Copper Inuit
Encyclopedia
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
group who live north of the tree line, in Nunavut
Nunavut
Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...
's Kitikmeot Region
Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut
Kitikmeot Region is an administrative region of Nunavut, Canada. It consists of the southern and eastern parts of Victoria Island with the adjacent part of the mainland as far as the Boothia Peninsula, together with King William Island and the southern portion of Prince of Wales Island...
and the Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
's Inuvik Region
Inuvik Region, Northwest Territories
The Inuvik Region is one of five administrative regions in the Northwest Territories. The region consists of eight communities with the regional office situated in Inuvik...
. Most historically lived in the area around Coronation Gulf
Coronation Gulf
Coronation Gulf lies between Victoria Island and mainland Nunavut in Canada. To the northwest it connects with Dolphin and Union Strait and thence the Beaufort Sea and Arctic Ocean; to the northeast it connects with Dease Strait and thence Queen Maud Gulf. To the southeast lies Bathurst...
, on Victoria Island, and southern Banks Island
Banks Island
One of the larger members of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Banks Island is situated in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is separated from Victoria Island to its east by the Prince of Wales Strait and from the mainland by Amundsen Gulf to its south. The Beaufort Sea lies...
.
Their western boundary was Wise Point, near Dolphin and Union Strait
Dolphin and Union Strait
Dolphin and Union Strait lies in both the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, Canada, between the mainland and Victoria Island. It links Amundsen Gulf, lying to the northwest, with Coronation Gulf, lying to the southeast...
. Their northwest territory was the southeast coast of Banks Island. Their southern boundary was the eastern shore of Great Bear Lake
Great Bear Lake
Great Bear Lake is the largest lake entirely within Canada , the third or fourth largest in North America, and the seventh or eighth largest in the world...
, Contwoyto Lake
Contwoyto Lake
Contwoyto Lake is a lake in the Kitikmeot Region of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, located near the border with the Northwest Territories. With a total area of , it is the territories' tenth largest lake.Lupin Mine is located near Contwoyto Lake...
and Lake Beechey
Lake Beechey
Lake Beechey is a lake in Kitikmeot, Nunavut, Canada. It is a long, narrow, lake-expansion of the Back River. It is part of the western Canadian Precambrian Shield...
on the Back River
Back River
The Back River , is a river in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada...
. To the east, the Copper Inuit and the Netsilingmiut
Netsilik Inuit
The Netsilik Inuit live predominantly in the communities of Kugaaruk and Gjoa Haven of the Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut and to a smaller extent in Taloyoak and the north Qikiqtaaluk Region...
were separated by Perry River
Perry River
Perry River is a waterway in Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut, Canada. It empties into Chester Bay on the southern Queen Maud Gulf.At one time, Stephen Angulalik, and later Red Pedersen, ran a Hudson's Bay Company outpost at Perry River....
in Queen Maud Gulf
Queen Maud Gulf
Queen Maud Gulf lies between the northern coast of the mainland and the southeastern corner of Victoria Island in Nunavut, Canada. At its western end lies Cambridge Bay, leading to Dease Strait; to the east lies Simpson Strait; and to the north, Victoria Strait.It was named by the Norwegian...
. While Copper Inuit traveled throughout Victoria Island, to the west, they concentrated south of Walker Bay
Walker Bay (Northwest Territories)
Walker Bay is a Canadian Arctic waterway in the Northwest Territories. It is an eastern arm of Amundsen Gulf. The bay is located on western Victoria Island, between Jago Bay, in the north, and Minto Inlet, in the south. Fort Collinson is on the bay's northern shore.The area is the ancestral home of...
, while to the east, they were concentrated south of Denmark Bay
Denmark Bay
Denmark Bay is an Arctic waterway in Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is located in western M'Clintock Channel, off the eastern coast of Victoria Island...
.
As the people have no collective name for themselves, they have adopted the English term, "Copper Inuit". It represents those westernmost Central Inuit
Central Inuit
Central Inuit are the Inuit of Northern Canada, their designation determined by geography and their tradition of snowhouses , fur clothing, and sled dogs. They are differentiated from Alaska's Iñupiat, Greenland's Kalaallit, and Russian Inuit...
who used and relied on native copper
Native copper
Copper, as native copper, is one of the few metallic elements to occur in uncombined form as a natural mineral, although most commonly occurs in oxidized states and mixed with other elements...
gathered along the lower Coppermine River
Coppermine River
The Coppermine River is a river in the North Slave and Kitikmeot regions of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada. It is long. It rises in Lac de Gras, a small lake near Great Slave Lake and flows generally north to Coronation Gulf, an arm of the Arctic Ocean...
and the Coronation Gulf.
