The area within the Arctic Circle spans 20 million km² and is home to four million people, including over 30 Indigenous groups. Their shared interests are represented through the Arctic Council.
The area within the Arctic Circle spans more than 20 million km² – 4% of Earth’s surface – and stretches across 24 time zones. Around 4 million people live there, including over 30 Indigenous peoples with diverse languages, cultures, and traditions. Communities have lived in the Arctic for thousands of years, and today their shared interests are represented through the Arctic Council, the leading intergovernmental forum for cooperation in the region.
There are 8 Arctic States (although Indigenous Arctic peoples have lived across borders before these states existed), and people live in remote Arctic regions of each of them. But for many of these states, those living in the Arctic are a minority, with most of the population living outside of the Arctic circle. There are a range of political structures to govern the relationship between the nation states and their northern regions.
Indigenous peoples have lived in the Arctic for thousands of years, following a nomadic lifestyle to be near food resources through the cycle of the seasons. Community leaders get their authority either through their skills and knowledge, or through a combination of this ability and birth-right.
The Arctic Council recognises the status and contribution of indigenous people of the Arctic through the six Indigenous Peoples’ organisations that sit alongside the 8 Arctic States with full participation status.
Aaju talks about how the Inuit think differently
Aaju talks about how the Inuit understanding of the land, and ownership, differs from that of the western legal system.
Various laws were passed in some of the countries during the 19th century to try to make the Indigenous Arctic people conform to the lifestyle of the rest of the country therefore eroding their heritage and culture. For example, the Indian Act of 1876 in Canada extended power to the Canadian government to regulate and control the Indigenous Peoples of Canada, including the people of the Arctic. The act was administered directly in Indigenous communities by the Indian agent.
These new white chiefs were to displace traditional Indigenous leaders in order to bring in a new way of living. They had extraordinary administrative and discretionary power including guardianship over Indian lands, in effect, they took the ownership away from the people who lived there.
Harold Cardinal was a Cree writer, political leader, teacher, negotiator and lawyer who died in 2005. He asserted “Instead of offering much-needed protection to Indian rights the Indian Act subjugated to colonial rule the very people whose rights it was supposed to protect”
There are now three territories in Northern Canada: Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut (the Inuktitut word for ‘our land’) which was created in 1999. Nunavut is above the tree line with a population of about 30,000. Inuktitut was recognised as an official language of Nunavut alongside English and French in June 2009. The Arctic is now seen as an important region in world affairs for many reasons. Climate change has meant that shipping routes are becoming more accessible, mineral resources are easier to extract and tourism is flourishing. However, the indigenous people of the region wish to preserve their ancient culture.
Why the need for change?
The Arctic is now seen as an important region in world affairs for many reasons. Climate change has meant that shipping routes are becoming more accessible, mineral resources are easier to extract and tourism is flourishing. However the Indigenous peoples of the region wish to preserve their ancient culture.
What do you imagine the Arctic to be like?
- Search for images of the Arctic on the internet, choose one image, and write a description of it.
Design a postage stamp
The countries of the Arctic sometimes use images of the Arctic on their postage stamps.
- Download the Virtual journey round the Arctic circle to see stamps from Arctic countries
- Download the Postage stamp templates
- Design your own stamp to represent the Arctic today.