Jody Peters, age 15, of Patterson, N.J., for her question:
WHERE DID THE ESKIMOS ORIGINATE?
Scientists tell us that the Eskimos probably originated on the land bridge that connected Siberia and what is now Alaska more than 10,000 years ago. Some of the early Eskimos moved from the land bridge to northeastern Siberia but most of them moved to Alaska.
From Alaska the Eskimos later spread eastward across Arctic North America.
Scientists say that the Eskimos probably spread from Alaska to what is now Greenland in two great movements. The first movement probably began about 5,000 years ago and the second movement most likely began less than 1,200 years ago. The experts do not know exactly how long each of the migrations lasted.
By the time the second movement began, the descendants of the Eskimos of the first migration had disappeared. The people of the second migration are ancestors of the present day Eskimos of Greenland, Canada and northeastern Alaska.
The first Europeans to meet the Eskimos were Vikings who lived on Greenland when the Eskimos arrived there about A.D1100. Then, beginning in the 1500s, European explorers met Eskimos in the eastern regions of Arctic North America. Russian and other European explorers first met Alaskan Eskimos in the 1700s
In the 1800s, many European whalers and fur traders arrived in Eskimo country. The Eskimos began to work for the whalers and to trade with them for rifles, ammunition, iron, wood and other useful goods. But the Europeans also brought smallpox, measles and other diseases against which the Eskimos had little resistance. Many Eskimos died of these diseases.
Although the whaling industry declined during the late 1800s, the Arctic fur trade grew. More and more Eskimos began to trap animals for the fur traders. As a result, contact between the Eskimos and white men increased. Yet most Eskimos continued to live much as their ancestors lived hundreds of years earlier.
New ways of life started for most Eskimos during the early and mid 1900s. The changes occurred in different ways in Russia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland.
In Russia, the Communist government took control of all Eskimo communities during the 1920s The Communists provided improved health care, housing and education for the Eskimos. They also encouraged the Eskimos to produce goods for sale throughout Russia.
In Alaska, hunting with rifles and widespread trapping greatly reduced the quality of game animals by the early 1980s. As a result, many of the Eskimos began to herd reindeer which had been brought from Siberia by the United States government.
The Eskimos of Alaska became U.S. citizens in 1924.
In Canada, the Eskimo way of life changed little until the 1950s. At that time the fur trading industry declined and the number of caribou decreased sharply after having been hunted with rifles for many years. Many of the Eskimos moved to communities and found construction jobs and other types of work. Many received housing and other assistance from Canada's government.
In Greenland, many Eskimos became commercial fishermen during the early 1900s.