According to Rasmussen (1932), other Eskimo
Eskimo
Eskimos or Inuit–Yupik peoples are indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from eastern Siberia , across Alaska , Canada, and Greenland....
referred to Copper Inuit as Kitlinermiut, as Kitlineq was an Eskimo name for Victoria Island.
Early millennia
Copper Inuit are descendants of Thule cultureThule people
The Thule or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by AD 1000 and expanded eastwards across Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people of the earlier Dorset culture that had previously inhabited the region...
. Changes in the local environment may have resulted in the transition from prehistoric Thule culture to Copper Inuit culture, a modern people.
For approximately three millennia Copper Inuit were hunter-gatherer
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
nomad
Nomad
Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...
s. Their settlement and acculturation to some of European-Canadian ways has occurred only during the last 50–60 years, and they have also continued the hunting and gathering lifestyle.
They lived in communal snowhouses
Igloo
An igloo or snowhouse is a type of shelter built of snow, originally built by the Inuit....
during the winter and engaged in breathing-hole (mauliqtoq) seal hunting. In the summer, they spread out in smaller, family groups for inland caribou
Reindeer
The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...
hunting and fishing.
The people made copper arrows, spear heads, ulu
Ulu
An ulu is an all-purpose knife traditionally used by Eskimo women, both Yupik and Inuit. It is utilized in applications as diverse as skinning and cleaning animals, cutting a child's hair, cutting food and, if necessary, trimming blocks of snow and ice used to build an igloo...
blades, chisels, harpoons, and knives for both personal use and for trade amongst other Inuit. In addition to the copper products, Copper Inuit soapstone
Soapstone
Soapstone is a metamorphic rock, a talc-schist. It is largely composed of the mineral talc and is thus rich in magnesium. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occurs in the areas where tectonic plates are subducted, changing rocks by heat and pressure, with influx...
products were highly regarded in the Bering Strait
Bering Strait
The Bering Strait , known to natives as Imakpik, is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, USA, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65°40'N,...
trade network. Other trade partners included Inuvialuit
Inuvialuit
The Inuvialuit or Western Canadian Inuit are Inuit people who live in the western Canadian Arctic region. They, like all other Inuit, are descendants of the Thule who migrated eastward from Alaska...
from Avvaq and Caribou Inuit
Caribou Inuit
Caribou Inuit, Barren-ground Caribou hunters, are bands of inland Inuit who lived west of Hudson Bay in northern Canada's Keewatin Region of the Northwest Territories, now the Kivalliq Region of present-day Nunavut between 61° and 65° N and 90° and 102° W...
to the south. Many Copper Inuit gathered in the Cambridge Bay area in the summertime because of plentiful game.
Post-Euro-Canadian contact
In 1771, Samuel HearneSamuel Hearne
Samuel Hearne was a an English explorer, fur-trader, author, and naturalist. He was the first European to make an overland excursion across northern Canada to the Arctic Ocean, actually Coronation Gulf, via the Coppermine River...
was the first European to explore the Coppermine River region. It was here that Hearne's Chipewyan
Chipewyan
The Chipewyan are a Dene Aboriginal people in Canada, whose ancestors were the Taltheilei...
Dene
Dene
The Dene are an aboriginal group of First Nations who live in the northern boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dené speak Northern Athabaskan languages. Dene is the common Athabaskan word for "people" . The term "Dene" has two usages...
companions massacred a Copper Inuit
Bloody Falls Massacre
The Massacre at Bloody Falls was an incident that took place during Samuel Hearne's exploration of the Coppermine River on 17 July 1771. Chipewyan and "Copper Indian" Dene men led by Hearne's guide and companion Matonabbee attacked a group of Copper Inuit camped by rapids approximately upstream...
group at Bloody Falls
Bloody Falls
Bloody Falls is a waterfall in the Kugluk/Bloody Falls Territorial Park and is the site of the Bloody Falls Massacre and the murder of two priests by Copper Inuit Uloqsaq and Sinnisiak in 1913...
