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The lands where the Inuit live is cold and harsh. They have long cold winters and short, cool summers. There is a lot of snow. On the average there are between 15 and 90 inches of snow each year. The snow doesn't melt until spring, and winter storms can force people to remain inside for days at a time.
Temporary Houses • The word igloo actually means any type of house, not just a snow house. The snow-block house that we usually think of when we hear igloo was not used by all Inuits. There were no snow-block houses in Alaska. The Alaskan Inuits lived cabins made from driftwood and covered with soil. • To make an igloo, hard-packed snow was cut into blocks with a long knife made of bone, ivory, or metal. A man could build an igloo in an hour. In the igloo, Inuit slept on a low snow platform covered with twigs and caribou furs. Each igloo had a skylight made of freshwater ice. When summer arrived the igloo melted, and the family had to move into tents made of animal skins.
Clothing • http://www.nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/pdf/beauty_surrounds_us_brochure.pdf
The Inuit have traditionally been hunters and fishers. They hunted, and still hunt, whales, walruses, caribou, seals, polar bears, muskoxen, birds, and at times other less commonly eaten animals such as foxes. The typical Inuit diet is high in protein and very high in fat - in their traditional diets, Inuit consumed an average of 75% of their daily energy intake from fat. While it is not possible to cultivate plants for food in the Arctic, gathering those that are naturally available has always been typical. Grasses, tubers, roots, stems, berries, and seaweed (kuanniq or edible seaweed) were collected and preserved depending on the season and the location.
