Who Are The Eskimo People?
Eskimos or the Inuits are the indigenous people inhabiting parts of the northern circumpolar region ranging from Siberia to Canada. The term Eskimo is slowly being replaced by the Canadian term ‘Inuit’ or ‘Yupik.' Each of these terms is used by different settlements of Eskimos. In Canada, Greenland, and Northern Alaska, the Eskimos identify with Inuit or the subgroup Inupiat while Yupik refers to the Eskimos inhabiting Alaska and eastern Siberia. The term Eskimo is considered derogatory in some areas, especially Canada and Greenland since it is perceived to translate to “eaters of raw meat” in Algonkian languages. There exists a third group known as the Aleut, who inhabit the Aleutian Islands, and who are closely related to the Eskimos. The most closely related group to the Eskimos are the Mongolian people inhabiting eastern Asia. Eskimos inhabit arctic regions which are characterized by extreme cold.
History Of The Eskimos
Archaeological evidence has suggested that Eskimos settled in North America some 5,000 years ago. This early group evolved in Alaska from people closely related to the Arctic small tool tradition, a cultural entity which developed in eastern Asia. The ancestors of this entity had relocated to Alaska from Siberia an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 years earlier. Artifacts discovered in Alaska have been found to be similar to those found in Siberia, dating as far as 18,000 years ago. At the first extensive contact with Europeans, the Eskimo population totaled about 50,000, and it has remained relatively constant throughout centuries.