. Further exploration did not take place until the period of 1820-1853, which included the Sir John Franklin
John Franklin
Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...
expeditions of 1821 and 1825. John Rae
John Rae (explorer)
John Rae was a Scottish doctor who explored Northern Canada, surveyed parts of the Northwest Passage and reported the fate of the Franklin Expedition....
encountered Copper Inuit at Rae River
Rae River
The Rae River is a waterway that flows from Akuliakattak Lake into Richardson Bay, Coronation Gulf. Its mouth is situated northwest of Kugluktuk, Nunavut...
in 1847, and at Cape Flinders
Cape Flinders
Cape Flinders is a headland in the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut. It is located on the western point of the Kent Peninsula.The cape was named by Sir John Franklin in 1821 after the navigator Matthew Flinders.-References:...
and Stromness Bay in 1851. Robert McClure
Robert McClure
Sir Robert John Le Mesurier McClure was an Irish explorer of the Arctic.In 1854, he was the first to transit the Northwest Passage , as well as the first to circumnavigate the Americas.-Early life and career:He was born at Wexford, in Ireland, the posthumous son of one of Abercrombie's captains,...
abandoned his ship
McClure Arctic Expedition
The McClure Arctic Expedition of 1850, among numerous British search efforts to determine the fate of the Franklin's lost expedition, is distinguished as the voyage during which Robert McClure became the first person to confirm and transit the Northwest Passage by a combination of sea travel and...
, HMS Investigator
HMS Investigator (1848)
HMS Investigator was a merchant ship purchased in 1848 to search for Sir John Franklin's lost expedition. She made two voyages to the Arctic and had to be abandoned in 1853 after becoming trapped in the ice. Her wreckage was found in July 2010 on Banks Island, in the Beaufort Sea...
, at Mercy Bay
Mercy Bay
Mercy Bay is a Canadian Arctic waterway in the Northwest Territories. It is a southern arm of M'Clure Strait on northeast Banks Island. The mouth of Castel Bay is less than to the west...
on Banks Island in 1853 during his search for Franklin's lost expedition
Franklin's lost expedition
Franklin's lost expedition was a doomed British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain Sir John Franklin that departed England in 1845. A Royal Navy officer and experienced explorer, Franklin had served on three previous Arctic expeditions, the latter two as commanding officer...
. It provided extensive amounts of wood, copper, and iron which the Copper Inuit used for years. Richard Collinson
Richard Collinson
Sir Richard Collinson was an English naval officer and explorer of the Arctic.He was born in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, then part of County Durham...
explored the area in 1850-1855.
20th century
Believing that the Copper Inuit had migrated to Hudson BayHudson Bay
Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...
for trading at various outposts, the Canadian government's 1906 map marked Victoria Island as "uninhabited". It was not until the early years of the 20th century that trading ships returned to Copper Inuit territory. They followed Vilhjalmur Stefansson
Vilhjalmur Stefansson
Vilhjalmur Stefansson was a Canadian Arctic explorer and ethnologist.-Early life:Stefansson, born William Stephenson, was born at Gimli, Manitoba, Canada, in 1879. His parents had emigrated from Iceland to Manitoba two years earlier...
's discovery and report of the so-called Blond Eskimos
Blond Eskimos
Blond Eskimos is a term first applied to sightings and encounters of light haired indigenous peoples of the Arctic Circle region from the early 20th century, particularly around the Coronation Gulf between mainland Canada and Victoria Island...
amongst Copper Inuit from his Arctic exploration
Arctic exploration
Arctic exploration is the physical exploration of the Arctic region of the Earth. The region that surrounds the North Pole. It refers to the historical period during which mankind has explored the region north of the Arctic Circle...
trip of 1908-1912. During the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913-1918
Canadian Arctic Expedition 1913-1916
The Canadian Arctic Expedition 1913–1916 was organized and led by Vilhjalmur Stefansson. The expedition was divided into a Northern Party led by Stefansson, and a Southern Party led by R M. Anderson. The objective of the Northern Party was to explore for new land north and west of the known lands...
, Canadian ethnographer Diamond Jenness
Diamond Jenness
Diamond Jenness, CC was one of Canada's greatest early scientists and a pioneer of Canadian anthropology.-Biography:...
spent two years living with and documenting the lives of Copper Inuit. He sent thousands of artifacts of their material culture to the Geological Survey of Canada.
Along with trade, European contact brought influenza
Influenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
and typhoid
Typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as Typhoid, is a common worldwide bacterial disease, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella enterica, serovar Typhi...
. These newly introduced infectious disease
Infectious disease
Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...
s likely weakened resistance of the natives. Between 1929 and 1931, one in five Copper Inuit died from a tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
. Around the same time, the whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
industry deteriorated. Alaskan Inupiat and Mackenzie Delta
Mackenzie River
The Mackenzie River is the largest river system in Canada. It flows through a vast, isolated region of forest and tundra entirely within the country's Northwest Territories, although its many tributaries reach into four other Canadian provinces and territories...
