Inuit Indians paragraphs

Inuit Government

Artic tribes aren’t really tribes at all. Their like a big family. The oldest man that can hunt is considered a leader. The Inuit’s government is a monarchy (mon- ark-e) which means they have a king and queen, but they also make their own laws.

The tribes are Chukchi, Asiat, Polar, Nunamiut, Aleutian, Pacific, Bering Sea, Mackenzie, Copper, Caribou, Netsilik, Igluilk, Laberador, and Baffin Islands.

The Inuit area sounds so big, yet the Inuit’s population is only 1492-1900. In the U.S. there are more than 1,000,000 people! Yet this is because the weather is so harsh.

Housing

Igloos are NOT the Inuit Indians only kind of house. They have the igloos, but in Alaska they have cabins made with driftwood covered with soil.

Igloos are extraordinary houses. They are really hard to make. An igloo takes about 12 steps to make. One of them, making Eskimos lift ice/ snow blocks ranging in weight 18-24 pounds! (Try lifting that!) If you have not been building for a long time it would it would take several hours. If you were skilled than it would take an hour! It would probably take a lot of years to become skilled. Eskimos beds are snow platforms covered in animal skins. In summer the igloos melt, which I have no idea how the igloos could melt in all that snow. So the Inuit Indians are forced to live in tents.

Food

The Inuit mostly hunt because they can’t farm. The cold environment prevents any seeds or crops to be planted. So the Inuit relied on animals such as whale, walrus, birds, and polar bears. But they manly hunt caribou and seal. Most of the Inuit were fishermen so fish was very common.

Travel

The Inuit Indians had many different ways to travel. One way was by dogsled, which was the best way to travel, because the sled ran smoothly over ice and snow. They had different commands for turning, stopping, going faster, and so on. The dogsleds normally had six or more huskies pulling the sled. The sled had a light but sturdy frame so the sled doesn’t add more weight than there already is with the person and luggage.

The Inuits had two different boats, the kayak, which was good for hunting, and the Umiak, which was good for transportation. The kayak was only big enough for one person, and the Umiak could hold one family or 2 tons of blubber. However, they were both covered in animal skins.

The last way the Inuits traveled is by snowshoes, which are racket-shaped platforms that have leather straps that tie onto your feet. The Inuits used these to walk across loose snow.

Customs

The Inuit are both strong in spirit and mind. They are people who think that the stories about fierce Inuit Indian savages are huge exaggerations. In response the Inuit decided to record their heritage in an Inuit point of view using their own form of writing called syballies. Writing isn’t the only way the Inuit recorded their past. They also passed down stories from one generation to the next. Like the legend of Sedna for example, it is the legend of how all the sea animals were created.

The story of Sedna is a simple one. It is about a girl thrown into the ocean by her father. When the girl’s father threw her in to the sea her fingers became whales and other arctic sea animals while she became a sea goddess. Although legends, storytelling and drum dances are very important parts of Eskimo culture the most important thing is family. Family is in the middle of Eskimo culture and that is just how it should be.

Clothing

The Inuit Indians made clothing out of a lot of things.

They mostly made it out of caribou but they also made it out of seal skin. But with all their clothing they had fur on the inside and out. The last thing they made it out of is polar bear fur. That is how they ceped warm in the arctic. They made their boots out of seal skin because it was long lasting and it was water proof these boots were called kamiks. The last is that they made parkas out of goose down to go in the cold weather. That way they wouldn’t get cold in the snow.

Arts

The Inuit were all great craftsmen. They believed that the ivory they carved with had some sort of animal inside that when the finished the figure the animal was free from its prison. Ivory was one of the main things they used for carving. The other two are soapstone and driftwood. The Inuit take more time in carving animals than humans. The little boys and girls would play with the dolls. They didn’t have much of anything else to do. The Inuit would carve wood into masks and wear them while they danced. Some shamans (medicine men) would also carve and wear them even though they didn’t dance. They would wear them as “shields” from evil spirits. The masks would look friendly and fearsome at the same time.