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In Greenland, Inuit culture survives

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European Arctic, Norway, Greenland Life in the fragile, frozen Arctic

The Earth’s northern reaches are ruled by ice

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  • dog sleds, Greenland, Inuit
  • dog sleds, Greenland, Inuit
  • dog sleds, Greenland, Inuit
  • dog sleds, Greenland, Inuit
  • dog sleds, Greenland, Inuit
  • dog sleds, Greenland, Inuit
  • dog sleds, Greenland, Inuit
  • dog sleds, Greenland, Inuit
  • dog sleds, Greenland, Inuit
    The difference between survival and starvation

    According to an oft-quoted Greenland folk saying, “A hunter without dogs is half a hunter”. The early Inuit, the indigenous people of Greenland, had to get by on what they were able to catch and kill, so dogs often meant the difference between survival and starvation on the more than 2,160,000sqkm-island, most of which is covered in ice. Today, the dog sled continues to play a vital role as a means of winter transport for the country’s 45,000 Inuit population, many of whom are fishermen and hunters. Here, a fisherman returns from a trip to the sea ice, close to the town of Ilulissat, a settlement located 300km north of the Polar Circle on the west coast of Greenland. (Daniel Allen)

The difference between survival and starvation

According to an oft-quoted Greenland folk saying, “A hunter without dogs is half a hunter”. The early Inuit, the indigenous people of Greenland, had to get by on what they were able to catch and kill, so dogs often meant the difference between survival and starvation on the more than 2,160,000sqkm-island, most of which is covered in ice. Today, the dog sled continues to play a vital role as a means of winter transport for the country’s 45,000 Inuit population, many of whom are fishermen and hunters. Here, a fisherman returns from a trip to the sea ice, close to the town of Ilulissat, a settlement located 300km north of the Polar Circle on the west coast of Greenland. (Daniel Allen)

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