Eli5: Why did civilizations such as the Pre Dorset, Thule, and Inuit not migrate south if their environments were so harsh and extreme?

Question

I read a few articles where some of these civilizations main focus was keeping warm because they were located so far north. So why would they not migrate more south?

In: 661

Answer 1

Living in the north was what they understood. No need to make a risky journey far south to a place you might not know how to survive in when you are surviving in the area you and your ancestors inhabited. Also, like today, culture plays a part, and people won’t just up and leave even rather harsh areas if that’s where they were born and what they know.

Also, some did move south. Look at the Navajo, they came to the Southwest relatively recently from the far north, the other languages in their language family are found in the arctic parts of Canada. But at no point would all the people in all parts of the north have a need to simultaneously move away.