Who were the original inhabitants of the Arctic regions?

• A. Sami
• B. Yupik
• C. Inuits
• D. Aleuts

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is the Arctic’s Indigenous populations and where they have traditionally lived. The group most closely associated with the Arctic across a broad region—greenland, northern Canada, Alaska, and parts of eastern Siberia—are the Inuit. They have inhabited and adapted to the high Arctic conditions for millennia, developing clothing, hunting practices, and social structures that fit long winters, sea ice, and coastal ecosystems. That long-standing, wide-ranging presence across the core Arctic zones is why this group is identified as the original inhabitants of the Arctic regions.

Sami people live in the Arctic parts of northern Europe (Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia), which is a different Arctic subregion. Yupik and Aleuts are also Arctic Indigenous groups, but their traditional homelands are more localized to western Alaska, eastern Siberia, and the Aleutian Islands. The broader, cross-Arctic association most commonly tied to the idea of “original inhabitants of the Arctic regions” points to the Inuit.