Inuit navigation techniques are those navigation skills used for thousands of years by the

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

, a group of culturally similar

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

who inhabit the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

and

subarctic The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of humid continental regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, and the Cairngorms. Generally, ...

regions of

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

(United States). On the

tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless moun ...

, Inuit hunters would travel for long distances when hunting for game, and on the coastal waters, hunters would travel out of the sight of land, and they would need to orientate themselves to the location of favoured fishing or hunting places, or on the return journey to their dwelling place. The Inuit relied on a large body of knowledge from oral tradition to navigate across tundra,

sea ice Sea ice arises as seawater freezes. Because ice is less dense than water, it floats on the ocean's surface (as does fresh water ice, which has an even lower density). Sea ice covers about 7% of the Earth's surface and about 12% of the world's oce ...

, and open sea, that presented, to those not familiar with the knowledge, as indistinguishable and seemingly monotonous landscapes, and also rapidly changing seascapes, with few navigation points of reference during a blizzard or white-out and when out of sight of islands, coastal landmarks, or features on the horizon. Inuit hunters orient themselves on the land through their understanding of prevailing winds and the patterns resulting in snowdrifts and an understanding of

caribou Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

and

bird migration Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by ...

behaviour, and astronomical observation. The

Inuit languages The Inuit languages are a closely related group of indigenous American languages traditionally spoken across the North American Arctic and adjacent subarctic, reaching farthest south in Labrador. The related Yupik languages (spoken in western ...

allowed them to describe nuanced differences in snow and the patterns resulting from the effect of the prevailing wind on snowdrifts and ice formations. The Inuit possessed a comprehensive native system of

toponymy Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

to name any geographical feature. Where natural landmarks were insufficient, the Inuit would erect an ''

inuksuk An inuksuk (plural inuksuit) or inukshuk (from the iu, ᐃᓄᒃᓱᒃ, plural ; alternatively in Inuinnaqtun, in Iñupiaq, in Greenlandic) is a type of stone landmark or cairn built by, and for the use of, Inuit, Iñupiat, Kalaallit, Yupi ...

'' (inukshuk or rock cairn). The

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

of the Arctic environment results in long periods of sunlight during summer, and cold, dark, snow-covered winter conditions, with the surface of the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...

freezing. A definition of the Arctic region, describes it as the area north of the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at w ...

(about 66° 34'N), the approximate southern limit of the

midnight sun The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When the midnight sun is seen in the Arctic, t ...

and polar night. The number of days per year with midnight sun (or polar night) increasing the closer one goes towards the geographical

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...

Celestial navigation

Celestial navigation Celestial navigation, also known as astronavigation, is the practice of position fixing using stars and other celestial bodies that enables a navigator to accurately determine their actual current physical position in space (or on the surface of ...

is available to Inuit travellers, although the time that navigation technique is available is limited by the variability of night-time through the year and other factors. Cloudy and blizzard conditions and the light of the aurora borealis limit its use. Snow that was kept airborne by the wind, created a type of fog. Even if the night sky was free of clouds or snow fog, the moonlight shining on the ice and snow, and reflecting into the sky, could obscure the view of the stars.

Navigation on sea ice

The

described the prevailing winds of the place or region and also the

conditions that could result from the winds, tides and currents. Inuit travellers could orientate themselves, and give directions to others, to describing sea-ice conditions that were known to recur at the same locations each year: such as,

ice dune An ice dune, also called an ice ridge or an ice foot, is a formation of ice that accumulates on the shores of many arctic beaches and is also common along the shores of the Great Lakes during the winter.French 2007, p. 273. Ice dunes are not to b ...

s and pressure ridges, an ice build-up, polynyas, areas of open water surrounded by sea ice, caused by the prevailing wind or marine currents, and ice cracks or leads opening in the drift ice zone. The areas of open water resulting from polynyas, ice cracks and leads could be identified on the horizon as resulting in a blue reflection of the water on the sky that was different to the background colour of the sky.