Inuvialuit came into the Coronation Gulf area to co-exist with the Copper Inuit. The first Holman-area (Ulukhaktok) trading post
Trading post
A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....
was established in 1923 at Alaervik, on the north shore of Prince Albert Sound
Prince Albert Sound
Prince Albert Sound is a Northern Canadian body of water located in the Inuvik Region of southwestern Victoria Island, Northwest Territories. It is an inlet of Amundsen Gulf. The sound separates the Wollaston Peninsula from the island’s central areas.Prince Albert Sound is long and ...
, but it closed five years later. The post relocated to Fort Collinson
Fort Collinson, Northwest Territories
Fort Collinson was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post located on Victoria Island in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is situated on the Prince Albert Peninsula on the north side of Walker Bay, just north of Minto Inlet....
on Walker Bay, north of Minto Inlet
Minto Inlet
Minto Inlet is located east of Amundsen Gulf in western Victoria Island, at the southern end of Prince of Wales Strait in the Northwest Territories. It is long and - wide....
. Two other stores opened in Walker Bay but closed by 1939, in the years of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
.
Settlement
In 1960, the federal government shipped three housing unitUnit (housing)
A unit is a measure of housing equivalent to the living quarters of one household.In common speech in Australia and New Zealand, the word "unit", when referring to housing, usually means either: an apartment, ;or a villa unit or home unit, where a group of dwellings...
s to Holman, and another four in 1961. In the years to follow, some families moved to Holman permanently, while others lived there seasonally. Some Copper Inuit moved to the communities of Coppermine (Kugluktuk) or Cambridge Bay. Still others gravitated to outposts along Bathurst Inlet
Bathurst Inlet
Bathurst Inlet is a deep inlet located along the northern coast of the Canadian mainland, into which the Burnside and Western Rivers empty. The name, or its native equivalent Kingoak , is also used to identify the community of Bathurst Inlet located on the shore.-Plans for a deep-water port:A...
, Contwoyto Lake, Coronation Gulf, and on Victoria Island.
The Copper Inuit have gradually adopted snowmobile
Snowmobile
A snowmobile, also known in some places as a snowmachine, or sled,is a land vehicle for winter travel on snow. Designed to be operated on snow and ice, they require no road or trail. Design variations enable some machines to operate in deep snow or forests; most are used on open terrain, including...
s, satellite dish
Satellite dish
A satellite dish is a dish-shaped type of parabolic antenna designed to receive microwaves from communications satellites, which transmit data transmissions or broadcasts, such as satellite television.-Principle of operation:...
television service, and Christian churches. Many young people now speak English rather than Inuinnaqtun
Inuinnaqtun
Inuinnaqtun , is an indigenous Inuit language of Canada and a dialect of Inuvialuktun. It is related very closely to Inuktitut, and some scholars, such as Richard Condon, believe that Inuinnaqtun is more appropriately classified as a dialect of Inuktitut...
. Together, these introductions have created social change among the Copper Inuit.
Language
Copper Inuit traditionally speak Inuinnaqtun and Western Canadian InuktitutInuktitut
Inuktitut or Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, Eastern Canadian Inuit language is the name of some of the Inuit languages spoken in Canada...
(also referred to as Inuvialuktun
Inuvialuktun
Inuvialuktun, or Western Canadian Inuit language, Western Canadian Inuktitut, Western Canadian Inuktun comprises three Inuit dialects spoken in the northern Northwest Territories by those Canadian Inuit who call themselves Inuvialuk .Inuvialuktun is spoken by the Inuit of the Mackenzie River delta...
).
Habitat and diet
Historically, Copper Inuit lived amongst tundraTundra
In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...
, rocky hills, outcrops, with some forested areas towards the southern and southwestern range. Here they hunted Arctic ground squirrel
Arctic Ground Squirrel
The Arctic ground squirrel is a species of ground squirrel native to the Arctic.-Subspecies:Listed alphabetically.*S. p. ablusus Osgood, 1903...
, Arctic Hare
Arctic Hare
The arctic hare , or polar rabbit is a species of hare which is adapted largely to polar and mountainous habitats. The arctic hare survives with a thick coat of fur and usually digs holes under the ground or snow to keep warm and sleep...
