Kalaallit

Kalaallit

Bishop Sofie Petersen, first Inuit Lutheran bishop
Total population
(51,349 (2012))
Regions with significant populations
Greenland
Languages
Greenlandic and Danish
Religion
Inuit religion, Evangelical Lutheran
Related ethnic groups
other Greenlandic Inuit

Kalaallit make up the largest group among the Greenlandic Inuit, and are concentrated in Western Greenland. It is also a contemporary term in the Kalaallisut language for the indigenous people living in Greenland, also called the Kalaallit Nunaat. The Kalaallit (singular: kalaaleq) are a part of the Arctic Inuit people. The language spoken by Inuit in Greenland is Kalaallisut.

Possibly adapted from the name Skræling,Kalaallit historically referred specifically to Western Greenlanders. On the other hand, Northern and Eastern Greenlanders call themselves Avanersuarmiut and Tunumiit, respectively. About 80% to 88% of Greenland's population, or approximately 44,000 to 50,000 people identify as being Inuit.

Kalaallit are descended from the Thule people but probably not from their predecessors in Greenland, the Dorset people.

As 84% of Greenland's landmass is covered by the Greenland ice sheet, Kalaallit live in three regions: Polar, Eastern, and Western. In the 1850s some Canadian Inuit migrated to Greenland and joined the Polar Inuit communities.

The Eastern Inuit, or Tunumiit, live in the area with the mildest climate, a territory called Ammassalik. Hunters can hunt marine mammals from kayaks throughout the year.

The Northeast-Greenland Inuit are now extinct. Douglas Charles Clavering (1794–1827) met a group of twelve Inuit, including men, women and children in Clavering Island in August 1823. There are many remains of former Inuit settlements in different locations of the now desolate area, but the population died out before mid-19th century.