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50 free Inuit trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Inuit trivia for anyone curious about the peoples of the Arctic, from students of Canadian history to fans of Atanarjuat and Tanya Tagaq. This quiz starts with who the Inuit are: the descendants of the Thule culture that spread east from Alaska around 1000 CE, displacing the Dorset or Tuniit, and reached Greenland by the thirteenth century. It explains what the word Inuit means, why many reject 'Eskimo', and how the Yupik and Aleut fit in. It then covers language and daily life: Inuktitut and its syllabics, the qajaq and umiak, the igloo, the qulliq seal-oil lamp, the ulu, snow goggles, the amauti and the sled dogs, along with the raw-meat diet that supplied vitamin C. Belief and art follow, from Sedna the sea woman and the angakkuq to throat-singing games, Kenojuak Ashevak's prints and the inuksuk on Nunavut's flag. It closes with modern politics: Frobisher's 1576 contact, the High Arctic relocation, the Inuit Circumpolar Council, Nunavut's creation in 1999 and Iqaluit. Questions range from easy to expert, and every answer was checked against a reference page and carries its source. If you enjoy this quiz, try our Canada, Arctic and Indigenous peoples quizzes next.
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Q 01What does the word 'Inuit' mean?
The people
The singular is Inuk; every Inuit dialect uses a cognate of the Proto-Eskimo root for 'person'.
Q 02What is the singular form of Inuit?
Inuk
Two people are Inuuk and three or more are Inuit.
Q 03Inuit descend from which prehistoric culture, which emerged from the Bering Strait region around 1000 CE?
Thule
The Thule spread east across the Arctic and reached west Greenland by about 1100 CE.
Q 04What name did the Inuit give the earlier Dorset culture, remembered in legend as giants?
Tuniit
The Dorset were the last major Paleo-Eskimo culture and were displaced by the Thule's dogs and better weapons.
Q 05The Thule culture is named after a place in which country, where its remains were first found?
Greenland
The site near present-day Qaanaaq in north-west Greenland is Comer's Midden.
Q 06The word 'Eskimo' most likely comes from an Innu-aimun word meaning what?
A person who laces a snowshoe
The 'raw meat eater' folk etymology from Cree has been discredited, but the term is still felt to be pejorative by many.
Q 07Which two related Alaskan and Siberian peoples generally do not identify as Inuit?
Yupik and Aleut
The Inuit languages belong to the Eskaleut family alongside Yupik and Aleut, also called Inuit-Yupik-Unangan.
Q 08Greenlandic Inuit are known by what name?
Kalaallit
As Danish citizens they remain EU citizens even though Greenland left the European Communities in 1985.
Q 09The four Arctic homeland regions of Canada are known collectively as Inuit what?
Nunangat
It comprises the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Nunavut, Nunavik in northern Quebec and Nunatsiavut in Labrador.
Q 10The Canadian territory of Nunavut was created on what date?
1 April 1999
It was carved out of the Northwest Territories after the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement; boundaries were drawn in 1993.
Q 11What is the capital of Nunavut?
Iqaluit
It was called Frobisher Bay from 1942 to 1987 and is Canada's smallest capital by population.
Q 12Nunavut's capital is unusual among Canadian capitals in lacking what?
Road or rail links to the rest of Canada
Ships can reach it for only part of the year, so imported supplies are expensive.
Q 13Nunavut is home to Alert, which holds what distinction?
The world's northernmost permanent settlement
Q 21What is the traditional Inuit lamp called, carved from soapstone and burning seal oil or blubber?
Qulliq
It was the single most important furnishing of a home, providing heat and light where there was no wood to burn.
Q 22The ulu, an all-purpose knife with a semicircular blade, is traditionally associated with whom?
Women
Handles were made of caribou antler, muskox horn or walrus ivory, with blades of slate.
Q 23The amauti, a woman's parka, has what special feature?
A pouch below the hood for carrying a baby
Children ride against the mother's back until about age two.
Nearby Eureka on Ellesmere Island has the lowest average annual temperature of any Canadian weather station.
Q 14The Inuit language most widely spoken in Canada, and an official language of Nunavut, is called what?
Inuktitut
Nunavut's other official Inuit language is Inuinnaqtun; together they are known as Inuktut.
Q 15The main Inuit language of Canada is written in which script, also used for Cree?
Canadian Aboriginal syllabics
A Latin alphabet is used alongside it, and Greenlandic uses Latin letters only.
Q 16Inuit Sign Language, used by deaf Inuit, has roughly how many remaining users?
50
It is a language isolate, unrelated to American Sign Language.
Q 17The English word 'kayak' comes from an Inuit word for the sealskin hunting boat. What is that word?
Qajaq
The single-seat craft could be righted by its seated paddler even when fully overturned; the design is at least 4,000 years old.
Q 18What is a qamutiik?
A dog sled
Inuit used them in winter on land and sea ice; the Canadian Inuit Dog, or qimmiq, is Nunavut's official animal.
Q 19Igloos, though associated with all Inuit, were traditionally used mainly by which groups?
People of Canada's Central Arctic and Qaanaaq
Other Inuit used snow to insulate houses built of whalebone and hides; 'iglu' can mean any kind of house.
Q 20Warmed by body heat alone, how warm can the inside of an igloo get when it is -45 C outside?
Between -7 C and 16 C
The air pockets trapped in snow make it an excellent insulator, the so-called igloo effect.
Q 24Traditional Inuit snow goggles work by what means?
Narrow slits carved through bone or wood
They fit tightly to the face so the only light entering comes through the slits, preventing snow blindness.
Q 25How did the traditional Inuit diet supply vitamin C without fruit or vegetables?
From raw or frozen foods such as seal liver
Cooking destroys vitamin C, but raw ringed seal liver and muktuk keep it.
Q 26What is 'akutaq' in Inuit cuisine?
Berries mixed with fat
Igunaq is fermented meat or fish, and suaasat a soup of seal, whale, reindeer or seabird.
Q 27In Inuit religion, who is the sea woman whose severed fingers became seals, walruses and whales?
Sedna
Her father threw her from his kayak and cut off her fingers as she clung on; she rules Adlivun, the underworld.
Q 28What was the traditional Inuit spiritual healer and intermediary with the spirits called?
Angakkuq
The angakkuq was not the leader but a healer and adviser who invoked spirits and might place a tiny ivory whale in a newborn's mouth.
Q 29Inuit throat singing, or katajjaq, is traditionally performed how?
By two women face to face in a contest
The first to run out of breath or burst out laughing loses; Tanya Tagaq famously performs it solo.
Q 30What does the word 'inuksuk' mean?
That which acts in the capacity of a human
A figure actually shaped like a person is an inunnguaq; one appears on the flag of Nunavut and inspired the Vancouver 2010 Olympic logo.