Inuit

Inuit are a people who live near the Arctic . Their homeland stretches from the northeastern tip of Russia across Alaska and northern Canada to parts of Greenland . Inuit refers to the people formerly called Eskimos. The term Eskimo comes from a Native American word that may have meant 'eater of raw meat'. They prefer the name Inuit, which means 'the people' or 'real people' and comes from a language called Inuit-Inupiaq. The singular of Inuit is Inuk, which means 'person'.
As the Inuit spread eastward, they modified their way of life to suit the Arctic environments they encountered. They caught fish and hunted seals, walruses and whales. On land, they hunted caribou, musk oxen, polar bear and other small animals. They used animal skins to make tents and clothes. They crafted tools and weapons from the animals' bones, antlers, horns and teeth. In summer, they traveled in boats covered with animal skin, called kayaks and in winter, on sleds pulled by dogteams. Most Inuit lived in tents in the summer and in large sod houses during the winter. When traveling in search of game in winter, they built snowhouses.

The Inuit live in one of the coldest and harshest regions of the world. Inuit lands include the northeastern tip of Siberia , the islands of the Bering Sea , and the coastal regions of mainland Alaska . They also include the north coast and islands of the Canadian Arctic and most of the west coast and part of the east coast of Greenland . The region is often called the Land of the Midnight Sun because at a certain point of the year the sun can be seen for twenty-four hours. At the North Pole, the sun never sets for six months from about March 20 to September 23. Around the Arctic Circle , however, such a period of uninterrupted sunlight lasts for only a few days around June 21.

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