Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology

Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology / Exhibits / Virtual Exhibits / Huron, Haida, and Inuit Houses / Introduction

THE HURON, HAIDA, AND INUIT more  -->

Huron

The Eastern Woodlands can be found in the southeastern part of Ontario and the southwestern part of Quebec. The Great Lakes, particularly Lake Huron, and the St. Lawrence river are in this region. One tribe that lived in this region, the Huron, used the rivers and lakes as highways to communicate and trade with other tribes. Do you think that the Huron got their name from the Great Lake or could it be that the Huron were the ones who named the Great Lake?

The Huron were sedentary people, which means they stayed in the same place for long periods of time. They lived in longhouses made from many small trees. These houses were called longhouses because they were much longer than they were wide. The Huron built villages and surrounded them with a big barricade. The only longhouses that we can still see are ones that have been rebuilt and made into a museum.

Haida

The Northwest Coast is found along the Pacific Ocean on the Western shores of Canada. It includes the entire coastline of British Columbia. It is a very diverse environment with many lakes and rivers, as well as mountains. One thing about this area is, it rains a lot! Because of all that rain, there are many kinds of plants that grow in the forest and the trees grow very big.

Hundreds of years ago, these tall trees were used to build big houses. A lot of these house were built on Haida Gwaii, the Queen Charlotte Islands. The people who built these houses were called Haida. The Haida still live on the Queen Charlotte Islands, but they no longer live in traditional Northwest Coast houses. Now most of these houses are no longer standing and all we have left are photographs, drawings, and archaeological sites.

Inuit

The Arctic is the area in the north of Canada that includes Baffin and the Arctic Islands. This is a very harsh environment. There is snow as far as the eye can see for much of the year. The Arctic has no trees, it is above the tree line.

The people who live here are called the Inuit. In the past they lived in igloos in the winter. Now they use igloos only for temporary shelters while out hunting.The freezing temperatures and the shorter days throughout the winter kept the Inuit inside a good portion of the time. They played games that required very little space, because there was not a lot of free space inside the igloo. Igloos had to be small because the snow blocks used to build them formed a self-supporting arch. An arch that is too wide will not support itself and will fall in.