The Inuit are Mongoloid people of the Arctic regions of Canada and Greenland who speak Inupik.
The Inuit indigenous people scattered from eastern Russia, across Alaska and northern Canada to Greenland (a distance of some 9 500 km) are called the Inuit. Their name means 'the people' and it is now the term prefered in place of Eskimo which is considered an inappropriate description
The Inuit have had a presence in their land for as long as the Egyptian or Chinese civilisations and although they did not develop similar large permenant structures, have maintained an almost unchanged culture for c.5 000 years.
The ancestors of contemporary Inuits migrated from northern Asia across a land bridge that
existed at various times between present day

Russia and Alaska. The first group wasthought to have migrated around 40 000 years ago, a second around 25 000 years ago and finally about 10 000 years ago a group who are considered the originators of the Inuit culture arrived.
The Inuit usually lived in small close family groups and had a large summer gathering of clans for feasts, celebrations and swopping of stories. Drumming, dancing and traditional legends as well as games for both children and adults were important features of their lives.
Contact with Europeans, first with Vikings in Greenland c.500 AD then by explorers from the 18th century, have had a profound effect on the ability of the Inuit to maintain their traditional lifestyle