Cultural Anthropology Cree and Intuit Cultures

Cultural Adaptations to Environmental Conditions in the Arctic North

The first human occupation of the Americas occurred in Berengia during the last glaciation of the region. Later, it was more widely accepted that the primary center of population expansion was in Alaska, subsequently spreading into the Canadian Arctic and Greenland. The physical environment of the populated regions influenced the developing cultures of each group, affected by access to resources, barriers to trade routes, and weather and land conditions. As a result of environmental impact, religion, technological adaptations, economy and food source acquirement varied among the cultural populations, and is still seen in ethnic societies of the Arctic region today, evidence of the cultural sustainability of such adapted groups.

To define "culture," it is the combination of values, practices, and relationships of a population, with a number of factors influencing its development. Considering environment as a key point to cultural development requires the consideration of its subfactors and outcomes, as demonstrated by examining societies environmentally diverse from one another. It is important to first point out that indigenous cultures directly interplay with the region in which they exist. For instance, they are concerned with the aspects of nature concerned with their ability to survive, such as the local flora, fauna, and weather. They also tend to reach out to the spiritual experience of nature, paying attention to celestial orientation and the ecological connections among species. Their perspective of nature influences their development of religious practices, food gathering or hunting techniques, and food resources, critical elements of their cultural identification.

Hunting societies like the Koyukon of Alaska tightly interrelate religion with the natural world, displaying cultural perceptions of spirituality towards their determination of what plants and animals to eat. The physical environment, and thus its resources, prescribes their cultural adaptations to food resource acquirement. For instance, the kk'an dikina plant is avoided because of their belief that it holds evil spirit powers, while the moose, a primary source of subsistence for the Koyukon, is readily accessed as it holds little spiritual power. In order to adhere to their spiritual outlook towards nature, the Koyukon have made adaptations to their knowledge and practical skills to better improve their economic survival.

The fur trade provides an ethnohistorical context to demonstrate the native people's cultural ties to nature and the environmental region to which they belong. Upon examination of Hudson's Bay Company records of the 1800s, significant game depletion can be witnessed. The obvious theory notes the economic boon it provided Cree societies like the Waswanipi, Mistassini, and Rock Cree of the Northern Boreal Forest. However, as opposed to the Koyukon who emphasized food source conservation, the native ideology of the Cree, as well as the Algonquians, saw the overexploitation of game as a combatant view against nature, as well as a lack of understanding of the susceptibility of depletion. So, while hunting for survival, adaptations of weaponry to improve hunting success, and economic benefit were the crux of the fur trade for these groups, their ultimate and substantial knowledge of their environment and efficiency at subsistence were vital to their spiritual ideologies concerning game depletion.

In more recent times, as European and Russian advancements have influenced Arctic populations, environmental accessibility to new goods has increased competition among subarctic societies. This was seen in the previous century with the impact on the fur trade. With a new intensity to physically carve the environment for improved trade access, the culture of these societies has in turn been affected as the replacement of indigenous goods with exogenous goods considered provisions of "high status" has enabled cultures to redirect their regional customs and hunting practices to allow the incorporation of Western influences.

The geomorphology of the Arctic environment includes mountainous regions, exposed bedrock, frozen sea ice, sedimentary plain, and little to no soil development. The persistence of cold temperatures and permafrost add to the scarcity of usable plant food sources. The primary food is thus animal-based, terrestrial and marine. The early migrations of peoples in Alaska and Arctic Canada and Greenland developed into the Norton tradition, branching into the Thule tradition from which the Inuit people were derived. The Inuits have adapted over time to their harsh environment, with some diversity among the groups, but sharply contrasting other Indian tribes below the tree line. Through necessity they have relied on animal resources rather than plant sources important to foraging populations. Thus, their forms of housing and technological adaptations to hunting for both terrestrial as well as marine sources evolved as a direct result of the environmental conditions in which they exist, impacting their cultural development.