WI: Inuit muskox pastoralism

The muskox is a large Arctic mammal (known as umingmak in Inuit)--it has long been used for its meat and wool, which drove it to extinction in Siberia, Alaska, and all but the most remote parts of the Arctic Archipelago. Today there are attempts at domesticating the muskox, as their coat, called qiviut, is exceptionally warm and thus makes an expensive fabric.

But what if the Inuit (or their ancestors) had already domesticated the muskox? The origin of the Inuit in the Thule culture occurred at a time when the muskox was still present in northern Alaska. Perhaps slight shifts of the Inuit way of life (brought on by an extended time of plenty like the Roman Warm Period or an extended time of little like the Late Antiquity Little Ice Age) would be enough to make them preserve these animals instead of immediately butchering them. The Inuit would gain a more reliable source of meat than caribou or other game as well as an animal they could regularly harvest wool from to make clothing (which could be very valuable in trade to other groups). Muskox can pull sleds and make solid pack animals, and unlike dogs, don't need to be fed meat. Since they can thrive in the harshest environments like the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (including far north Ellesmere Island and northern Greenland), they can expand the range of the Inuit.

One effect which is most interesting is the effect this would have on the Norse settlements in Greenland and their frequent trips to Vinland and Markland. When the Dorset are displaced by the Thule, the Greenlanders will notice the muskox, and likely trade with the Inuit for the qiviut. Qiviut is superior to wool or other fabric used by Europeans in keeping out the cold, and would likely become a status symbol amongst the wealthy. For Greenlanders, it would be a major trade good to Iceland and Norway, eventually even surpassing ivory. Unlike ivory which was undercut by African ivory, qiviut would remain a profitable export, allowing Greenlanders to import their daily needs and continue their expeditions to harvest timber and such.

Europeans would thus know that this "oxwool" or whatever name qiviut becomes known as comes from the far west. This would implant an idea that the far west (i.e. the Americas) is rich in people trading this substance, which will disappoint a lot of explorers since it's unlikely non-Inuit will adopt the muskox (muskox is sensitive to wet conditions, so aside from maybe Athabaskans in the Rockies, this pastoralism won't spread far south). However, they'll likely find the Grand Banks and the wealth in furs in the Americas.

Aside from what I mentioned, what other effects might this cause for the Americas and later Europe? In terms of colonialism, I think it will make the Scandinavians take a lead on colonising the New World.
 
One effect which is most interesting is the effect this would have on the Norse settlements in Greenland and their frequent trips to Vinland and Markland. When the Dorset are displaced by the Thule, the Greenlanders will notice the muskox, and likely trade with the Inuit for the qiviut. Qiviut is superior to wool or other fabric used by Europeans in keeping out the cold, and would likely become a status symbol amongst the wealthy. For Greenlanders, it would be a major trade good to Iceland and Norway, eventually even surpassing ivory. Unlike ivory which was undercut by African ivory, qiviut would remain a profitable export, allowing Greenlanders to import their daily needs and continue their expeditions to harvest timber and such.
Maybe the increased trade between Inuit and Greenlanders could lead to more inter-cultural exchange?
 
Today there are attempts at domesticating the muskox
how are those going? Kinda hard to answer the OP unless we know just how easy/hard it is to domesticate them...
One thing I read about muskoxen... one of the things that nearly wiped them out was their habit of bunching together in a circle, heads and horns facing outward, when threatened. Great tactic against wolves, not a bit of good against bows and guns. As the numbers of muskoxen started to go down drastically, they changed their tactics... whenever they saw people, they would just take off running... so they are somewhat adaptable..
 
Off the top of my head, it could lead to other domesticates or semi-domesticates. Once you pen up one animal for its meat/fur/milk/hide, and then potentially put a harness around its neck, the idea to work another animal in a similar fashion, especially in an area where the previous animal can't feasibly live is a logical next step. We know this because cattle were being penned up before horses and likely sheep before that, and of course camels well after the domestication of horses around 2500 BCE. Once muskoxen are properly domesticated, it might spur the domestication of caribou further south in wetter environs either by Inuit peoples expanding in that direction who are at the edge of the feasible range of their existing domesticate or by peoples interacting with them, most likely Athabaskans.

