Arctic Peoples (Native America)

145 Pages·2008·11.75 MB·English

by  Craig A. Doherty

Arctic Peoples
(
Craig A. Doherty
Katherine M. Doherty
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Arctic Peoples
Copyright © 2008 by Craig A. Doherty and Katherine M. Doherty
Maps copyright © 2008 by Infobase Publishing
Photo captions copyright © 2008 by Infobase Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without
permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact:
Chelsea House
An imprint of Infobase Publishing
132 West 31st Street
New York NY 10001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Doherty, Craig A.
Arctic peoples / Craig A. Doherty and Katherine M. Doherty.
p. cm.—(Native America)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8160-5970-6 (alk. paper)
1. Arctic peoples—History—Juvenile literature. 2. Arctic peoples—Social life
and customs—Juvenile literature. I. Doherty, Katherine M. II. Title. III. Series.
GN673.D66 2007
971.9—dc22 2007013413
Chelsea House books are available at special discounts when purchased in
bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions.
Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at [phone] or
[phone].
You can find Chelsea House on the World Wide Web at
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Text design by Erika K. Arroyo
Cover design by Salvatore Luongo
Maps by Dale Williams
Printed in the United States of America
VB MSRF 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on acid-free paper and contains 30% post-consumer
recycled content.
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Note on Photos
Many of the illustrations and photographs used in this book are
old, historical images. The quality of the prints is not always up
to modern standards, as in some cases the originals are dam-
aged. The content of the illustrations, however, made their
inclusion important despite problems in reproduction.
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This book is dedicated to the many students of all ages
we have worked with and taught over the years.
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Craig and Katherine Doherty
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Photo credits for color insert: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: pages C-1 (all), C-3
(middle); University of Alaska Museum Archaeology Collections: pages C-2 (top left
and bottom right), C-4 (top right, bottom left, and bottom right); Werner Forman/Art
Resource, NY: page C-2 (bottom left); Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center: pages
C-2 (top right), C-3 (top), C-5 (all), and C-6 (bottom); Aldo Tutino/Art Resource, NY:
page C-3 (bottom); Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY: page C-4 (top left); Daniel S. Glover/
University of Missouri, Museum of Anthropology: page C-6 (top and middle); National
Archives and Records Administration: page C-7 (top left); Wilkinson/NWT Archives/N-
1979-051-1659S: page C-7 (top right); AP Images: pages C-7 (bottom) and C-8 (all)
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Contents
Introduction ix
BOX FEATURE: THE STUDY OF PALEO-INDIANS X
Map: Beringia, 18,000–12,000 Years Ago xi
Map: Glaciers and Migration Routes,
25,000 Years before Present xiii
BOX FEATURE: STONE TOOLS XV
1
The Last Arrivals 1
BOX FEATURE: DATING ARTIFACTS 1
Stage 1: 25,000 to 5,000 B.C. 2
Stage 2: 5000 to 2200 B.C. 3
Stage 3: 2200 to 1200 B.C. 3
BOX FEATURE: PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES OF
ALEUT AND INUIT PEOPLE 4
Stage 4: 1200 B.C. to A.D. 600 5
Map: Arctic Cultural Area 6
Stage 5: A.D. 600 to 1800 6
BOX FEATURE: INUIT METALWORK 7
BOX FEATURE: VIKINGS IN GREENLAND 8
Map: Possible Route of Eric the Red, ca. A.D. 985 9
2
Families and Tribal Groups 11
Families 11
BOX FEATURE: LIFE IN A KASHIM 12
BOX FEATURE: THE CREATION OF THE WORLD 15
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Communities and Bands 16
Religion 18
BOX FEATURE: SEDNA 20
Trade and Cooperation 21
3
Houses, Clothes, Tools,
and Transportation 22
Houses 22
BOX FEATURE: BUILDING AN IGLOO OR SNOW-HOUSE 25
Clothing 28
Tools and Weapons 31
Transportation 33
4
Daily Life in the Arctic 37
Winter 38
RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES 38
BOX FEATURE: BLADDER FESTIVAL (THE FEAST
FOR SEALS’ SOULS) 39
WINTER HUNTING 41
BOX FEATURE: SEALS 43
Summer 47
FISHING 47
BOX FEATURE: NANOOK OF THE NORTH 49
SUMMER HUNTING 50
GATHERING 52
THE SUMMER FAIR 53
5
The Coming of the Europeans 55
Rupert’s Land 55
BOX FEATURE: THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE 57
The Return of the Vikings 58
BOX FEATURE: EUROPEAN DISEASE 59
Russians in Alaska 62
BOX FEATURE: COMPETITION FOR ALASKA 63
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6
The Aleut and Inuit in the Nineteenth Century 65
Missionaries 65
BOX FEATURE: SEWARD’S FOLLY 67
Whaling 69
BOX FEATURE: BLUBBER, BALEEN, AND THE BOWHEAD
WHALE 69
Fur Trade 70
BOX FEATURE: FUR EXCHANGE RATES 72
Commercial Fisheries 73
Gold Rush 75
7
The Twentieth Century in the Arctic 77
Map: Territory of the Copper Inuit, ca. 1900 78
The Last to Be Contacted 79
The Reindeer Experiment 80
BOX FEATURE: THE DEW LINE 81
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) 82
BOX FEATURE: TUNDRA TIMES 84
Hydro-Québec 86
Inuit Circumpolar Conference 86
BOX FEATURE: GREENLAND HOME RULE 88
Nunavut 88
Map: Nunavut Territory, Canada, April 1, 1999 89
8
The Arctic Peoples Today 92
Global Warming 93
BOX FEATURE: SHEILA WATT-CLOUTIER (1953– ) 96
Oil in the Arctic 97
BOX FEATURE: ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
(ANWR) 98
Art and Cultural Renaissance 101
BOX FEATURE: ZACHARIAS KUNUK (1958– ) 102
The Future 103
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Time Line 104
Historical Sites and Museums 108
Further Reading 113
Index 115
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Introduction
Native American peoples live and have lived for millennia
throughout the Americas. Many people think of Indians solely
in the past tense, as part of history. While these groups have a
long and interesting history, their contributions to American
society have continued through the 20th century and into the
21st century. Native America today is an exciting place, with
much waiting to be discovered. This series of books will intro-
duce readers to these cultures.
Thousands of years ago people from Asia migrated to the
Western Hemisphere and spread throughout the lands that
would later be called North and South America. Over the mil-
lennia, before Europeans found their way there, these peoples
settled the Western Hemisphere, and a number of elaborate
Native cultures developed. The Aztec, Maya, and Inca had large
cities in North, Central, and South America. In what is now the
United States, Pueblo groups in the Southwest and the Mound
Builders in the Mississippi River basin lived in large towns and
small cities. People lived in every corner of the land and adapted
to every climatic condition, from the frozen Arctic home of the
Inuit to the hot, dry desert inhabited by the Tohono O’odham
of what is now southern Arizona and northern Mexico.
When in A.D. 1492 Christopher Columbus arrived in what
Europeans would call the Americas, he mistakenly thought he
was in the part of Asia known as the Indies. Columbus therefore
called the people he encountered Indians. These Native Ameri-
cans all had their own names for their many tribes; however, as a
group they are still often referred to as American Indians or just ix
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