tion:Eskimos are the indigenous circumpolar peoples who have traditionally inhabited the northern circumpolar region from eastern Siberia to alaskaThe two main peoples known as Eskimo are the Inuit (including the Alaskan Iñupiat, the Greenlandic Inuit, and the diverse Inuit of Canada) and the Yupik of eastern Siberia[3] and Alaska. A third northern group, the Aleut, is closely related to both. They share a relatively recent common ancestor and a language group, Eskimo-Aleut.The non-Inuit sub-branch of the Eskimo branch of the Eskimo-Aleut language family consists of four distinct Yupik languages, two used in the Russian Far East and St. Lawrence Island, and two used in western Alaska, southwestern Alaska, and the western part of Southcentral Alaska. The extinct language of the Sirenik people is sometimes argued to be related to these.According to recent genomic research, the Chukchi people of eastern Siberia are the closest living RELATIVES of the Siberian Yupik and other the indigenous peoples of the Americas.[4]There are more than 183,000 Eskimo people alive today,[5][6][7][8][9] of which 135,000 or more live in or near the traditional circumpolar regions.[10] The NGO known as the Inuit Circumpolar Council claims to represent 180,000 people.[11]The GOVERNMENTS in Canada[12][13][14] and the United States[15][16] have made moves to cease using the term Eskimo in official documents, but it has not been entirely eliminated, as the word is in some places written into tribal, and therefore national, legal terminology.[17] Canada officially uses the term Inuit to describe the Native people living in the country's northernmost sector.[12][13] The United States government legally uses Alaska Native[16] for the Yupik, Inuit, and Aleut, but also for non-Eskimo indigenous Alaskans including the Tlingit, the Haida, the Eyak, and the Tsimshian, in addition to at least nine sepaA distinct Asian lineage exists for Siberian Yupik people and the North American speakers of the Eskimo-Aleut language group, who have up to 43% of their DNA in common with an ancient people or set of ancient peoples of otherwise unknown origin.[22] It is understood that some or all of these ancient people underwent a stream of migration from Asia to North America during the pre-neolithic era, somewhere between 5,000 and 12,600 years ago.[23] It is believed that ancestors of the Aleut people inhabited the Aleutian Chain 10,000 years ago.[24]The earliest positively identified Paleo-Eskimo cultures (Early Paleo-Eskimo) date to 5,000 years ago.[25] Several earlier indigenous peoples existed in the northern circumpolar regions of eastern Siberia, Alaska, and Canada (although probably not in Greenland).[26] The Paleo-Eskimo peoples appear to have developed in Alaska from people related to the Arctic small tool tradition in eastern Asia, whose ancestors had probably migrated to Alaska at least 3,000 to 5,000 years earlier. Similar artifacts have been found in Siberia that date to perhaps 18,000 years ago.The Yupik languages and cultures in Alaska evolved in place, beginning with the original pre-Dorset Indigenous culture developed in Alaska. At least 4,000 years ago, the Unangan culture of the Aleut became distinct. It is not generally CONSIDERED an Eskimo culture. However, there is some possibility of an Aleutian origin of the Dorset people,[25] who in turn are a likely ancestor of Inuit and Yupik people today.[23]Approximately 1,500 to 2,000 years ago, apparently in northwestern Alaska,[citation needed] two other distinct variations appeared. Inuit language became distinct and, over a period of several centuries, its speakers migrated ACROSS northern Alaska, through Canada, and into Greenland. The distinct culture of the Thule people developed in northwestern Alaska and very quickly spread over the entire area occupied by Eskimo people, though it was not necessarily adopted by all of them.rate northern Athabaskan/Dene peoples. The designation Alaska Native applies to enrolled tribal members only,[18] in contrast to individual Eskimo/Aleut persons claiming descent from the world's "most widespread aboriginal group".[19][20][21].