The Arctic (/ˈɑːrtɪk/ or /ˈɑːrktɪk/)[1][Note 1] is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), northern Finland (Lapland), Iceland, northern Norway (Finnmark and Svalbard), Russia (Murmansk, Siberia, Nenets Okrug, Novaya Zemlya), northernmost Sweden and the United States (Alaska). Land within the Arctic region has seasonally varying snow and ice cover, with predominantly treeless permafrost (permanently frozen underground ice) under the tundra. Arctic seas contain seasonal sea ice in many places. The Arctic region is a unique area among Earth’s ecosystems. The cultures in the region and the Arctic indigenous peoples have adapted to its cold and extreme conditions. Life in the Arctic includes zooplankton and phytoplankton, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals, plants and human societies. Arctic land is bordered by the subarctic.
Between 15,000 and 20,000 years ago, people began crossing the Bering Strait from Asia into what is now Alaska. Over time, some of those people moved into the Canadian Arctic and Greenland. Today their descendants call themselves Inuit, which means “the people.” Others traveled south to the evergreen forests of Canada, and the descendants of those people now have individual tribal names but refer to themselves together as First Nations. Many tribes survived the cold, harsh environment by hunting caribou, musk ox, bowhead whales, and even seals through the ice. They then put all the parts of the animal to use: Caribou and polar bear fur were perfect for warm winter clothing, sealskin was used for waterproof summer garments, and furs from wolves, wolverines, and rabbits added warmth inside boots and socks.
The Arctic, or circumpolar, peoples are the Indigenous inhabitants of the northernmost regions of the world. For the most part, they live beyond the climatic limits of agriculture, drawing a subsistence from hunting, trapping, and fishing or from pastoralism. Thus climatic gradients, rather than simple latitude, determine the effective boundaries of the circumpolar region, and these gradients have their counterparts in the major environmental transitions. Of these transitions, the most important is the tree line, which marks the northern margin of the coniferous forest, or taiga. Between this limit and the coasts of the Arctic Ocean, the land consists of open tundra, though, in regions of high elevation, pockets of tundra lie enclosed within the forest zone.Arctic environments are commonly imagined to be barren and inhospitable, habitable only by virtue of the extreme physical endurance and technical virtuosity of the peoples who dwell in them. Though their possession of these qualities is not in doubt, this view of the far north rests on a misconception. The image of the remote wilderness, to be conquered through a struggle for survival, belongs to the language of the alien explorer, not to that of the Indigenous people. For Indigenous people, the circumpolar environment is neither hostile nor forbidding but familiar and generous, offering the gift of livelihood to those who would treat it with consideration and respect.
Indigenous peoples have inhabited the Arctic for thousands of years. The proportion indigenous people is estimated to be about 10 percent of total population living in arctic areas. There are over 40 different ethnic groups living in the Arctic. Arctic indigenous peoples include for example Saami in circumpolar areas of Finland, Sweden, Norway and Northwest Russia, Nenets, Khanty, Evenk and Chukchi in Russia, Aleut, Yupik and Inuit (Iñupiat) in Alaska, Inuit (Inuvialuit) in Canada and Inuit (Kalaallit) in Greenland. All of the above-mentioned countries except Iceland have indigenous peoples living within their Arctic territory. Official statistics do not necessarily recognize indigenous populations separately, although differences occur. The number of indigenous people is not accurate because of the definition of indigenousness.
The arctic region of North America, which extends from Alaska across Canada to Greenland, is a harsh physical environment, with little vegetation due to cold temperatures year-round. Despite the challenges of living there, several indigenous tribes — original inhabitants who live in groups of families or clans — have lived in this arctic region for centuries. One thing these tribes share in common is the ability to adapt to harsh weather conditions and live in harmony with the natural elements. While the term “Eskimo” is still in use among some native people of Alaska, it has fallen out of favor among those in Canada and Greenland. “Inuit,” the word in the Inuktitut language for “the people,” has replaced the term Eskimo in Canada and Greenland. (Note: While Greenland is culturally and politically considered part of Europe, it is geographically part of the arctic region of North America and native peoples there share similar ways of life.)
Approximately one million people, or 9% of the total population in the Arctic is indigenous. Indigenous population reassembles more than 40 different ethnic groups. In terms of statistics there are no circumpolar definition of an indigenous person and therefore the number of indigenous people is based on different national definitions. Official statistics do not necessarily recognize indigenous populations separately. The indigenous population is the highest in the Canadian Arctic and in Greenland, weighing more than 75% of the total population. The Yukon, the southern part of Northern Quebec, and Labrador and Newfoundland (Canada) have the lowest shares of indigenous population. In the remaining part of the Arctic, indigenous peoples represent less than half of the total population, except in Sakha (Russian Federation), Southwest Region and Northern Region (Alaska, USA) where 50-75% of the population is indigenous. There are no indigenous people in Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Svalbard.
There are more than 40 Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic. They represent about 10 per cent of the Arctic’s total population of four million. Of the Arctic coastal peoples, the Inuit are the most widespread, occupying coastlines from Arctic Russia to Canada to Greenland, a span of thousands of kilometres. In some Arctic states and regional political units, Indigenous People are comparatively small minorities. Alaskan Native peoples are estimated to comprise 15 per cent of the state population, while in Greenland, Indigenous People (including persons of mixed origin) make up about 88 per cent of the population. The Arctic’s Indigenous Peoples once had complete control over the resources in the areas they occupied. That control began to diminish as new arrivals pushed north. In northwestern Europe, that process began many hundreds of years ago, while in parts of Canada, the large-scale arrival of non-Indigenous People is comparatively recent.
