Alaska Natives

Eskimos

Eskimos (also known as Inuit) are the largest of the three Alaska Native ethnic groups. They comprise 52% of all Alaska Natives. Eskimo subdivisions include the Inupiat (Greenland to northern Alaska), the Yu'pik (western and southwestern Alaska), and the Siberian Yu'pik (St. Lawrence Islanders). Historically, Eskimos lived in extended and multifamily units in tents during the summer and in large underground sod houses during the winter. Although outside temperatures range from −80°F in winter to +40°F in summer, these sod houses were kept at a comfortable 70°F to 85°F by fires, sod roofs, and igloo overhouses.

Alaska Eskimos are related to, and share many of the same cultural beliefs and lifeways as, Eskimos living in Siberia, Greenland, and Canada. Historically, Eskimos practiced an animistic religion that prescribed times of social gathering, rituals, and feasts, as well as religious beliefs and practices concerning the care and respect for all living things (including people, animals, and the environment). Their religion, along with the cultural habits of summer hunting and storage, helped regulate the daily rhythm of arctic life, especially during the 3 months of total darkness and the 3 months of total light that occur in the arctic every year.

Before European contact, Eskimos practiced subsistence living by catching fish and hunting seals, walruses, whales, caribou, musk oxen, and polar bears. They used animal skins to make tents and clothes, which protected them from the extreme arctic weather. They constructed hand tools and weapons from antlers, horns, teeth, and animal bones. In summer, they hunted in boats covered with animal skin, and in winter, they traveled on sleds pulled by dog teams. When traveling in search of game, they built igloos as shelters from blocks of snow and ice.

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