Aviva Directory » People & Daily Life » Ethnicity » American Indians » Aleut & Inuit

The Aleut and Inuit peoples are Indigenous cultures native to the far north of North America, Greenland, and Eurasia.

The two groups speak related languages, inhabit comparable environments, and are similar in other ways, but there are significant differences between them, as well.

While both the Aleut and Inuit peoples inhabit northern coastal environments, the Aleutian Islands are subarctic, while most of the Inuit people inhabit areas within the Arctic circle. Inuit communities are widely distributed, from northern Alaska and Siberia, as far west as western Greenland. The Aleuts, on the other hand, are concentrated within the Aleutian Islands, a chain of more than one hundred and fifty volcanic islands off the coast of Alaska, and some islands off of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula.

Today, there are only about 2,000 Aleuts, while the Inuit are believed to number more than 100,000.

While it can be argued that the Aleuts and Inuits are not American Indians, their populations are largely in North America, and the prevailing theory is that their civilizations evolved from the same origins, that being Beringia, a large area of land that was flooded during a period of warming that melted the glaciers that once covered most of the North American continent, thus forming what is now the Bering Strait.

The Aleut people and the Aleutian Islands are politically divided between Alaska and the Kamchatka Peninsula, which is under Russian administration.

In the Aleut language, they are known as Unangan or Unangas, both of which mean "people." The term Aleut was a Russian term used to describe the native population of the Aleutian Islands and neighboring islands in the Kodiak Archipelago, who were also referred to as Pacific Eskimos or Sugpiat/Alutiit.

The Aleuts speak Unangam Tunu, the Aleut language, as well as English and Russian.

Traditionally, the Aleuts lived in homes that were partially underground. Known as barabara, these houses were built by digging an oblong square pit in the ground, which was covered by a roof framed with driftwood, thatched with grass, and covered by earth for insulation. On the inside, trenches were dug along the sides, with mats placed on top to keep them clean. Bedrooms were at the back of the home, opposite the entrance.

The Aleut were hunters and gatherers. As the environment did not allow for agriculture, they fished for salmon, crabs, shellfish, and cod and hunted seals, walrus, and whales, which were dried, smoked, or roasted. Caribou, deer, muskoxen, and moose were roasted or preserved for later use. Dried berries were used as a garnish. Today, many Aleut continue to eat locally sourced foods, but they also buy imported processed foods.

Common arts and crafts practiced by the Aleut include the building of hunting boats known as baidarkas, various hand-held weapons, weaving, figurines, clothing, carving, and mask-making. Aleut women sewed parkas from seal gut and wove baskets from sea-lyme grass and ryegrass. Aleuts, who have moved from the islands to other parts of Alaska, have adopted new materials and methods for their art, including serigraphy, video art, and installation art. Created by both men and women, Aleut carving has long attracted traders.

The Inuit traditionally inhabit the Arctic and subarctic regions of North America, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, Alaska, and the Chukotsky District of Chukotka in Russia.

The Inuit are descendants of the Thule people, who emerged from the Bering Strait and western Alaska around 1000 CE. They split from the related Aleut group about 4,000 years ago, spreading across the Arctic, while the Aleut remained along the coastal islands.

While the term Eskimo is still used by some groups and organizations to describe the Inuit, the term is considered a pejorative by some Canadian and English-speaking Inuit in Greenland. While the term is commonly used in Alaska, its use is not without criticism.

The Inuit language is a group of five languages: Inuvialuktun, Inuinnaqtun, and three dialects of Inuktitut.

Traditional Inuit lifestyles were an adaptation to the extreme climatic conditions in which they lived. Essential skills included hunting, trapping, and the development of fur clothing for survival, as agriculture was impossible. Today, the everyday life of the Inuit still reflects their long history as a hunting culture.

Inuit culture and heritage stem from ancient myths and legends passed down by word of mouth. Even today, while the Inuit have produced a few noted novel writers, writing is not emphasized, and Inuit writers mainly produce reports, summaries, and essays about their own experiences.

Until recent years, Inuit crafts tended to be utilitarian rather than artistic, and they lacked a distinct tradition of music.

 

 

Recommended Resources


Search for Aleut & Inuit on Google or Bing