, caribou (barren ground
Barren-ground Caribou
Barren-ground Caribou is a subspecies of the caribou that is found mainly in the Canadian territories Nunavut and the Northwest Territories and western Greenland. It sometimes includes the similar porcupine caribou, in which case the barren-ground caribou also is found in Alaska...
and Peary's
Peary Caribou
The Peary Caribou is a caribou subspecies found in the high Arctic islands of Canada's Nunavut and Northwest territories. They are the smallest of the North American caribou, with the females weighing an average of 60 kg and the males 110 kg...
herds), grizzly bear
Grizzly Bear
The grizzly bear , also known as the silvertip bear, the grizzly, or the North American brown bear, is a subspecies of brown bear that generally lives in the uplands of western North America...
, mink
Mink
There are two living species referred to as "mink": the European Mink and the American Mink. The extinct Sea Mink is related to the American Mink, but was much larger. All three species are dark-colored, semi-aquatic, carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae, which also includes the weasels and...
, moose
Moose
The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...
, muskox, muskrat
Muskrat
The muskrat , the only species in genus Ondatra, is a medium-sized semi-aquatic rodent native to North America, and introduced in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands and is a very successful animal over a wide range of climates and habitats...
, wolf
Gray Wolf
The gray wolf , also known as the wolf, is the largest extant wild member of the Canidae family...
, and wolverine
Wolverine
The wolverine, pronounced , Gulo gulo , also referred to as glutton, carcajou, skunk bear, or quickhatch, is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae . It is a stocky and muscular carnivore, more closely resembling a small bear than other mustelids...
. They fished in the extensive network of ponds, lakes, and rivers, including the Coppermine, Rae, and Richardson River
Richardson River
The Richardson River is a waterway that flows into Richardson Bay, Coronation Gulf in the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut. Its mouth is situated northwest of Kugluktuk, Nunavut. The Rae River is away....
s, which sustained large populations of fresh water arctic char
Arctic char
Arctic char or Arctic charr is both a freshwater and saltwater fish in the Salmonidae family, native to Arctic, sub-Arctic and alpine lakes and coastal waters. No other freshwater fish is found as far north. It is the only species of fish in Lake Hazen, on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic...
(also found in the ocean), grayling
Grayling (genus)
Thymallus is a genus of freshwater fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes; it is the only genus of subfamily Thymallinae. The type species is T. thymallus, the grayling. The genus's five distinct species are generically called graylings, but without qualification this also refers...
, lake trout
Lake trout
Lake trout is a freshwater char living mainly in lakes in northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, lake char , touladi, togue, and grey trout. In Lake Superior, they can also be variously known as siscowet, paperbellies and leans...
, and whitefish
Freshwater whitefish
The freshwater whitefish are fish of the subfamily Coregoninae in the salmon family Salmonidae. Along with the freshwater whitefish, the Salmonidae includes the freshwater and anadromous trout and salmon species as well as graylings...
. The marine waters supported codfish
Arctic cod
The Arctic cod is an Arctic deepwater fish related to the true cod .-Names:The fish has several common names, including polar cod and Greenland cod...
, bearded seal
Bearded Seal
The bearded seal , also called the square flipper seal, is a medium-sized pinniped that is found in and near to the Arctic Ocean. It gets its generic name from two Greek words that refer to its heavy jaw...
, and ringed seal
Ringed Seal
The ringed seal , also known as the jar seal and as netsik or nattiq by the Inuit, is an earless seal inhabiting the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions...
. Ducks, geese, guillemots, gulls, hawks, longspurs, loons, plovers, ptarmigans, and snow buntings were also part of the Copper Inuit diet. They liked raw but not boiled eggs
Egg (food)
Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...
. They used and cooked food and products from the sea, but kept them separate from those of the land.
Clothing
Copper Inuit wore short-waisted inner parkasAnorak
An anorak or parka is a type of heavy jacket with a hood, often lined with fur or fake fur, so as to protect the face from a combination of freezing temperatures and wind...
accented with long, narrow back tails, and sleeves that came short of the wrist. In severe weather, they added a heavy outer parka. Women's parkas were distinguished by elongated hoods, and exaggerated, pointed shoulders. Boots extended up the leg to button at the waistline. They made the soles from feathers or bird skins. Copper Inuit used different napkins for different meals: ptarmigan skins when eating caribou, and gull skins when eating seal.
Contemporary clothing and boots may be made of a variety of skins, including:
- Dance cap: caribou, ermine, and the billBeakThe beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
of a Yellow-billed LoonYellow-billed LoonThe Yellow-billed Loon , also known as the White-billed Diver, is the largest member of the loon or diver family. Breeding adults have a black head, white underparts and chequered black-and-white mantle. Non-breeding plumage is drabber with the chin and foreneck white... - Parkas: arctic hare, otter, rabbit, wild mink
- Mitts: beaver, polar bear, skunk
- Boots: caribou, dog, polar bear, seal, wolf, wolverine
- KamiitMuklukMukluks or Kamik are a soft boot traditionally made of reindeer skin or sealskin and were originally worn by Arctic aboriginal people, including the Inuit and Yupik. The term mukluk is often used for any soft boot designed for cold weather and modern designs are often similar to high-top athletic...
