Inuktun is the language of approximately 1,000 indigenous Inughuit, inhabiting the world's northernmost settlements in Qaanaaq and the surrounding villages in northwestern Greenland.

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Comer's Midden was a 1916 archaeological excavation site near Thule, north of Mt. Dundas in North Star Bay in northern Greenland. It is the find after which the Thule culture was named. The site was first excavated in 1916 by whaling Captain George Comer, ice master of the Crocker Land Expedition's relief team, and of members of Knud Rasmussen's Second Danish Thule Expedition who were in the area charting the North Greenland coast.

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The Greenlandic Inuit are the indigenous and most populous ethnic group in Greenland. Most speak Greenlandic and consider themselves ethnically Greenlandic. People of Greenland are citizens of Denmark.

Jean Malaurie was a French cultural anthropologist, explorer, geographer, physicist, and writer. He and Kutsikitsoq, an Inuk, were the first two men to reach the North Geomagnetic Pole on 29 May 1951.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avannaata</span> Municipality of Greenland

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References

1 2 3 Leonard, Stephen Pax. "The disappearing world of the last of the Arctic hunters." The Guardian. 2 Oct 2010. Retrieved 25 Feb 2012.
1 2 3 "Inughuit: Orientation." Countries and Their Cultures. Retrieved 25 Feb 2012.
↑ "Inuktitut, Greenlandic." Ethnologue. Retrieved 25 Feb 2012.
↑ Martin Appelt; Jens Fog Jensen; Mikkel Myrup; Henning Haack; Mikkel Sørensen; Michelle Taube (2014). The cultural history of the Innaanganeq/Cape York meteorite (PDF) (Report). The Greenland National Museum & Archives. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2022. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
1 2 3 4 Stern, Pamela (2009). The A to Z of the Inuit. Lanham: Scarecrow Press. pp. 67–68. ISBN 978-0-8108-6822-9.
↑ Keely, Lawrence (February 1996). War Before Civilization. Oxford University Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-19-976153-1.; (book article)
↑ Malaurie, Jean (2003). Ultima Thulé: Explorers and Natives of the Polar North. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-05150-6., pages=323–5

External links

The Inughuit tribe of Northern Greenland, BBC
Recognizing the Inughuit as a Distinct Indigenous People of Greenland and their Right to Return to their Traditional Lands, Inuit Circumpolar Conference Executive Council Resolution 03-02

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[pax-1] 1 2 3 Leonard, Stephen Pax. "The disappearing world of the last of the Arctic hunters." The Guardian. 2 Oct 2010. Retrieved 25 Feb 2012.

[every-2] 1 2 3 "Inughuit: Orientation." Countries and Their Cultures. Retrieved 25 Feb 2012.

[3] "Inuktitut, Greenlandic." Ethnologue. Retrieved 25 Feb 2012.

[report-4] Martin Appelt; Jens Fog Jensen; Mikkel Myrup; Henning Haack; Mikkel Sørensen; Michelle Taube (2014). The cultural history of the Innaanganeq/Cape York meteorite (PDF) (Report). The Greenland National Museum & Archives. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2022. Retrieved 7 November 2019.

[:0-5] 1 2 3 4 Stern, Pamela (2009). The A to Z of the Inuit. Lanham: Scarecrow Press. pp. 67–68. ISBN 978-0-8108-6822-9.

[6] Keely, Lawrence (February 1996). War Before Civilization. Oxford University Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-19-976153-1.; (book article)

[Malaurie-7] Malaurie, Jean (2003). Ultima Thulé: Explorers and Natives of the Polar North. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-05150-6., pages=323–5

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