Navigation on land

The prevailing wind is the most reliable source of spatial orientation for Inuit travellers because of the prevailing wind would cause consistent shapes and patterns in the snowdrifts, including sastrugi, which the Inuit call ''kalutoqaniq''. These distinctive shapes and patterns would be features on the snowscape, which would indicate the direction of the prevailing wind. Inuit travellers to set their bearings using these distinctive shapes and patterns in the snowdrifts while travelling across the flat tundra, or when a blizzard or other weather conditions or darkness obscured other features or landmarks. The Inuit would erect ''

'' (rock cairns), with various designs meeting different purposes, such as the grave of an ''

angakkuq The Inuit angakkuq (plural: ''angakkuit'', Inuktitut syllabics ᐊᖓᑦᑯᖅ or ᐊᖓᒃᑯᖅ; Inuvialuktun: '; kl, angakkoq, pl. ''angakkut'') is an intellectual and spiritual figure in Inuit culture who corresponds to a medicine man. Oth ...

'', or to funnel caribou to assist in hunting, which would also act as navigational indicators.

Transport

In summer the Inuit hunted

sea animals An aquatic animal is any animal, whether invertebrate or vertebrate, that lives in water for most or all of its lifetime. Many insects such as mosquitoes, mayflies, dragonflies and caddisflies have aquatic larvae, with winged adults. Aquatic anim ...

from single-passenger, covered seal-skin boats called ''

qajaq Qajaq ( fa, قجاق, also Romanized as Qajāq) is a village in Mian Rokh Rural District, Jolgeh Rokh District, Torbat-e Heydarieh County, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ca ...

'' (

Inuktitut syllabics Inuktitut syllabics ( iu, ᖃᓂᐅᔮᖅᐸᐃᑦ, qaniujaaqpait, or , ) is an abugida-type writing system used in Canada by the Inuktitut-speaking Inuit of the territory of Nunavut and the Nunavik and Nunatsiavut regions of Quebec and Labra ...

: ''ᖃᔭᖅ'') which were extraordinarily buoyant, and could easily be righted by a seated person, even if completely overturned. Because of this property, the design was copied by Europeans and Americans who still produce them under the English name

kayak A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word ''qajaq'' (). The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each se ...

. Inuit also made ''

umiaq The umiak, umialak, umiaq, umiac, oomiac, oomiak, ongiuk, or anyak is a type of open skin boat, used by both Yupik and Inuit, and was originally found in all coastal areas from Siberia to Greenland. First arising in Thule times, it has traditional ...

'' (known in some areas as a "woman's boat"), larger open boats made of wood frames covered with animal skins, for transporting people, goods, and dogs. They were long and had a flat bottom so that the boats could come close to shore. In winter, both on land and on sea ice, the Inuit used

dog sled A dog sled or dog sleigh is a sled pulled by one or more sled dogs used to travel over ice and through snow. Numerous types of sleds are used, depending on their function. They can be used for dog sled racing. Traditionally in Greenland and the e ...

s (''qamutik'') for transportation. The ''

husky Husky is a general term for a dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies that mai ...

'' dog breed comes from the Siberian Husky. The current evidence infers that their ancestors were domesticated in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

23,000 years ago by ancient North Siberians, then later dispersed eastward into the Americas and westward across Eurasia. A team of dogs in either a tandem/side-by-side or fan formation would pull a sled made of wood, animal bones, or the

baleen Baleen is a filter-feeding system inside the mouths of baleen whales. To use baleen, the whale first opens its mouth underwater to take in water. The whale then pushes the water out, and animals such as krill are filtered by the baleen and ...

from a whale's mouth and even frozen fish, over the snow and ice.

Map making

Inuit navigators understood the concept of maps and could construct a relief map from sand, sticks, and pebbles to give directions to others. Maps were also drawn on skins using plant dyes. For example, the bark of the alder tree provided a red-brown shade, and

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

produced red, and berries, lichen, moss and algae also provided colours. Greenlandic Inuit created

Ammassalik wooden maps Ammassalik wooden maps are carved, tactile maps of the Greenlandic coastlines. In the 1880s, Gustav Holm led an expedition to the Ammassalik coast of eastern Greenland, where he met several Tunumiit, or Eastern Greenland Inuit communities, who ha ...

, which are carved portable maps made from driftwood that represent the coast line.

Sources