: caribou, moose
Religion
Copper Inuit had an animisticAnimism
Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....
spiritual system, which included belief that animal spirits could be offended through taboo
Taboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
violations. They believed that dwarfs, giants, "caribou people", and the sea-goddess, Arnapkapfaaluk
Arnapkapfaaluk
Arnapkapfaaluk was the sea goddess of the Inuit people of Canada's Coronation Gulf area. Although occupying the equivalent position to Sedna within Inuit mythology, in that she had control of the animals of the seas, she was noticeably different as can be seen by the English translation of her...
or big bad woman inhabit the world. Their conception of the tupilaq
Tupilaq
In Greenlandic Inuit traditions, a tupilaq was an avenging monster fabricated by a practitioner of witchcraft or shamanism by using various objects such as animal parts and even parts taken from the corpses of children. The creature was given life by ritualistic chants...
was similar to the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
.
Shaman
Shamanism among Eskimo peoples
Shamanism among Eskimo peoples refers to those aspects of the various Eskimo cultures that are related to the shamans’ role as a mediator between people and spirits, souls, and mythological beings...
s (angatkut) could be male or female. They warded off evil spirits, functioned as intermediaries between people and the spirit world, healed illness or taboo violations, and controlled weather.
Subgroups
Copper Inuit lived within geographically defined subgroups well documented by Stefansson, Franz BoasFranz Boas
Franz Boas was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology" and "the Father of Modern Anthropology." Like many such pioneers, he trained in other disciplines; he received his doctorate in physics, and did...
, and others:
- AhiagmiutAhiagmiutAhiagmiut were a geographically defined Copper Inuit subgroup in the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut. They were located near Ogden Bay, on the Queen Maud Gulf, and inland towards Back River, then on towards the Akilinik River....
: Ogden BayOgden BayOgden Bay is an Arctic waterway in Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is located in the southern Queen Maud Gulf off Nunavut's mainland. Chester Bay is situated to the west, Armark is to the east, and the Keith Islands are to the north.... - AkuliakattagmiutAkuliakattagmiutAkuliakattagmiut were a geographically defined Copper Inuit subgroup in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. They were located near Cape Bexley on the south shore, mainland side of Dolphin and Union Strait, and in the vicinity of the Melville Hills' Akuliakattak Lake, the source of the Rae...
: Cape BexleyCape BexleyCape Bexley is a headland in the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut. It is located on the mainland, on the south shore of Dolphin and Union Strait, and bounded on the south by Souths Bay.... - EkalluktogmiutEkalluktogmiutEkalluktogmiut were a geographically defined Copper Inuit subgroup in Canada's Nunavut territory. They were located along the Ekalluk River near the center of Victoria Island, Albert Edward Bay in western Victoria Strait, and Denmark Bay...
: Ekalluk RiverEkalluk RiverThe Ekalluk River is a river in Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is located in central through southeastern Victoria Island. Its source is Ferguson Lake, and it flows west to Wellington Bay and east to Albert Edward Bay. Nearby lakes include Keyhole Lake, Kitiga Lake, and Surrey Lake...
, Albert Edward BayAlbert Edward BayAlbert Edward Bay is an Arctic waterway in Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is located in western Victoria Strait off the southeastern coast of Victoria Island. There are several islands within the bay, the largest of which is Admiralty Island at its headwaters.The bay is named in honor of...
; central Victoria Island - HaneragmiutHaneragmiutHaneragmiut were a geographically defined Copper Inuit subgroup in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. They were the most westerly band of those that hunted in southern Victoria Island. They were generally located on the north shore of Dolphin and Union Strait, north of Cape Bexley, and south of...
: Dolphin and Union Strait - HaningayogmiutHaningayogmiutHaningayogmiut were a Copper Inuit subgroup located on the Back River . According to Arctic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson, the Haningayogmiut were a small tribe. The Kaernermiut were also located on the Back River and may have been the same subgroup....
: Back River - KaernermiutKaernermiutKaernermiut were a Copper Inuit subgroup. They were located on the Back River, and, they frequented the Thelon River. The Kaernermiut remainded inland through all the seasons, coming to the sea only as single families visiting other tribes. For this reason, they did not kill seals, living instead...
