Chris Libby, age 10, of Crown Point, Ind., for his question:
TO WHAT RACE DOES THE ESKIMO BELONG?
Scientists tell us that more than 10,000 years ago the Eskimos most likely came to what is now Alaska across a land bridge that used to connect North America with Siberia. The Eskimos then spread eastward across Arctic North America to what is now Greenland. The migration east probably happened in two movements with one about 5,000 years ago and the second 1,2000 years ago.
For many thousands of years, the Eskimos had a way of life that was unlike that of any other people on earth. No others ate the same type of foods, built the same type of homes or made the same type of clothing.
Eskimos developed their own special way of living because they elected to live alone in the harsh country of northern North America. They had contact only with other Eskimos for thousands of years.
The Eskimos have light brown skin, straight black hair, dark brown eyes and wide faces with extremely high cheekbones. They resemble both the Siberian people of northern Asia and also, although to a lesser extent, the American Indians.
The Eskimo's prehistoric ancestors and also those of the American Indian came from Siberia. But scientists classify the Indians as a separate race, and put the Eskimos in the same race as the northern Asians.
Today there are about 92,000 Eskimos living in Russia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland. Most can be found in small settlements or towns. They wear modern clothes and most live in modern houses. Store bought food is_on most of their menus. Some Eskimos in Canada and Alaska can't find modern jobs and must depend on the government for living assistance, but most of them work for wages in a wide variety of jobs.
The Eskimo's way of life began to change during the 1800s when large numbers of European fur traders and whalers moved into North America. Many Eskimos were hired by the whalers and trappers. Slowly they gave up their traditional way of life.
The ancient Eskimos had no system of government. There were no tribes and no chiefs. In different regions they formed separate cultural groups. They had rules of conduct rather than laws, with the most important rule requiring everyone to work for the family.
Today's Eskimo family groups are much like those in most North American communities. The ancient traditional way of life, however, brought a group of about 20 family members into a unit that was made up of a husband and wife, their unmarried children, plus all their married sons and their wives and children. They usually lived in one house or a cluster of shelters.
In the olden days, parents chose their children's future marriage partners in early childhood and Eskimos were married in their teens.