Inuit Odyssey, by CBC’s: The Nature of Things covers the long and eventful journey of the Inuit people. Canadian anthropologist, Dr. Niobe Thompson searched for the answers to questions about who the modern day Inuit are, where did they come from, how did they survive and who did they conquer along the way? Thompson explored the direct lineage between modern day Inuit and the Thule people, and their interactions with the Dorset and Norse Vikings in their search for iron. Thompson is ultimately concerned with how the current warming climate will affect the Inuit people therefore, he decides to retrace the creation of the Inuit culture, starting his journey in the original homeland of the Thule people. Dr. Niobe Thompson starts in the north eastern part of Russia in a place called Chukotka. Chukotka is known for its brutal living conditions with severe weather and extreme isolation. However, these living conditions changed dramatically during the Medieval Warm Period …show more content…
1000AD. The Medieval Warm Period lasted for 400 years and caused a massive change in the Arctic ecosystem. It altered the walrus and whale migration patterns, the natural vegetation, and the length of the hunting season. The environmental changes resulted in the development and expansion of the Thule people and their culture, across the Bering Strait and into the Arctic. Traditionally, when the Thule lived on the coast of Chukotka they were dependant on sea mammal meat for survival, specifically the bowhead whale. In order to more easily kill a bowhead whale, the Thule needed iron. The bowhead whale was essential to the Thule as it provided them with food security and the bones were used for building structures. In order to get iron, the Thule needed to have strong trading ties. Their trading ties went much further than Chukotka, as there is evidence that the Thule were trading ivory, furs and even slaves with China and Asia in order to access iron. Over time, the Thule became dependant on iron for sustainability, and when their Chinese and Asian trading stopped, they fell into a progress trap. A progress trap is when a society/group becomes accustomed to an object so much that it becomes a necessary part of their ongoing need to survive. Without the supply of iron, the Thule could no longer hunt bowhead whales, causing them to migrate off the Chukotka coastline and follow the migration of the bowhead whale into the Canadian Arctic. Dr. Niobe Thompson follows the Thule to Victoria Island in the Canadian Arctic. It was here that the Thule discovered a land already inhabited by the Dorset people, also known as the gentle giants. Canadian archaeologist, Max Friessen stated that the Dorset were a very primitive group with plenty of iron. The Dorset were trading their ivory from walrus tusk with the Norse Viking, for their iron. The Vikings then traded the ivory in Europe as it was in high demand. The Thule became dependant on the Dorset for their iron and their knowledge about the land. However, the interactions between the Dorset and the Thule were unfair as the Thule were far more technologically advanced and were very experienced in war. The modern day Inuit recount how once their Thule ancestors learnt how to survive on the lands and get access to the Dorset people’s iron so they could then kill them off. Additionally, the middens found on Victoria Island show that the Dorset were buried below the Thule, proving that the current Inuit oral stories are true. However, the Little Ice Age in 1350 stopped the ivory trade with Europe, leaving the Norse Vikings in Northern Greenland with no need to continue trading with the Thule. Once again, the Thule packed up their belongings and began to cross the Canadian Arctic over a period lasting as little as 2 years. The Thule had left their homes in search of iron but it soon became a search for food. Somehow, the Thule survived this starvation period and arrived on Baffin Island, an island very similar to their Chukotka homeland. By this time, the Thule had come to the edge of the European world. By 1362 however, conflicts started between the two groups. Even though iron was no longer being traded with the Thule people there is evidence that they were now taking it through violence from the Norse Vikings. Anthropologists discovered that the northern Greenland colonies along the coast of Baffin Island mysteriously became abandoned around this time, yet there is evidence that Thule residences continued.
This discovery was made by the Scandinavian explorer Hans Egede, 300 years ago when he went out in search of the lost Greenland colonies. Although Hans was unsuccessful at finding the lost colonies he did find the local Inuit. He recorded in his ship’s log his interaction with them. The ship’s log tells many oral stories from the Inuit people claiming that their Thule ancestors fought the Norse Vikings for their iron and ultimately killed them off. Hans Egede ship’s log also confirms that the Thule were great survivors and warriors, whilst being directly related to the modern day Inuit. Niobe Thompson concludes that the Thule odyssey ended in Greenland right when the Inuit odyssey began. Even though the Thule journey ended their traditions and ways of survival are still used in Inuit communities
today.
Marquise Lepage’s documentary, Martha of the North (2009) provides an insight to the 1953 forced relocation of the Inuit from Northern Quebec to the High Arctic. It does an exceptional job at explaining how the Inuit’s lives were affected and molded at a holistic perspective. Martha of the North (2009) can be explained through the concept of holism and its limitations. The concept of holism can explain the effects that the relocations has had on the Inuit people. Although the Inuit’s behaviour can be analyzed through the concept there are aspects of their experience that holism does not account for. The documentary follows the life of one of the first Inuit to be relocated, a woman named Martha, along with her family and the people in her community.
In www.firstpeopleofcanada.com it states that the the Inuit lived in the Arctic, the Haida lived in Haida Gwaii and Iroquois lived in Manitoulin Island.
Although Frobisher's gold mines were soon forgotten his three voyages to the Arctic sparked not only interest in a north west passage to the Orient but also the idea of English sovereignty over northern North America. Over the next three hundred years British exploration and trade gradually penetrated Arctic Canada and Britain's right to possession of the vast area was accepted by other nations. In 1880 British sovereignty over the area was passed to Canada. In 1999 the Territory of Nunavut was established returning a measure of sovereignty to the descendents of the original inhabitants - the Inuit. In the very area that Frobisher had claimed for his Queen four hundred years before lies the capital of Nunavut - Iqaluit.