: Back River - KangiryuarmiutKangiryuarmiutThe Kangiryuarmiut were a Copper Inuit subgroup. They were located on Victoria Island in the areas of Prince Albert Sound, Cape Baring, and central Victoria island. They were also found around Nelson Head on Banks Island. Kangiryuarmiut subsisted on bear. They were the only Copper Inuit who...
: Prince Albert Sound, Cape BaringCape BaringCape Baring is a Canadian Arctic headland in the Northwest Territories. The most westerly point of the Wollaston Peninsula, it is located on Victoria Island, protruding into the Amundsen Gulf....
, central Victoria island; Nelson HeadNelson HeadNelson Head is a Canadian Arctic hypsographic cape in the Northwest Territories. The most southerly point of Banks Island, it protrudes into the Amundsen Gulf.It is the ancestral home of Kangiryuarmiut, a Copper Inuit subgroup.-Naming:...
on Banks Island - KangiryuatjagmiutKangiryuatjagmiutKangiryuatjagmiut were a Copper Inuit subgroup. They lived around Minto Inlet, and between Minto inlet and Walker Bay....
: Minto Inlet; between Minto inlet and Walker Bay - KilusiktogmiutKilusiktogmiutThe Kilusiktogmiut were a Copper Inuit subgroup. They lived on Victoria Island, east of the Nagyuktogmiut who were known to inhabit the area northeast of Lady Franklin Point. They also lived on the mainland along the Coronation Gulf, particularly at the mouth of the Mackenzie River. They spent at...
: Victoria Island; Coronation Gulf area at the mouth of the Mackenzie River - KogluktogmiutKogluktogmiutKogluktogmiut were a geographically defined Copper Inuit subgroup in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. They were located by Bloody Falls , a waterfall on the lower course of the Coppermine River in the Kugluk/Bloody Falls Territorial Park, notable for the Bloody Falls...
: Bloody Falls on the Coppermine River, Dease RiverDease RiverThe Dease River flows through northwestern British Columbia, Canada and is a tributary of the Liard River. The river descends from Dease Lake, though its ultimate origin is in the headwater of Little Dease Creek at Snow Peak, approximately 50 km to the west of the lake...
, and Great Bear Lake (McTavish Bay); Coronation Gulf, southeast of Cape Krusenstern - Kogluktualugmiut (or Utkusiksaligmiut - "the dwellers of the place where there is pot stone"): Tree RiverTree RiverThe Tree River is a river in Nunavut, Canada. It flows into Coronation Gulf, an arm of the Arctic Ocean. It has an ice contact delta...
("Kogluktualuk"), 80 mi (128.7 km) east of the Coppermine River - Kogluktuaryumiut: from the mouth of the Kogluktuaryuk River which flows into Grays BayGrays BayGrays Bay is an Arctic waterway in Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is located in Coronation Gulf. Hepburn Island is located at its mouth. The Tree River and the Annielik River flow into the bay....
on up river; Grays Bay and the Coronation Gulf ice off of it - KugaryuagmiutKugaryuagmiutThe Kugaryuagmiut are a geographically defined Copper Inuit band in the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut, on the mainland, in Kitikmeot Region. According to Arctic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson's 1908-1912 ethnographic journals, they numbered about 25 at the time...
: Kugaryuak RiverKugaryuak RiverThe Kugaryuak River is located in the Canadian Arctic territory of Nunavut in the southwest Kitikmeot Region. It forks into two entities, the Western Kugaryuak and the Eastern Kugaryuak and flows into Coronation Gulf.Arctic charr abound in the Kugaryuak.... - Nagyuktogmiut (or Killinermiut): Nagyuktok Island, one of the Duke of York IslandsDuke of York ArchipelagoThe Duke of York Archipelago is an uninhabited island group in the Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is located in the Coronation Gulf.The archipelago is composed of the islands of Akvitlak Islands, Anchor Island, Bate Islands, Hatoayok Island, Hokagon Island, Kabviukvik Island, Kingak Island,...
; central Coronation Gulf; Victoria Island northeast of Lady Franklin PointLady Franklin PointLady Franklin Point is a landform in the Canadian Arctic territory of Nunavut. It is located on southwestern Victoria Island in the Coronation Gulf by Austin Bay at the eastern entrance of Dolphin and Union Strait....
