Umiak
The Umiak ( Greenlandic and Inuktitut : Umiaq , plural Umiat), often referred to as a large boat or, because mostly rowed by women, as a woman's boat , is an open sealskin boat that the Eskimos used when they did not have any boats imported from the south . When the Danish explorer Gustav Frederik Holm “discovered” the previously largely isolated East Greenland in 1884, umiaks played a major role; the trip there was therefore known as the women's boat expedition .
use
A large boat was indispensable for the Eskimos during their nomadic way of life, which enabled them not only to transport entire families, but also their belongings such as sled dogs , dog sleds , tents , weapons and other equipment when crossing wide waters . While the kayak was mainly used by men and mainly used for hunting, the Umiak served mainly as a travel boat, which was mostly rowed by the women and steered by the men. If the kayak was found to be unsuitable for hunting large whales , such as the bowhead whale , the umiak was also used. It was not uncommon for the boat to be used as a temporary sleeping tent when traveling by turning it over and using it instead of a tent that had to be pitched.
The oldest umiak, dated around 1500, was found in northeast Greenland ; the umiak thus served the people of the Thule culture . The umiak was still in use in East Greenland and Northeast Canada in the 1930s. It was then increasingly replaced by canoes with outboard motors (“freighter canoes”) and smaller motor yachts produced in the south .
design type
The umiak was used throughout the Arctic ; There were regional differences in size and design. In Alaska , where the focus was on whaling , nimble, narrow boats were built. In Eastern Canada and Greenland, on the other hand, larger and more massive transport boats were built that could take up to 30 people; Usually, however, the boats were constructed with a length of up to about eight meters and a width of up to about 1.50 meters for five to 20 people. Rowing was occasionally assisted by a small sail; the boats did not have a keel .
literature
- Heinz Barüske: Greenland. Culture and landscape at the Arctic Circle. DuMont, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3-7701-1544-9 .
- Ansgar Walk: The polar bear came late in the evening. Sketches from Wager Bay. Pendragon, Bielefeld 2002, ISBN 3-934872-22-0 .