The umiak, umialak, umiaq, umiac, oomiac, oomiak, ongiuk, or anyak is a type of open skin boat used by both Yupik and Inuit, and was originally found in all coastal areas from Siberia to Greenland. First arising in Thule times, it has traditionally been used in summer to move people and possessions to seasonal hunting grounds and for hunting whales and walrus. Although the umiak was usually propelled by oars (women) or paddles (men), sails—sometimes made from seal intestines—were also used, and in the 20th century, outboard motors. Because the umiak has no keel, the sails cannot be used for tacking.
Description
Open, native arctic North American skin boats seating more than one person and used for transporting goods and passengers; for similar but smaller and covered skin boats seating only one, use "kayaks."
Broader concept
Dataset owner
National Maritime Museums in Sweden (Government agency) owns the information on this page
Contact information
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Last changed
01/06/2015 14:05:47
Label
Umiak
Swedish
Description
Open, native arctic North American skin boats seating more than one person and used for transporting goods and passengers; for similar but smaller and covered skin boats seating only one, use "kayaks."
English
Wikipedia (via Wikidata)
Broader concept
See also