The igloo is made of snow, but it can be used to make fire and keep warm. How did the Inuit do it?

The words "ice" and "snow" are synonymous with cold, so when mentioning "igloos made of snow", no one would associate them with warmth. However, it is with such igloos that the Inuit have survived in the low temperature of minus 50 degrees Celsius and have passed it down from generation to generation.

The Inuit have another name, that is "Eskimos", and many people may be more familiar with the latter name, but the Inuit do not like and do not recognize this name, because "Eskimos" was given to them by the Native American Indians, meaning "people who eat raw meat", which contains contemptuous meanings, and the beginning of this story can be traced back to a long time ago. The Inuit are not white, but the same yellow people as us, and they did not live in the cold Arctic region at first.

A long, long time ago, due to the cooling climate, the Inuit were forced to migrate northward. At that time, they did not know that what was waiting for them in the north was still endless ice and snow.

Some Inuit stopped at the Siberian wilderness, while others came to Alaska. Alaska was the territory of the Native Americans, so conflicts broke out and the Inuit were forced to continue their migration northward, finally settling down near the Arctic. Because the entire migration history of the Inuit took place on the snowy wilderness, they have long had a tolerance for the cold that surpasses other ethnic groups. However, even so, if you want to survive in the Arctic at minus 50 degrees Celsius, you still need a warm home, and the only building material that can be found here is ice and snow, so a unique building was born, that is, the igloo.

Igloos are made of snow, but the snow used to build igloos is not ordinary snow, but snow bricks. They are made by pressing and have a much higher density than ordinary snow. Their hardness is comparable to that of fired earth bricks.

Although the hardness of snow bricks is comparable to that of earth bricks, they are completely different from earth bricks, and they contain the secret of keeping the igloo warm. Although snow bricks are pressed and have good hardness, they are snow after all, so there are actually many gaps inside, and these gaps store air. The thermal conductivity of air can be said to be very poor, so the heat inside and outside the house is isolated. Although the temperature outside is as low as minus 50℃, the temperature inside the igloo can still be maintained at around 0℃. For the Inuit who have strong cold resistance, this temperature is enough to survive.

To make the environment in the igloo more comfortable, the Inuit sometimes light a gas stove in the igloo and sleep shirtless.

Wait, wouldn’t the ice and snow melt if you make a fire?

First, pressed snow bricks are different from ordinary loose snow and do not melt that easily. Secondly, although snow bricks are not easy to melt, snow is snow after all, and making a fire inside will indeed cause these snow bricks to melt slowly. As the snow bricks gradually melt, the warmth of the igloo will deteriorate. However, when the warmth of an igloo becomes very poor, it can only be abandoned and a new one built. Fortunately, the cost of building an igloo with snow bricks is very low, so you don't need to worry about replacing it if it breaks.

Although the Inuit maintain a relatively primitive lifestyle, as long as they are human, they cannot avoid food, clothing, shelter and transportation. The igloo only solves the problem of "housing". How do the Inuit survive in other aspects?

It is impossible to grow vegetables in the icy and snowy Arctic region. The only plants that can be found here are mosses and thin tough grasses, so the Inuit have no chance to eat fruits and vegetables.

If you are a meat lover, you may be interested in the Inuit's diet. Reindeer, seals, and even polar bears are all on the Inuit's plate. The Inuit's diet allows them to get more fat from animals to improve their ability to resist the cold. But don't be too happy too soon, they all eat raw meat. Interestingly, the Inuit's nutritional intake is obviously very unbalanced, and eating raw meat can also lead to parasitic infections. Even so, their average life expectancy can reach 68 years.

For the Inuit people who live in a relatively primitive state, food and clothing are inseparable. The furs of the animals they eat are their warm clothes. Such clothes are called "fur" here.

Of course, the Inuit wear fur just for survival, not for fashion. In terms of travel, the Inuit's means of transportation mainly consist of three parts: reindeer, husky and sled. Interestingly, it is extremely difficult to identify the direction in the icy and snowy Arctic, but the Inuit rarely get lost without any modern navigation tools. They rely on observing the behavior of animals. It can be seen that animals are much better than humans in identifying directions. In our opinion, the living environment of the Inuit is very harsh, and we cannot understand why they do not leave this land of ice and snow. Perhaps this is the reason why "you don't know the joy of fish if you are not a fish."

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