People near the North Pole

Lapland is in the north of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia.

Not many people live there because it is very cold.

The children in Lapland learn to ski when they are very small. Reindeer used to be very important to the people of Lapland. They used to go verywhere by reindeer sledge. They ate reindeer meat. They drank reindeer milk and they made bags, clothes and shoes from reindeer skins. Now they can buy food and clothes in shops.

But they still make beautiful clothes, shoes and bags with reindeer skins.

The Inuit live in Greenland, Canada and Alaska near the North Pole. They are also called Eskimos. Today they live in houses. They have shops and schools, hospitals and libraries. In the past their lives were very different.

Seals were the most important thing to them. They ate seal meat. They used to live in sealskin tents. They wore thick, warm sealskin clothes. They made sealskin boats, too. The Inuit made strong, light sledges. Inuit dogs were not pets. They pulled the sledges and they slept outside in the snow. The Inuit made holes in the frozen ground and speared fish through the holes.

Sometimes, when the Inuit were away from home, they built small, round snow houses called igloos. They slept on sealskins on the frozen ground.