lamellar armour worn by native Siberians and Eskimos
Since the late 20th century numerous indigenous people viewed the use of the term "Eskimo" as offensive, because it was used by people who discriminated against them. In its linguistic origins, the word Eskimo comes from Montagnais 'ayas̆kimew' meaning "a person who laces a snowshoe" and is related to 'husky', so does not have a direct pejorative meaning. Alternative terms, such as Inuit-Yupik, have been proposed, but none has gained widespread acceptance.
In Canada and Greenland, the term "Eskimo" is assumed to be pejorative and has been widely replaced by the term "Inuit", "Alaska Natives", or terms specific to a particular tribe. However, under U.S. and Alaskan law (as well as the linguistic and cultural traditions of Alaska) "Alaska Native" refers to all indigenous peoples of Alaska; the term "Alaska Native" also includes groups such as the Aleut, who share a recent ancestor with the Inupiat and Yupik groups, and also includes the largely unrelated indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and the Dene, who descend from other, unrelated major language and ethnic groups.
The Canadian Constitution Act of 1982, sections 25 and 35 recognized the Inuit as a distinctive group of aboriginal peoples in Canada.
Map of the Inuit Circumpolar Council of Eskimo peoples, showing the Yupik peoples (Yupik, Siberian Yupik) and Inuit (Iñupiat, Inuvialuit, Nunavut, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut, Kalaallit)
Several earlier indigenous peoples existed in the region. The earliest positively identified North American Eskimo cultures (pre-Dorset) date to 5,000 years ago. They appear to have developed in Alaska from people related to the Arctic small tool tradition in eastern Asia, whose ancestors had probably migrated to Alaska at least 3,000 to 5,000 years earlier. Similar artifacts have been found in Siberia that date to perhaps 18,000 years ago.
The Yupik languages and cultures in Alaska evolved in place (and migrated back to Siberia), beginning with the original pre-Dorset indigenous culture developed in Alaska. Approximately 4000 years ago, the Unangan culture of the Aleut became distinct. It is not generally considered an Eskimo culture.
Approximately 1500–2000 years ago, apparently in Northwestern Alaska, two other distinct variations appeared. Inuit language became distinct and, over a period of several centuries, its speakers migrated across Northern Alaska, through Canada and into Greenland. The distinct culture of the Thule people developed in northwestern Alaska and very quickly spread over the entire area occupied by Eskimo people, though it was not necessarily adopted by all of them.
Two principal competing etymologies have been proposed for the name "Eskimo," both derived from the Innu-aimun (Montagnais) language, an Algonquian language of the Atlantic Ocean coast. The most commonly accepted today appears to be the proposal of Ives Goddard at the Smithsonian Institution, who derives it from the Montagnais word meaning "snowshoe-netter" or "to net snowshoes." The word assime·w means "she laces a snowshoe" in Montagnais. Montagnais speakers refer to the neighbouring Mi'kmaq people using words that sound very much like eskimo.
In 1978, Jose Mailhot, a Quebec anthropologist who speaks Montagnais, published a paper suggesting that Eskimo meant "people who speak a different language". French traders who encountered the Montagnais in the eastern areas, adopted their word for the more western peoples and spelled it as Esquimau in a transliteration.
Some people consider Eskimo derogatory because it is widely perceived to mean "eaters of raw meat" in Algonkian languages common to people along the Atlantic coast. One Cree speaker suggested the original word that became corrupted to Eskimo might have been askamiciw (which means "he eats it raw"); the Inuit are referred to in some Cree texts as askipiw (which means "eats something raw").
In 1977, the Inuit Circumpolar Conference meeting in Barrow, Alaska, officially adopted "Inuit" as a designation for all Eskimo peoples, regardless of their local usages.[citation needed] The Inuit Circumpolar Council, as it is known today, uses both "Inuit" and "Eskimo" in its official documents.
Laminar armour from hardened leather reinforced by wood and bones worn by native Siberians and Eskimos
In Canada and Greenland the term Eskimo has largely been supplanted by the term Inuit. While Inuit accurately can be applied to all of the Eskimo peoples in Canada and Greenland, that is not true in Alaska and Siberia. In Alaska the term 'Eskimo' is commonly used, because it includes both Yupik and Iñupiat. 'Inuit' is not accepted as a collective term and it is not used specifically for Iñupiat (although they are Inuit).
In 1977, the Inuit Circumpolar Conference meeting in Barrow, Alaska, officially adopted Inuit as a designation for all circumpolar native peoples, regardless of their local view on an appropriate term. As a result, the Canadian government usage has replaced the (locally) defunct term Eskimo with Inuit (Inuk in singular). The preferred term in Canada's Central Arctic is Inuinnaq, and in the eastern Canadian Arctic Inuit. The language is often called Inuktitut, though other local designations are also used.
The Inuit of Greenland refer to themselves as "Greenlanders" and speak the Greenlandic language.
Because of the linguistic, ethnic, and cultural differences between Yupik and Inuit peoples, it seems unlikely that any umbrella term will be acceptable. There has been some movement to use Inuit, and the Inuit Circumpolar Council, representing a circumpolar population of 150,000 Inuit and Yupik people of Greenland, Canada, Alaska, and Siberia, in its charter defines Inuit for use within that ICC document as including "the Inupiat, Yupik (Alaska), Inuit, Inuvialuit (Canada), Kalaallit (Greenland) and Yupik (Russia)." But, in Alaska, the Inuit people refer to themselves as Iñupiat, plural, and Iñupiaq, singular (their North Alaskan Inupiatun language is also called Iñupiaq) and do not use the term Inuit as commonly. Thus, in Alaska, Eskimo is in common usage.
Alaskans also use the term Alaska Native, which is inclusive of all Eskimo, Aleut and Native American people of Alaska. It does not apply to Inuit or Yupik people originating outside the state. The term Alaska Native has important legal usage in Alaska and the rest of the United States as a result of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971.
The term "Eskimo" is also used in linguistic or ethnographic works to denote the larger branch of Eskimo–Aleut languages, the smaller branch being Aleut.
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