Arctic

Composed of the northernmost residents of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Scandinavia, and Russia, the arctic's population of 4 million is a heterogeneous blend of indigenous groups and immigrants, both utilizing the region's natural resources in mixed subsistence and cash-based economies. Together they sparsely populate an extreme environment characterized by tundra vegetation or boreal forests bordered by oceans teeming with wildlife. Indigenous arctic peoples such as the Aleut (Unangan), Yupik, Athabascan, and Inupiaq of Alaska; the Inuit of Canada and Greenland; the Saami of Scandinavia; and the Yakut, Yukagirs, Chukchi, and Evenks of Siberia were traditionally small nomadic groups who moved seasonally in pursuit of wildlife resources such as sea mammals, fish, and birds, as well as land mammals such as caribou, moose, and bear. These groups ...