Top Polar

Alaska, Siberia, Arctic, Antarctica, Eskimos

Alaska is thelargest state in theUnited States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of theNorth American continent, withCanada to the east, theArctic Ocean to the north, and thePacific Ocean to the west and south, withRussia further west across theBering Strait. Alaska is the4th least populous and theleast densely populated of the 50 United States. Approximately half of Alaska’s 722,718 residents live within theAnchorage metropolitan area.Alaska was purchased from Russia on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million ($120 million adjusted for inflation) at approximately two cents per acre ($4.74/km²).

Antarctica.

Antarctica  is Earth’s southernmost continent, containing the geographic South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean.

Arctic.

The Arctic is apolarregion located at the northern-most part of theEarth. The Arctic consists of theArctic Ocean and parts ofCanada,Russia,Denmark (Greenland),Norway, theUnited States (Alaska),Sweden,Finland, andIceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast,ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treelesspermafrost 

Eskimos.

Eskimos (or Esquimaux) or Inuit–Yupik (for Alaska: Inupiat–Yupik) peoples areindigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from easternSiberia (Russia), acrossAlaska (United States),Canada, andGreenland. 

Siberia.

Siberia  is an extensive geographical region constituting almost all of North Asia. The region has been dominated by the Russians since its conquest in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The territory of Siberia extends eastward from the Ural Mountains to the watershed between the Pacific and Arctic drainage basins. Siberia stretches southward from the Arctic Ocean to the hills of north-central Kazakhstan, then to the national borders of Mongolia and China. Siberia makes up about 77% of Russia’s territory (13.1 million square kilometres), but is home to only 28% (40 million people) of Russia’s population.

Eskimo.

Eskimos (or Esquimaux) or Inuit–Yupik (for Alaska: Inupiat–Yupik) peoples are indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from eastern Siberia (Russia), across Alaska (United States), Canada, and Greenland (Denmark).

Inuit.

The Inuit ( “People”) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Greenland, Canada, the United States, and Russia. Inuit is a plural noun; the singular is Inuk. The Inuit languages are classified in the Eskimo-Aleut family.

Inupiat.

The Iñupiat or Iñupiaq and Iñupiak ( i.e., ‘real people’) are the people of Alaska‘s Northwest Arctic and North Slope boroughs and the Bering Straits region. Barrow, the northernmost city in the United States, is in the Inupiat region. The Iñupiat were divided into two regional hunter-gatherer groups: the Taġiuġmiut  («people of sea»), living on or near the north Alaska coast, and the Nunamiut («people of land»), living in interior Alaska.