The Inuit people live in the far northern areas of Alaska, Canada, Siberia, and Greenland. They originally made their home along the Alaskan coast, but migrated to other areas. Everything about the lives of the Inuit is influenced by the cold tundra climate in which they live.
The typical materials for making homes such as wood and mud are hard to find in the frozen tundra of the Arctic. The Inuit learned to make warm homes out of snow and ice for the winter. During the summer they would make homes from animal skin stretched over a frame made from driftwood or whalebones. The Inuit word for home is "igloo".
The Inuit needed thick and warm clothing to survive the cold weather. They used animal skins and furs to stay warm. They made shirts, pants, boots, hats, and big jackets called anoraks from caribou and seal skin. They would line their clothes with furs from animals like polar bears, rabbits, and foxes.
Check out these 25 amazing black and white photographs below that capture everyday life of Inuit people from the early 20th century.
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| The Eskimo seesaw is much more rugged then the familiar version. (Photo by Corbis via Getty Images) |
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| An Eskimo family wear heavy parkas to keep themselves warm in the cold Alaska climate, circa 1910. (Photo by Michael Maslan/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images) |
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| The Klondike Goldrush. Eskimo handmade baskets, Teller, Alaska, with two native Eskimo boys, 1904. (Photo by F. H. Nowell/Bettmann Collection) |
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| An Eskimo family living near the Mackenzie River, Canada. (Photo by Bettmann Collection) |
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| An Eskimo group of men, women, and children dressed in fur coats in Port Clarence, Alaska in 1894. | Location: Port Clarence, Alaska. (Photo by Corbis via Getty Images) |
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