The Circumpolar Peoples

In comparison with other regions of the world, the resources available to the people who live around the poles to eke out an existence may appear derisory. This explains the sparseness of the populations living in such a vast area. It is estimated that some two million live all year round above the Arctic Circle.

A world of winter, a variety of peoples
Although united by their durability and strength, these men and women nonetheless make up populations with many different languages and origins.

• On the European side, the Lapps live on the Kola peninsula (in northern Karelia) and in the northern part of Scandinavia.
• On the North American side, the ethnic divide is relatively straightforward, with just two language groups. On the one hand there are the Aleuts, who live in Alaska and in the archipelago formed by the Aleutian islands, which describe the arc of a circle that links the most isolated US state with the Russian peninsula of Kamtchatka. Also, 55% of the Esquimaux recorded by census in the world live in Alaska and Canada.
• Greenland also accommodates Esquimaux. Forty-three per cent of Esquimaux have found refuge in this country, which has been a self-governed Danish dependency since 1979.
• On the Eurasian side, there is a much more complex mosaic of peoples: Vogul (or Mansi) and Ostyak (or Khant) in the northern valleys of the Urals and in the forests of the Ob' basin; Chukchi, Koryak, Samoyed, Yukaghir, Kamchadal, Tungus, Buryat and Yakut in the peripheral areas, etc.

So many Arctic peoples yet, although they share the same territory, they do not have sufficient common characteristics to form a nation. Sometimes separated from one another by a matter of kilometres, these ethnic groups communicate so little between themselves that they often do not even know the language of their neighbours. Over the centuries, this isolation has even left them unable to join forces against the Russian invaders, who brutally took over the whole of Siberia between 1583 and 1642, subsequently forcing all of the local people to learn Russian.
Having said that, it would appear that the great political upheavals of the 20th century, beginning with the advent of the Soviet r��gime and ending with its downfall, have had no permanent effects on the people of Siberia. Certainly, Moscow has not stinted itself in taking advantage of the area's riches by exiling engineers and workers there from the west, although they have not embroiled themselves in the internal affairs of the indigenous peoples whose habits have therefore not been disrupted too much by the arrival of modern technology.
The USSR even granted independence to the local ethnic groups, which resulted politically in the constitution of republics whose representatives have seats in the parliament in Moscow.
The United States and Canada cannot say as much, because they have never granted any special status to the Esquimaux and only very recently returned part of the business profits generated by mining and energy operations in the Arctic region to the communities they took the land from in the first place.

Anachronism
However, tradition is increasingly giving way to modernity. Ancient animist beliefs are being replaced by Christianity. Sleds pulled by dogs are moving aside for skidoos, which are faster and more practical. Kayaks and umiaks have been replaced by craft made from wood and plastic. Buildings made from snow and peat are disappearing in favour of prefabricated structures. And spears are giving way to firearms. These many cultural and technical innovations have not been enough to convince the new generation to remain faithful to the "good old" subsistence activities. In the eyes of the young, the old way of life appears incredibly risky and excessively hazardous, not to mention completely anachronistic. It is true that throughout time, the victories won against the hostile environment have come at a high price and in recent years, the increasingly worrying disappearance of certain animals (such as the whale and the caribou) have done nothing to help.
To further aggravate the situation, the fur market has suffered from the opposition movement driven by international opinion with regard to hunting. There has also been the initiative taken by the Russians to breed certain fur-producing animals on a large scale so that more profit can be made from their pelts.
Is this the end of a particular world ?

The Esquimaux
Esquimaux call themselves Inuits, which means "real men". They prefer this name to the one that is more familiar to us and which is derived from the dialect created by Algonquins, who scornfully called them "eaters of raw meat".
Although there are many local dialects, the Esquimaux speak two main languages: yupik in Siberia and in south-western Alaska, and inupiaq - or inuktitut - everywhere else, including Greenland.