Explain a few facts about the lifestyle of the Inuit’s.
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From Nunavut
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Nunavut
People have inhabited the Canadian Arctic continuously for the past 4,000 years - in fact the Arctic was the last habitable region of the world to be occupied by people. The people of the Dorset, Thule and Inuit cultures were innovative and learned how to use the limited arctic resources to become self-sufficient. For thousands of years the Inuit and their ancestors made their own clothes, built houses, hunted, fished, and raised their families. They also supplied their own health care, recreation and education, and used dog-teams to travel great distances. When European explorers came to the Arctic looking for a Northwest Passage in the 1570's, they interacted with some Inuit villages, but did not significantly impact the Inuit lifestyle. It was during the 1800's when the whaling industry moved to the Arctic, that the Inuit lifestyle began to change. The whalers, and later on merchants and fur traders, brought new tools and technology to the Inuit, as well as devastating diseases which wiped out entire camps. Inuit life is very different in the Canadian Arctic today. The advent of satellite technology has had a profound effect on isolated Inuit Arctic communities. While strong traditional values and ethics are woven into the fabric of many Nunavut communities, Inuit are now adapting and using home computers, telephones, cable TV and the Internet.
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Transportation
The traditional life - transportation Nunavut Image 44
From Nunavut
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Transportation
For generations the Inuit people of Nunavut lived a traditional life in the Arctic, moving from one place to another with the seasons, to hunt caribou, muskox and seal, or fish for char and whitefish. Inuit did not wander aimlessly in search of meat and fish. They visited the same seasonal hunting and fishing camps each year to harvest food.
Their lifestyle was semi-nomadic moving three or four times a year. They might catch whatever they could along the way, but they always had a specific destination. Many Inuit groups would spend the winters in snowhouses on the sea ice hunting seals, springtime on the coast catching seals and fish, and summertime inland hunting caribou. In between they would harvest berries, birds eggs, fish for lake trout or cod and use whatever food nature provided.
When the hunting was good, the spring, summer and fall were times to hunt and travel, while the mid-winter was a time to spend with the family, tell stories, play games, and learn about Inuit oral history and Inuit legends.
The Inuit invented various types of transportation to travel in the Arctic. For most of the year the Arctic was a frozen land. The lakes and rivers were frozen, and the Arctic Ocean had 1.5m -2 m of sea ice covering it for 8-9 months each year.
Walking was the most common form of