; mainland east of Tree River; Dismal LakesDismal LakesDismal Lakes are a series of three interconnected lakes in the Canadian Northwest Territories located roughly midway between the Coronation Gulf and Great Bear Lake, east of the Dease River. The Teshierpi River discharges into the narrows between the second and third Dismal Lakes, and the third...
near the head of Dease River; ("Deer Horn Esquimaux") - Noahonirmiut (or Noahdnirmiut): Liston and Sutton IslandSutton Island (Nunavut)Sutton Island is located in northern Canada's territory of Nunavut. It is situated in the Dolphin and Union Strait immediately next to Liston/Listen Island. Rymer Point and Simpson Bay, on Victoria Island's Wollaston Peninsula are to the northeast...
s in the Dolphin and Union Strait to the mainland: north of Rae River, south of Lambert Island - PallirmiutPallirmiutPallirmiut were a geographically defined Copper Inuit group in the Canadian Arctic territory of Nunavut. They were located by the mouth of the Rae River during the spring. Some stayed there during summers, while others joined the Kogluktogmiut at the Bloody Falls summer salmon fishery...
: mouth of the Rae River (Pallirk) and head of Dease River; Coronation Gulf, southeast of Cape Krusenstern - PingangnaktogmiutPingangnaktogmiutThe Pingangnaktok are a geographically defined Copper Inuit band in the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut, on the mainland, in Kitikmeot Region. According to Arctic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson's 1908-1912 ethnographic journals, they numbered about 30 at the time...
: Pingangnaktok ("it blows a land wind"), inland west of Tree River - Puiplirmiut (or Puiblirmiut): Dolphin and Union Strait near Liston/Listen and Sutton Islands; also north and northeast of Simpson Bay on Victoria Island
- UgyuligmiutUgyuligmiutThe Ugyuligmiut were a geographically defined Copper Inuit band in the Canadian Arctic's Northwest Territories. They were located on Victoria Island north of Minto Inlet, and on Banks Island in the Aulavik National Park region....
: north of Minto Inlet - Ulukhaktokmiut: Ulukhaktok (formerly known as Holman), after the copper used in ulu making that was found there
- UmingmuktogmiutUmingmuktogmiutThe Umingmuktogmiut are a geographically defined Copper Inuit band in the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut, Kitikmeot Region. They were located on the western coast of Kent Peninsula, and also further south in eastern Bathurst Inlet around Everitt Point by the Barry Islands. Umingmuktogmiut...
: permanent village of UmingmaktokUmingmaktok, NunavutThe community of Umingmaktok is located in Bathurst Inlet in the Kitikmeot Region of Canada's Nunavut Territory...
(Umingmuktog) on the western coast of Kent PeninsulaKent PeninsulaThe Kent Peninsula is a large peninsula, almost totally surrounded by water, in Nunavut's northern Canadian Arctic mainland. From a narrow isthmus, it extends westward into the Coronation Gulf. It is south of Dease Strait which separates the peninsula from Victoria Island and the Finlayson...
; Bathurst InletBathurst Inlet, NunavutBathhurst Inlet, , is a small Inuit community located in Bathurst Inlet in the Kitikmeot Region of Canada's Nunavut Territory...
Notable Copper Inuit
- Joe Allen EvyagotailakJoe Allen EvyagotailakJoe Allen Evyagotailak was born 15 July 1953 in Kugluktuk, Nunavut, Canada. Evyagotailak was the Member of the Legislative Assembly for the electoral district of Kugluktuk having won the seat in the 2004 Nunavut election....
- Donald HavioyakDonald HavioyakDonald Havioyak is a territorial level politician in Canada. He served as a member of the Nunavut Legislature.Havioyak was elected to the Nunavut legislature in the 1999 Nunavut general election. He won the Kugluktuk electoral district with a plurality of six votes defeating three other candidates...
- Helen KalvakHelen KalvakHelen Kalvak, CM was a Copper Inuit graphic artist from Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, Canada.-Early years:...
- Helen MaksagakHelen MaksagakHelen Mamayaok Maksagak, CM was a Canadian politician. She served as the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories from January 16, 1995 until March 26, 1999 and as the Commissioner of Nunavut from April 1, 1999 until April 1, 2000...
- Kane TologanakKane TologanakKane Tologanak is a Copper Inuit and former Member of the Northwest Territories Legislature from 1979 to 1983.Tologanak was first elected to the Northwest Territories Legislature in the 1979 Northwest Territories general election. He served one term and did not return when the legislature was...
- UloqsaqUloqsaqUloqsaq was a Copper Inuit hunter and shaman. In 1917, he was sentenced to death for the killing of two oblate priests in the Coppermine River region.- Early life :...
(historical)
External links
- The Copper Inuit, Foragers
- Photos
- Kitikmeot Place Name Atlas - includes the spoken Inuinnaqtun version of some places in this article