Inuit art links

WHO LIVES IN THE ARCTIC?
The homeland of the Inuit stretches from the northeastern tip of Russia across Alaska and northern Canada to parts of Greenland.

PREHISTORIC PEOPLES
Most of Northern North America was covered with ice during the last ice age, but by about 10,500 years BP (Before Present) the ice sheets began to recede.

HISTORY OF THE INUIT - FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO 1902
What we do know has been pieced together from traditional oral histories, archaeological research, and the writings of explorers, fur traders, and missionaries who visited the western Arctic.

OUR WORLD - OUR WAY OF LIFE
When non-Inuit such as explorers, whalers, fur traders and missionaries began coming to our land, they started to record their own impressions about our way of life. Some of these descriptions can be useful for understanding our culture, but as Inuit we would like to caution people that much of what is written about us may not be true or is at least very incomplete.

CROSSROADS OF CONTINENTS
With the passing of the last Ice Age, human populations began spreading north and east until they crossed into the Americas via Alaska. That great migration was only the beginning of the story...

HOW INUIT FIND THEIR WAY IN THE TRACKLESS ARCTIC.
Today most Inuit travel by snowmobile but use the same extraordinary navigational skills as their ancestors.
Ilitsijaqturvik
(A place to go and learn)

Tusarvik
(A place to listen or hear)

LOST VISIONS, FORGOTTEN DREAMS
Life and art of an ancient Arctic people.

INUIT CLOTHING
When Inuit lived exclusively on the land, caribou and seal were the main sources of clothing material. The insulating properties of caribou fur made it ideal for protection from the harsh winters. Sealskin was preferred for footwear because of its durability and water-resistance.

NUNAVUT TRAVEL PLANNER
This website is a comprehensive online travel planner that will prove invaluable in both researching and planning a visit to Nunavut. The goal is to develop an environmentally responsible and economically viable tourism industry in Nunavut that is in harmony with Inuit culture and tradition.

NUNAVUT.COM
Information gateway to Nunavut.

GOVERNMENT OF NUNAVUT
Nunavut - "our land" in the Inuktitut language - has been home to Inuit for millennia and part of Canada for more than a century. Whether you're a visitor from the other side of the world curious about Canada's third territory, or a resident looking for information, turn here first.

NUNAVUT MAP AND WEATHER REPORTS
Nunavut - "our land" in the Inuktitut language - has been home to Inuit for millennia and part of Canada for more than a century. Click on the locations for current weather reports.

NUNAVUT GAME
Guess the locations within Nunavut.

NUNAVUT COMMUNITY INFORMATION
We could tell you more, but all we'd end up doing is repeating the title.

MAP: INUIT POPULATION IN CANADA
Canadian census information showing the distribution of Inuit population throughout the country.

MAP: NUNAVUT COMMUNITIES
Zoom in for more information.

CAPE DORSET INUIT ART
This site links the graphic work of some of the famous artists from the community of Cape Dorset with the memories, myths and legends of elders from the community of Igloolik.

THE INUIT
Lots of information here: Regional Groupings, History, Language, Provision of Food, Housing, Transportation, Clothing, Religious Beliefs, Arts and Crafts and more.

CANADIAN INUIT HISTORY
A thousand-year odyssey of the history of the aboriginal inhabitants of the North American Arctic, from Bering Strait to East Greenland, a distance of over 6000 kilometers. As well as Arctic Canada, Inuit also live in northern Alaska and Greenland, and have close relatives in Russia.

CANADIAN INUIT SCULPTURE
Prehistoric Arctic Art, Inuit Sculpture in Recent Times, Imagery & Styles, Regional Styles, Methods and Materials, Authenticity...

TRADITIONAL INUIT GAMES
Some grade six students at Aqsarniit School in Iqaluit, Nunavut did a project on some of their favorite Traditional Inuit Games. We hope you will learn how to play some of them where you live....

INUKTITUT FOR TRAVELLERS
An introduction to the language of the Eastern Arctic, Inuktitut. Sound files let you listen to the proper pronunciation of selected words and phrases.

WRITING IN INUKTITUT
Inuktitut symbols have an unusual history. The Inuit had no written form of language until 1894, when Edmund Peck introduced a system of writing derived from the Pittman shorthand method. You can try it our here.

INUKTITUT LANGUAGE
This site, from Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, lets you hear common phrases in Inuktitut.

INUKTITUT SYLLABARY
The Inuktitut syllabary was adapted from the Cree syllabary, which itself was adapted from the Ojibwe syllabary. Both the Ojibwe and Cree syllbaries were invented by James Evans, a Wesleyan missionary, between about 1840 and 1860.

WORDS FOR SNOW
The Inuit, Aivilik and Igloolik languages have over 30 words for snow - and here they are!

GLOSSARY OF INUIT WORDS
Learn some words in the language of the Inuit.

THE IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE
"There are only very few Inuit, but millions of qallunaaq (white people) just like mosquitoes. It is something very special and wonderful to be an Inuk- we are like the snow geese. If we abandon our Inuit ways, or no longer find it important to use our language, we will be nothing but just another mosquito."

IN OLD NAMES - A LEGACY RECLAIMED
Names are a very important part of Inuit culture - every name has a definition, but when Europeans came north to this frozen land of blizzards and deserts, they could not understand why the Inuit had no last names.

INUKTITUT FONT DOWNLOADS
For Windows and Macintosh.

INUIT & ENGLISHMEN
The Nunavut voyages of Martin Frobisher

INUIT THROAT SINGING
Throat-singing has been an important cultural heritage for quite a long time among the Inuit of North America. They developed a particular type of throat-singing that is different from its Mongolian and Tuvan counterparts - one that does not produce the extra notes.

THROAT SINGING - SOUND FILES
A kind of competition between two singers, throat singing is ideal for cold climates. Sound Files.

INUIT CLOTHING
caribou was the most common material for making winter clothing. iT is very warm; the hair growth is twice as dense as on seal skin, and the hollow guard hairs enclose air that acts as insulation against the cold.

THREADS OF THE LAND
The Inuit of Canada's Arctic live in one of the world's most extreme climates. Their clothing has been one of the keys to survival.

CANADIAN VIRTUAL MUSEUM
A series of great pictures of Inuit life and culture.

THE DOGS OF THE INUIT
As a hunting companion, the Inuit dog's predatory skills have helped stack the odds of locating and retrieving game in the hunters' favour. This, in a harsh environment where animals were almost the sole source of all that was needed to sustain life.

INUIT CULTURES: ARCTIC REGION
Inuit artifacts from the Hudson's Bay Company's collection donated to the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature.

INUIT OF CANADA
This is where you'll find the story of Inuit history in the Arctic regions going back several thousands of years before Canada was created in 1867.

ARCTIC HISTORY
Have you ever wondered how and when the Inuit came to live in Canada and where they came from? We do not know all of the answers, but archaeology and Inuit legends provide us with some clues.

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