The Eskimo Museum in Churchill documents the history of the paleo-eskimos who came to Canada and Alaska in the second world warming wave about 4000 years ago. The museum contains many small archaeological finds--these people were nomads--so what they carried with them was small and served a purpose except for a few items that probably belonged to shamans.
1400-1600 was the little ice age when the world got colder and the native peoples started moving again and gravitated to new European whaling stations. In the early 1900s missionaries came to the north and in addition to giving the natives a written language, Inuktitut, they started to commission art that was used as trade and showed the outside world a snapshot of Eskimo daily life. The director of the museum and staff do not consider the word eskimo as anything other than the broad category of natives that live in the arctic including the Cree, Inuit and in Alaska , the Aleuts. Others don't agree. Other people including a University of Manitoba professor disagrees and told me that the word, "Eskimo" means eaters of raw flesh and is demeaning. Inuit means "the people", so good luck figuring what is politically correct. I think historically the Eskimos were subjected to racism like all indigenous people and it might be very empowering for them to chose the name that they want to be called.
Interestingly, the Inuit and Aleuts do eat some fish and meat raw, and the Cree do not.
1400-1600 was the little ice age when the world got colder and the native peoples started moving again and gravitated to new European whaling stations. In the early 1900s missionaries came to the north and in addition to giving the natives a written language, Inuktitut, they started to commission art that was used as trade and showed the outside world a snapshot of Eskimo daily life. The director of the museum and staff do not consider the word eskimo as anything other than the broad category of natives that live in the arctic including the Cree, Inuit and in Alaska , the Aleuts. Others don't agree. Other people including a University of Manitoba professor disagrees and told me that the word, "Eskimo" means eaters of raw flesh and is demeaning. Inuit means "the people", so good luck figuring what is politically correct. I think historically the Eskimos were subjected to racism like all indigenous people and it might be very empowering for them to chose the name that they want to be called.
Interestingly, the Inuit and Aleuts do eat some fish and meat raw, and the Cree do not.
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