Thule people: Difference between revisions

The '''Thule''' ({{IPAEng|ˈtuːli}}) or '''proto-Inuit''' were the ancestors of all modern Canadian [[Inuit]]. They originated in [[Alaska]] in around the year 500 [[CommonAnno EraDomini|CEAD]] and [[Nunavut]], [[Canada]] in 1000 CEAD. A subgroup then moved east to [[Greenland]] by the 13th century. The appellation of "[[Thule]]" originates from the location of Thule (in 1953 relocated to [[Qaanaaq]]) in northwest Greenland, facing Canada, where the [[Archaeology|archaeological]] remains of these people were first found at [[Comer's Midden]].<ref>[http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/archeo/cvh/arctic/earc9.htm Thule Culture]</ref> The links between the Thule and the Inuit are [[biology|biological]], [[Culture|cultural]], and [[Natural language|linguistic]].

There is good evidence to support the idea that the Thule (and the Dorset, but to a lesser degree) were in contact with the [[Vikings]], who touched the banks of what is now modern Canada in roughly 1000 CEAD. Some Thule migrated southward, in the "Second Expansion" or "Second Phase". By the 13th or 14th century, the Thule had occupied an area currently inhabited by the [[Central Inuit]], and by the 15th century, the Thule replaced the [[Dorset culture]]. Intensified contacts with [[Europe]]ans began in the 18th century. Compounded by the already disruptive effects of the "[[Little Ice Age]]" (1650-1850), the Thule communities broke apart, and the people were henceforward known as the [[Eskimo]] and, later, Inuit.