The peoples of the American Arctic live in the northernmost lands of North America. In Native American studies, this region is called the Arctic culture area. It lies near and above the Arctic Circle and includes parts of present-day Alaska and Canada. Temperatures are very cold for most of the year, and winters are especially harsh. Trees and other vegetation are scarce. The Arctic peoples long ago developed cultures that were completely adapted to this extremely cold, snowy, and icy environment. Although they have since embraced some modern conveniences, many Arctic peoples still live in traditional ways. The native peoples of the North American Arctic include the Inuit and the Aleut. The Inuit live not only in the North American Arctic but also in the Arctic regions of Greenland and far eastern Russia (Siberia). The Aleut are native to the Aleutian Islands and the western part of the Alaska Peninsula. These peoples are more closely related to Asians than to the American Indians to their south. A sizable percentage of Inuit have type B blood, a characteristic that seems to be completely absent from the Indians. In addition, the languages of the American Arctic peoples are not related to those of the Indians. For these reasons scholars generally separate the Arctic peoples from the Indians. Many Alaskan groups prefer to be called Native Alaskans rather than Native Americans. Most of Canada’s Arctic peoples prefer the name Inuit. The names the Inuit call themselves also include Inupiat, Yupik, and Alutiit. Each of these means “the people” or “the real people” in the local language.
The Arctic culture area, a cold, flat, treeless region (actually a frozen desert) near the Arctic Circle in present-day Alaska, Canada and Greenland, was home to the Inuit and the Aleut. Both groups spoke, and continue to speak, dialects descended from what scholars call the Eskimo-Aleut language family. Because it is such an inhospitable landscape, the Arctic’s population was comparatively small and scattered. Some of its peoples, especially the Inuit in the northern part of the region, were nomads, following seals, polar bears and other game as they migrated across the tundra. In the southern part of the region, the Aleut were a bit more settled, living in small fishing villages along the shore.
Alaska is a vast state with a relatively low population. Alaska covers over 400 million acres, which is more than two times the area of Texas. Meanwhile, the population of the state hovers around only 700,000 residents. There are nearly 200 communities across the state, which vary in population from less than 20 to roughly 300,000. The majority of Alaska communities are accessible only by boat or plane. Alaska Native people make up around 15 percent of the population of Alaska. ANCSA divided the state into twelve regions defined by the common heritage and shared interests of the indigenous peoples within each geographic area. The regional boundaries do not represent land owned by the Alaska Native regional corporations; instead, they established which of the twelve Alaska Native regional corporations would serve the people, villages, and communities within that area. Within each region of Alaska there is a complex landscape of governance, land ownership, roles, and relationships. While there is overlap in who the organizations represent, each entity plays a distinct role. Individuals and businesses alike experience the intricate network of Alaska Native regional corporations, Alaska Native village corporations, federally recognized tribes, city and borough governments, and Alaska Native regional non-profit organizations.
Along the coast of the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea—from Siberia, across Alaska and Canada, and east to Greenland—Yup´ik, Unangan, and Inuit peoples live in the most forbidding environment on earth. Their ability to survive depends upon their understanding of land, ocean, ice, and sky, and of animal behaviors—knowledge gained over thousands of years. For millennia, families exchanged goods and shared feasts and ceremonies with neighboring bands. By the 1700s, Native and non-Native traders were extending these chains of contact into the interior in response to European demand for furs. Whaling and prospecting brought further change to the region, as previously nomadic peoples established villages around the wintering sites of ships.
How Families Eat In The Arctic
For thousands of years, Indigenous people in the Arctic have learned how to thrive in extreme cold weather, traverse roadless lands, and navigate in demanding maritime conditions. Despite some degradation of the traditional ways of life among many Indigenous people over the past century, people native to the land continue to adapt to the dynamic Arctic conditions. There is an epistemology, a way of knowing, that is grounded in a place-based knowledge system—one where knowledge generation occurs within the context of a place and its natural cycles. Arctic Indigenous subsistence hunters, for example, are regional experts on animal behaviors and possess historical knowledge of the land. Examples like this form the basis of an evolving knowledge system that guides Indigenous communities on how to thrive in demanding climatic conditions. Arctic Indigenous people have historical roots in supporting the security and safety within the Arctic. The knowledge on what looks right, understanding the unique Arctic climate, and being skilled to traverse difficult terrain in challenging conditions are relevant knowledge and skills that must be integrated into future SOF Arctic deployments. Indigenous knowledge is essential for US troop deployments aimed at securing the most northern borders of North America. More so in Alaska and Canada, many Indigenous people take exceptional pride in their respective countries’ armed services. In the United States, American Indians and Alaska Natives have been the leading minority groups to join the armed serves per capita than any other demographic group. Both Alaska Natives and American Indians contribute to the volunteer force five times more than any other demographic group. There is precedent for leveraging Indigenous knowledge for homeland defense purposes. Alaska Natives and Indigenous people of Canada have a legacy of being frontline observers having a watchful eye against hostile incursions into North America since World War II.
Siberia is a vast region spanning the northern part of the Asian continent, and forming the Asiatic portion of Russia. As a result of the Russian conquest of Siberia (17th to 19th centuries) and of the subsequent population movements during the Soviet era (1917-1991), the modern-day demographics of Siberia is dominated by ethnic Russians (Siberiaks) and other Slavs. However, there remains a slowly increasing number of indigenous groups, accounting for about 5% of the total Siberian population (about 1.6–1.8 million), some of which are closely genetically related to indigenous peoples of the Americas. Siberia is a sparsely populated region. Historically it has been home to a variety of different linguistic groups. According to some estimates, by the beginning of the 17th century, indigenous peoples numbered 160,000. In the 1897 census, their number was 822,000. The 2021 census recorded 1,620,000 indigenous Siberians.
Indigenous Peoples Literature 