Eskimos.

Alaskan Natives, nowadays, hold just over 15 % of the state’s population. So, are such a minority in their country. And it’s difficult to link their tribes and their culture to that of, California and New York as the difference is ridiculous.

Eskimos, as they are commonly known, live largely in the Northern area of Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Siberia. In spite of regional differences, the Eskimo groups are surprisingly constant in language, physical type and culture. They speak a dialect of the same language, “Eskimo”, which is a major branch of the “Eskimo-Aleut” family of languages.

Today, more than one-half of the Eskimos in the world live in Alaska, and within that, there are two more popular and well-known tribes, I believe; the Yupik and the Inupiat. Although, I found up to about 230 tribes in Alaska from the Alaska Native Claim Settlement Act 1971 which enables America to keep up to date with the settlements in Alaska.

Eskimo’s are such a unique set of people, who have kept their traditions and ethnicity in a world that is developing faster than ever before. Of course, there are some things that have improved such as they now use guns to hunt and snowmobiles to travel, but their values are dedication to making their lifestyle work is the same.

The website I found focused on the life of the Eskimo women:

http://library.thinkquest.org/11313/Early_History/Native_Alaskans/eskimo.html

It describes the women’s day-to-day living and although the men had to hunt and work, it seems that they wouldn’t be able to live without the women doing everything else. As the men were hunting for food, the women had to pick roots, which I believe still happens in today’s society of Eskimos. They would take their children to help and pass on their advice that has been through generations.

So this minority group is still complete and together, but their future may be a difficult one with global warming possibly moving them off of their homeland.