Eskimo and Inuit

The Inuit are special people. The old name for Inuit was "Eskimo" Eskimo means "eater of meat" In 1977, the Eskimos changed their name to "Inuit" Inuit means "the people" in their language. They live in very cold places: Siberia, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. There are the coldest parts of the world. There are about 120,000 Inuit in the world today. Canada has 20,000 Inuit. Some live very close to the North Pole. The Inuit were the first people of Canada. In the past, the Inuit hunted for all their food. The men traveled in the snow on sleds.

About ten dogs poulled a sleds. About ten dogs pulled a sled. The men killed fishg and other animals. Then they went home and shared their food with other families. The Inuit used every part of the animal for food and clothes. They usually ate the fish raw. The women made clothes from animal skins. They made shoes from the skins, too. The Inuit had an oldcustom. The women chewed their husbands' shoes at night. Then the shoes were soft in the morning. the Inuit's life was hard. They lived in houses made of snow.

They moved form time to time to hunt animals. Sometimes, the Inuit needed money. Other Canadians needed animal skins. The Inuit sold animal skins to these Canadians. The Inuit and the Canadians helped each other. Today in Canada, the Inuit's lives are very different. Most Inuit live in villages. The villages have from 300 to 1500 people. The houses are made of wood. The Inuit don't travel in sleds. They ride snowmobiles. They but food and clothes form stores. The Inuit keep in touch with the rest of the world.

They use the telephone, television, and the Internet. Thye go on airplanes to cities in the south of Canada. Inuit boys and hirls go to school and have Inuit wnqat to remember their language and traditions. They want to teach their language and traditions to their children. In the 1970s, the Inuit in Canada wanted to control their land. In 1999, the Canadian government ahreed. The governmentgave the Inuit a piece of land in the north of Canada. The name of the Inuit's new land is Nunavut. It means "our land" in their language.

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