Greenlandic Inuit
November is National Native American Heritage Month!
The indigenous people of Greenland are Inuit. At 89%, they make up the majority of the Greenlandic population. Collectively, they are called Kalaallit Nunaat, and consist of three groups; Kalaallit (of western Greenland) being the largest, the Tunumiit (from eastern Greenland) and finally the Inughuit (of north Greenland, about 1% of the population of Greenland).
Greenland had actually been settled multiple times previous to this, always by boat from Canada. First was the Independence I/Saqqaq culture (2500-700 BCE). They were replaced by the Early Dorset (700 BCE-1 CE). The Late Dorset recolonized the northeastern part of the island in 700 CE.
In 980 CE, the first Norse arrived on Greenland (the first true European discovery of the Americas--500 years before Columbus). It was between 1000-1400 CE that the Thule began to settle Greenland. The Thule are the ancestors of modern Greenlandic Inuit.
An important form of artistic expression for Greenlandic Inuit culture and religion is the tupilaq, a figure made out of animal parts. None from prehistory are known to survive--all photographs are of tupilaq are of ones made after long-term European contact.