And the Dorset, who migrated a little earlier than the Thule.
So how many hours a day does a resident of Canada’s arctic spend in traffic breathing in smog?
To add to this thread. Maybe it’s different being full blood Inuit but I survive pretty decent in Michigan’s climate. In the winter I can dress like most people dress for for spring with a light coat and shorts. In early spring I can wear summer clothes if isn’t windy or if I’m really active. If I’m active I can get away with shorts and a t-shirt in 25 degree weather. I get the native ancestry from my dad’s side, and he welllllll… Let’s just say I’ve only met him for a total of 5 minutes my whole life and I have a bunch of half siblings who can say the same. Occasionally I’ll see someone dressed for summer in January and wonder if they’re related.
In the summer I adapt beautifully to the heat until it hits about 80. Then it gets uncomfortable and I have to be really careful not to over heat at anything above 85 or so. I’ve gotten so I can feel heat stroke before it gets too bad (hot but not sweating while body getting weak) and take precautionary measures. My body does adapt to summer slowly, but not as quick as most people.
In the winter I adapt to the cold quick. Usually the first few cold snaps are enough to trigger my cold tolerances to increase. My (fully white) cousin wanted me to move to Texas with him once when he came up to visit. He and his friend from down there were wearing jackets in 80 degree weather and cold. In silent horror at what this implied I thanked him for the offer but declined.
That said I hate snow so much. Your car gets stuck in it, you have to shovel it. It gets in your show and makes your socks wet. It’s awful to walk through. It really is proof mother nature is a total bitch sometimes. When I’m rich it’s either Hawaii or Porto Rico.
Wikipedia indicates that while use of ice houses (aka “igloos”) is not universal, and in fact these days might even be considered rare, there were groups of Inuit who used them widely, both as small temporary shelters and as larger more permanent dwellings.
Powers &8^]
Wouldn’t they have migrated over from Siberia, which is also cold? Couldn’t they have been adapted to the cold before they hit this continent?
Some do live in Siberia. The Yupik for example.
Eskimos migrated from Asia a lot more recently than most other Native Americans. They are closely related genetically to Siberian and East Asian groups, and as Tao says there are Eskimos that live on the other side of the Bering Strait in Siberia.
Although I don’t know exactly how this applies in the case of Arctic peoples, as a generalization people who live in marginal environments either were driven there by competing people (by war or forced migration), or, occasionally, we don’t know at first why they live there, but eventually learn that they were driven there by competing people (by war or forced migration).
In the past, some “civilized” commentators took the comfortably narrow view that “if these people were smart or industrious, they’d move to better land,” completely overlooking the fact that “better land” was full of more populous and often better-armed people who would not willingly be displaced.
Just a thought, but could living where they are give them access to something the other folks don’t have, and therefore give them a monopolized trade commodity? Such as whale oil, white bear pelts, exotic seeming meats, etc.? (Obviously not an expert, just suggesting…)
It was not that sort of an economy. For the most part, these folks relied directly on what they could catch, not on what they could trade.
As far as migration goes, people in the North American Arctic did migrate. First the Dorset people spread from west to east, and then later the Thule people spread from west to east.
I can’t help but find Cecil’s physiological explanation a little pat.
Isolated to the northern Inuit people on both sides of the Bering Strait, makes perfect sense. Long torso, short limbs, shorter forelimbs, hands, etc. Some would probably include body fat % and a few other things as well.
Counter-arguments:
Sami people and other indigenous people of far northern Europe. Short torso, long limbed. Been there for at least 10 millenia, almost as long as their northern Asian and North American buddies.
SE Asians. Again, been there for as long in terms of geological time, characteristic “Asian” body type, hot and humid environment.
True for the Inuit in Alaska, as well. The Athapascan tribes to the south were hostile to the Inuit and there were well-known landmarks beyond which one travelled at risk.
I think this is getting at the heart of it.
In our modern, mobile culture, we’d do well to remember that many tribal languages have very limited words for people, and they usually translate to us and them. There often wasn’t a word, let along the idea, of “Eskimo who got tired of the cold and joined our tribe.” (Unless it was enemy, sacrifice or dinner).
Look at how “civilized” Americans in the early 1900’s reacted to Polish and Italian immigrants. Or how do Americans feel about Mexican immigrants? We’ve come a long way from the Aztecs in dealing with other cultures, but we’re still extremely hostile to people just moving on in.
I was following you up until the Aztec comment. Are you Spanish?
No… my point was that Aztecs often captured and sacrificed people from other tribes.