Tunumiit or Iivit are

Greenlandic Inuit Greenlanders ( kl, Kalaallit / Tunumiit / Inughuit; da, Grønlændere) are people identified with Greenland or the indigenous people, the Greenlandic Inuit (''Grønlansk Inuit''; Kalaallit, Inughuit, and Tunumiit). This connection may be r ...

from

Tunu Tunu, originally Østgrønland ("East Greenland"), was one of the three counties (''amter'') of Greenland until 31 December 2008. The county seat was at the main settlement, Tasiilaq. The county's population in 2005 was around 3,800. The county ...

or Kangia, the eastern part 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 ...

. The Tunumiit live now mainly in

Tasiilaq Tasiilaq, formerly Ammassalik and Angmagssalik, is a town in the Sermersooq municipality in southeastern Greenland. With 1,985 inhabitants as of 2020, it is the most populous community on the eastern coast, and the seventh-largest town in Green ...

and

Ittoqqortoormiit Ittoqqortoormiit (East Greenlandic: ; West Greenlandic: ''Illoqqortoormiut'' ), formerly known as Scoresbysund, is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality in eastern Greenland. Its population was 345 as of 2020 and has been described as one o ...

and are a part of the Arctic people known collectively as 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 ...

. The singular for Tunumiit is Tunumiu. Besides the Tunumiit, who live in the eastern portion of Greenland, Northern and Western Greenlanders are called

Inughuit The Inughuit (also spelled Inuhuit), or the Smith Sound Inuit, historically Arctic Highlanders, are Greenlandic Inuit. Formerly known as "Polar Eskimos", they are the northernmost group of Inuit and the northernmost people in North America, livin ...

and

Kalaallit Kalaallit make up the largest group of the Greenlandic Inuit and are concentrated in Kitaa. It is also a contemporary term in the Greenlandic language for the indigenous people living in Greenland (Greenlandic ''Kalaallit Nunaat'').Hessel, 8 Th ...

, respectively. About 80% to 88% of Greenland's population, or approximately 44,000 to 50,000 people, identify as being Inuit.Hessel, 20

Language

The

Tunumiit language Tunumiit oraasiat or East Greenlandic (East Greenlandic: , Kalaallisut: '' tunumiusut''; da, østgrønlandsk) is a variety of Greenlandic spoken in eastern Greenland by the Tunumiit. It is generally considered a divergent dialect of Greenlandic ...

, also called East Greenlandic or Tunumiit oraasiat natively, is dialect of Greenlandic. (The official language of Greenland is a different dialect of Greenlandic,

Kalaallisut Kalaallisut may refer to: * Greenlandic language * West Greenlandic West Greenlandic ( da, vestgrønlandsk), also known as Kalaallisut, is the primary language of Greenland and constitutes the Greenlandic language, spoken by the vast majority of ...

; the Inughuit speak Inuktun, which is more closely related to Inuktitut, an

Eskimo–Aleut language The Eskaleut (), Eskimo–Aleut or Inuit–Yupik–Unangan languages are a language family native to the northern portions of the North American continent and a small part of northeastern Asia. Languages in the family are indigenous to parts of w ...

spoken in Northern

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 ...

, especially in Nunavut).

Region

The Eastern Inuit, or Tunumiit, live primarily in the

Ammassalik Ammassalik Island ( da, Ammassalik Ø) is an island in the Sermersooq municipality in southeastern Greenland, with an area of .

region, the area with the mildest climate in

King Christian IX Land King Christian IX Land ( da, Kong Christian IX Land) is a coastal area of Southeastern Greenland in Sermersooq Municipality fronting the Denmark Strait and extending through the Arctic Circle from 65°N to 70°N. History This area was named i ...

. Hunters can hunt marine mammals from kayaks throughout the year. Ittoqqortoormiit was a settlement founded in 1925 by

Ejnar Mikkelsen Ejnar Mikkelsen (December 23, 1880 – May 1, 1971) was a Danish polar explorer and author. He is most known for his expeditions to Greenland. Biography Mikkelsen was born in Vester Brønderslev, Jutland. He served in the Georg Carl Amdrup exp ...

Scoresby Sound Scoresby Sound (Danish: ''Scoresby Sund'', Greenlandic: ''Kangertittivaq'') is a large fjord system of the Greenland Sea on the eastern coast of Greenland. It has a tree-like structure, with a main body approximately Tasiilaq Tasiilaq, formerly Ammassalik and Angmagssalik, is a town in the Sermersooq municipality in southeastern Greenland. With 1,985 inhabitants as of 2020, it is the most populous community on the eastern coast, and the seventh-largest town in Green ...

and four families from western Greenland—were brought there by ship. The area has vestiges of former habitation, but it had been uninhabited for about a century at the time of the foundation of the new settlement. There were two other Eastern Greenland groups in the long coast between Nunap Isua (Cape Farewell) to

King Frederick VIII Land King Frederick VIII Land ( da, Kong Frederik VIII Land) is a major geographic division of northeastern Greenland. It extends above the Arctic Circle from 76°N to 81°N in a N/S direction along the coast of the Greenland Sea. History This va ...

, the

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

Kangerlussuaq Fjord Kangerlussuaq Fjord (old spelling: ''Kangerdlugssuaq'', da, Søndre Strømfjord) is a long fjord in the Qeqqata municipality in central-western Greenland. The fjord is long and between and wide, flowing from the estuary of Qinnguata Kuussua r ...

and adjacent areas up to

Clavering Island Clavering Island ( da, Clavering Ø) is a large island in eastern Greenland off Gael Hamke Bay, to the south of Wollaston Foreland. The Eskimonaes ''(Eskimonæs)'' radio and weather station was on this island. It was staffed by Danish scientists ...

, north of the Tunumiit, and the Southeast-Greenland Inuit in the

King Frederick VI Coast King Frederick VI Coast ( da, Kong Frederik VI Kyst) is a major geographic division of Greenland. It comprises the coastal area of Southeastern Greenland in Sermersooq and Kujalleq municipalities fronting the Irminger Sea of the North Atlantic ...

to the south, but these are now extinct.

Art

An '' angakkuq'' or spirit healer named Mitsivarniannga from Ammassalik Island created a ''

tupilaq In Greenlandic Inuit religion, a (, , or in Inuktitut syllabics) was an avenging monster fabricated by a practitioner of witchcraft or shamanism by using various objects such as animal parts (bone, skin, hair, sinew, etc.) and even parts tak ...

'' "evil spirit object," for a visiting European in 1905. When no harm befell him for creating and showing this object to an outsider, others began making ''tupilait'', which evolved into a popular art form.Nacheva, Velina
"An average artistic day in Greenland."
''The Sofia Echo.'' November 29, 2001. Accessed 3 February 2014. Residents also carved

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 ...

, that traced the Eastern Greenlandic coastline. Customary art-making practices thrive on Ammassalik Island.

Notes

References

* Hessel, Ingo. ''Arctic Spirit.'' Vancouver: Douglas and McIntyre, 2006 * Carl Koldewey, The German Arctic Expedition of 1869-1870: Narrative of the Wreck of the Hansa in the Ice.''

External links

"Inuit Man in Kulusuk, Speaking Tunumiit Oraasiat (Eastern Greenlandic),"
YouTube video
The Prehistory of Inuit in Northeast Greenland - Arctic Anthropology
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tunumiit Indigenous peoples in the Arctic Greenlandic Inuit people Inuit groups

Language

Region

Art

See also

Notes

References

External links