page_title: Inuit culture
section_title: Nomadic life in the first half of the 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: Inuit culture / Overview of cultural history / Nomadic life in the first half of the 20th century
caption_attribution_description: Arctic char fishing
context_page_description: The Inuit, or Eskimo, are aboriginal people who make their homes in the Arctic and subarctic regions of Siberia and North America. Inuit describes the various groups of indigenous peoples who live throughout Inuit Nunangat, that is the Inuvialuit Settlement Region of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut of Northern Canada, Nunavik in Quebec and Nunatsiavut in Labrador, as well as in Greenland. The term culture of the Inuit, therefore, refers primarily to these areas; however, parallels to other Eskimo groups can also be drawn.
  The traditional lifestyle of the Inuit is adapted to extreme climatic conditions; their essential skills for survival are hunting and trapping, as well as the construction of fur clothing for survival. Agriculture was never possible in the millions of square kilometres of tundra and icy coasts from Siberia to Northern America including Greenland. Therefore, hunting became the core of the culture and cultural history of the Inuit. They used harpoons, bows and arrows, and to take down animals of all sizes.
context_section_description: Many elders still remember the time, more than 60 years ago, when the Inuit lived a nomadic lifestyle. Depending on the seasons (up to sixteen according to old traditions), they followed the animals they hunted for clothing and nourishment. They had to relocate and reconstruct their camps frequently and followed the same traditions for generations.
  At the turn to the 20th century, most Inuit still lived in hide tents during the summer. Sometimes, they already owned canvas tents obtained from the Hudson's Bay Company. The interior was divided into a back part used for sleeping, usually raised by coat underlays, and a front part for cooking and living; a tradition still in practice today. The woman's sleeping place was always beside the kudlik, an oil lamp usually carved from soapstone used for lighting, heating and cooking, because it was her duty to operate it. The man's sleeping place was near the weapons and hunting equipment; the children were nestled between their parents for warmth. Today the kudlik is replaced by a product of modern industry, the Coleman stove, which is easy to transport and operated by gasoline and naphtha.
  In the few months of summer, the people moved camp to the estuaries, because there it was easier to catch the favoured Arctic char, e.g. by using artificial weirs, and the eggs of seabirds. For the inland Inuit, the caribou was the most important resource; it provided meat, a hide for clothing, and sinew for rope. The coastal Inuit hunted mostly seals and walruses and, depending on the region, narwhals and belugas; of course also the occasional caribou. The seals were used for food for men and dogs. Their oil was used for the kudliks, and their skin and sinews for seal boots (kamik), kayak coverings, ropes (also drag ropes for dog sleds) and dog whips.
  During the winter, the Inuit lived in igloos, which were erected separately or connected by tunnels. Snow of a specific consistency was necessary to build them. They had the same general interior arrangement as the tents. The most important element was a lowered entrance tunnel, repelling the heavier cold air and the wind from entering inside. As additional prevention against cold, the sleeping area was elevated by a layer of snow as compared to the living area.
  Some of the families that wanted to live in permanent camps, built themselves a partially subsurface home of rocks, whale bones, coat and sod, the so-called qarmaq. The construction of such camps is certainly based on the Thule tradition. During the winter, they used qarmaqs, but in summer preferred the more airy tents.
  Due to the hard weather conditions in winter, in this season the families joined closer together. Mutual visits at hunting places of different groups were for the exchange of news and experiences, but mostly for the exchange of food from different sources. In winter, travelling was done by dog sleds, partly presumably also by foot.
  During the warmer seasons, mainly the people used the kayak, or, mostly as "women boat" for families, the large umiak, and travelled by foot. Traditional land routes were, e.g., from Wager Bay to Repulse Bay in north, to Chesterfield Inlet with the adjacent Baker Lake in the southwest and to Chantrey Inlet at the Arctic Ocean in the northwest.
caption: Fishing for Arctic char
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