As a film made by Inuit people and for the Inuit community, Atanarjuat provides the audience with a privileged look into the Northern society. Throughout the film, many viewers are exposed to elements of Inuit culture which are unfamiliar. The film’s director, Zacharias Kunuk, faces a paradox because he wants viewers to feel like insiders of Inuit culture, yet the viewers cannot truly understand the cultural traditions that are represented in the film. The majority of the viewers have never lived in an Inuit community and have very little sense of the ideologies that persist in Inuit society. Because Atanarjuat does not aim to be an educational film, it does not explain itself. There are many moments throughout the film which cannot properly be understood by non-Inuit viewers, and, despite his goal of inclusion, Kunuk does not offer any explanation to ease the audience into the culture. In analyzing the film, non-Inuit critics are presented with the challenge of describing First Nations art while being aware of the inherent power imbalances in doing so. Because Atanarjuat acts as a counter reading to the popular myth of the Inuit, the film portrays the Inuit people as they perceive themselves rather than as the larger Canadian society would portray them. This shift away from the centre of society, looking to an underrepresented group, is an example of decentering. Although Kunuk establishes a connection between the Inuit characters in the film and the non-Inuit viewers, he also provides many moments of intentional inaccessibility, reminding the viewers that in this instance, the Inuit are privy to more information than the non-Inuit audience.
Blackfoot Gallery Committee, The (2013). The story of the blackfoot people: Nitsitapiisinni. (2nd ed.). Ontario: Firefly Books.
Many people think that Christopher Columbus was the first European to set foot in America, but this conventional belief is wrong; Leif Erikson, a Norse explorer set foot in Newfoundland almost 500 years before Columbus was even born. This paper will cover everything about Leif Erikson’s life including his grandfather’s banishment from Norway, and Leif’s father’s exile from Iceland. Leif Erikson’s early life, his family, and his visit to Norway to serve under the king. The first recorded European to see North America, Bjarni Herjólfsson, and Leif Erikson’s voyage to America. This paper is also going to talk about Leif Erikson’s brother, Thorvald Erikson’s voyage to Vinland because his tale is interesting. Near the end of this research paper, it will have a paragraph on Leif Erikson’s later life. Finally at the end of this paper it is going to talk about the unknown reason why no other Europeans sailed to Vinland, and Leif’s impact on modern day North America.
Matthiasson, John S. Living on the Land: Change Among the Inuit of Baffin Island. Ontario, Broadview Press, 1992, pages 35-37.
Although we don't know that much about it, we did found evidence around the 20th century that they were there. We also know that the Vikings tried to colonies to land but failed. We still don't know why. ¹
"Subsistence Hunting Activities and the Inupiat Eskimo | Cultural Survival." Subsistence Hunting Activities and the Inupiat Eskimo | Cultural Survival. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. .
The Beothuk people of Newfoundland were not the very first inhabitants of the island. Thousands of years before their arrival there existed an ancient race, named the Maritime Archaic Indians who lived on the shores of Newfoundland. (Red Ochre Indians, Marshall, 4.) Burial plots and polished stone tools are occasionally discovered near Beothuk remains. Some people speculate that, because of the proximity of the artifacts to the former lands of the Beothuk, the Maritime Archaic Indians and the Beothuk may have been related. It is not certain when the Beothuk arrived on the island. In fact little is actually known about the people, compared to what is known about other amerindian civilisations, only artifacts and stories told by elders tell the historians who these people really were. Some speculate that they travelled from "Labrador to Newfoundland across the strait of Belle Isle, which at one time was only 12 miles wide. By about 200 AD the Beothuk Indians were probably well settled into Newfoundland."(Red Ochre, 8)
...ught could be seen as arrogant, and had a condescending attitude as they thought the Inuit were “skraelings (a sick, weak person)” (McAnany and Yoffee, p. 56), all their encounters may not have been confrontational. They believe that their attitude simply could have come from a religious factor that it was the difference in being Christian compared to non-Christian. Though artifacts were scarcely found from the Norse in the Thule Inuit ruins and vice versa, the artifacts that were found could represent an encounter, but could as well have been from plundering abandoned homes. Also, when searching Norse settlements, no weapons were found, thus making them powerless against the Inuits if it had come down to a conflict between them. A scene on a small piece of bone did depict a battle, however it is important to note that it did not depict a Norseman against an Inuit.
The Inuit People The word Eskimo is not a proper Eskimo word. It means "eaters of raw meat" and was used by the Algonquin Indians of eastern Canada for their neighbours who wore animal-skin clothing and were ruthless hunters. The name became commonly employed by European explorers and now is generally used, even by them. Their own term for themselves is Inuit which means the "real people."
To many outsiders the Arctic is pictured as a deserted, blank piece of land with no life. Little did they know that the Arctic Region is actually inhabited by many native Alaskan groups, and that still to this day continue practicing their subsistence lifestyle. Native Alaskan groups such as the Gwich'in Indians, Inupiat Eskimos, Yup'ik and Aleut still depend on the geographic features of the Arctic. For not only their subsistence lifestyle, but also the preservation of their culture.
The Artic, a vast frozen territory, is home to the Inuit or Eskimo people. They were reliant on the whale as well as the narwhal and walrus as their main food source. Traditionally, in the Canadian area they lived in igloos but in the Alaskan area they lived in semi-underground earth-houses. Here they had two different variations of the language Inuktitut spoken by the Native people in the Artic (Lowenstein
The early Eskimos settled in the forest and tundra parts of northern and western Alaska. The Eskimos learned how to survive in this cod icy place that was frozen for most of the year. Some of the Eskimos lived in the southwestern part of Alaska The southwestern region is a little warmer and wetter.