Eskimos are the original inhabitants of Greenland. Describe them.
Answers
The two main peoples known as "Eskimo" are the Inuit (including the Alaskan Iñupiat peoples, the Greenlandic Inuit, and the mass-grouping Inuit peoples of Canada) and the Yupik of eastern Siberia and Alaska. A third northern group, the Aleut, is closely related to both. They share a relatively recent common ancestor and a language group (Eskimo-Aleut). The Chukchi People, from Siberia, are also the closest living relatives of Inuit, and Yupik, people.
The non-Inuit sub-branch of the Eskimo branch of the Eskimo-Aleut language family consists of four distinct Yupik languages, two used in the Russian Far East and St. Lawrence Island, and two used in western Alaska, southwestern Alaska, and the western part of Southcentral Alaska. The extinct language of the Sirenik people is sometimes argued to be related to these.
There are more than 183,000 people of Eskimo descent alive today, of which 135,000 or more live in or near the traditional circumpolar regions. The NGO known as the Inuit Circumpolar Council claims to represent 180,000 people.
The governments in Canada and Greenland have ceased using the term "Eskimo" in official documents. Instead, Canada officially uses the term "Inuit" to describe the native people living in the country's northernmost sector.