Across Time and Tundra The Inuvialuit of the Western Arctic

9780295983349

0295983345

This is the definitive, illustrated history of one of North America's most interesting and least-known Native peoples: the Inuvialuit, tile Inuit of the Mackenzie Delta. For hundreds of years they enjoyed a rich and secure lifestyle, augmented by great annual hunts of beluga and bowhead whales. All that changed with the arrival of Europeans, and particularly American whalers, in the late 19th century. Decimated by diseases and cultural dislocation, the Inuvialuit have successfully rebounded in the last fifty years. They signed a major land claim settlement in 1984 and have since pursued a political path distinct from tile Inuit of Nunavut."Across Time and 7iindra includes rare archival photographs from the collections of the Smithsonian Institution, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, and the McCord Museum of Canadian History. The rich text includes contributions by elder Ishmael Alunik, who tells traditional stories and tales of life in the Mackenzie Delta, and Inuvialuit writer Eddie Dean Kolausok.