The following account of the Central Eskimo contains chiefly the results of the author's own observations and collections made during a journey to Cumberland Sound and Davis Strait, supplemented by extracts from the reports of other travelers. The Eskimo are the indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the northern circumpolar region from eastern Siberia (Russia), across Alaska (United States), Canada, and Greenland.

Franz Uri Boas (1858-1942) was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the movement of anthropological historicism.