I'm not sure about Scandinavians spearheading colonization, though. If the muskoxen is already domesticated by the time the Norse arrive in Greenland circa 1000, then trade of qiviut will likely commence in the next couple of decades, making it back to settlements in Iceland and probably all the way back to Norway by at least 1030. It would seem odd to me if it took 30 years for it to get back to Norway by then. Now, I don't know if Iceland is suitable for muskoxen, as a population was apparently introduced there in 1930, but it didn't survive. Do we know why? The Wikipedia citation states that muskoxen were "reintroduced" but that the introduction was "a failure". If it has to do with human hunting or perhaps the situation in WWII, then that's easily butterflied, furthermore, in this case they would be domesticated, and so their survival would have a lot more to do with the people managing the herds. So, I think that in all likelihood they can be productive in Iceland, and introducing them there so as to remove the monopoly that the Inuit have over the wool is going to be one of the first moves the Norse make. If the Inuit have not already established a commercial network trading qiviut with other Natives, say in Newfoundland and in Quebec and this is just something they produce amongst themselves, then they probably won't try to prevent the Norse from acquiring a herd of their own. If they already have, and qiviut is a commodity item among Natives, then they definitely will try to guard their herds, and this will result in conflict with the more technologically advanced Norse settlers, but not before some level of technological exchange (i.e. transfer of some metallurgical knowledge) has taken place. It's not like Greenland is some sort of prize though, and so the Norse will probably be happy once they have been able to rustle enough muskoxen for themselves so that they can control the trade with Europe, although some more ambitious fellows might seek to control trade with other Natives as well... if it's even a thing.

Now, once they get their own breeding populations, they might share them freely with Iceland as Iceland has always been more practical for settlement than Greenland, or they might not. It depends, and I think mostly on whether or not the Inuit have an established trade network for their product in the Americas. If they do, Greenlandic settlements remain productive, and probably receive a few waves of new settlers looking to take part in the business while ambitious folks try to carve out a piece of the Northwest Atlantic trading network for themselves. If no such trading network exists, then once you get productive breeding populations on Iceland, Greenland probably remains something of an afterthought, a sort of freezing Wild West, and exploration of the Americas by the Norse is probably still somewhat minimal, unless ranchers are looking for new places to set up shop. Iceland will get very rich, and may try to assert itself over Greenland to control trade of qiviut or "kivjud" into Northern Europe. This could potentially result in the annexation of Iceland by Norway or Denmark some time in the 11th century to monopolize trade, as the fabric is likely to be a high status commodity item throughout the Baltic, the British Isles, and potentially also the Kievan Rus and Novgorod. Norway and Denmark were having a hard time in the 11th century though, so annexation might have to wait, but as aforementioned there will probably be something of a rush to settle Iceland and Greenland as competing centers for the production of the fabric, which could mean that they pal up to monopolize its production and distribution through out Northern Europe.

This monopoly will almost inevitably lead to some kind of a conflict with other non-Scandinavian entities, especially if say, Gaels from the Kingdom of the Isles (and potentially from Ireland) or perhaps Gaelic "privateers" being paid by the Kings of the Isles raid Iceland and rustle enough muskoxen to take back to Scotland, where they might be productive on the Hebrides or in Shetland/Orkney. Alternatively (or perhaps simultaneously) they are welcomed in Norse Iceland initially and demographically replace the Norse in some of them. The Kingdom of the Isles was briefly under the direct control of Norway in the 11th century if I'm not mistaken, and so Gaels might fight with Norway at some point to try to assert direct control there as well, which together with Gaelic piracy might leave a sour taste in the mouths of the Icelandic and Greenlandic Norse with regards to their presence, or at least accepting more Gaelic settlers.

If the Gaels can't establish their own breeding populations, and piracy just brings back loads of cloth bound for the Baltic, then down the road, as the Kingdom of the Isles still probably comes under the control of the Kingdom of Scotland, the Scottish might want to circumvent the monopoly entirely and fund expeditions into the west to figure out if they can set up their own trading settlements to get their hands on the wool, and in turn they might end up taking the lead in colonization of the Americas.
 
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They was a demesticated heard in Vermont in I think the 1970. They relocated to Alaska, as the Vermont summers were to warm. I was looking at sweaters and scarves for a Xmas preasent for my wife. The site was for a ranch outside of Whitehorse.
 

Anawrahta

Banned
The muskox is a large Arctic mammal (known as umingmak in Inuit)--it has long been used for its meat and wool, which drove it to extinction in Siberia, Alaska, and all but the most remote parts of the Arctic Archipelago. Today there are attempts at domesticating the muskox, as their coat, called qiviut, is exceptionally warm and thus makes an expensive fabric.

But what if the Inuit (or their ancestors) had already domesticated the muskox? The origin of the Inuit in the Thule culture occurred at a time when the muskox was still present in northern Alaska. Perhaps slight shifts of the Inuit way of life (brought on by an extended time of plenty like the Roman Warm Period or an extended time of little like the Late Antiquity Little Ice Age) would be enough to make them preserve these animals instead of immediately butchering them. The Inuit would gain a more reliable source of meat than caribou or other game as well as an animal they could regularly harvest wool from to make clothing (which could be very valuable in trade to other groups). Muskox can pull sleds and make solid pack animals, and unlike dogs, don't need to be fed meat. Since they can thrive in the harshest environments like the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (including far north Ellesmere Island and northern Greenland), they can expand the range of the Inuit.

One effect which is most interesting is the effect this would have on the Norse settlements in Greenland and their frequent trips to Vinland and Markland. When the Dorset are displaced by the Thule, the Greenlanders will notice the muskox, and likely trade with the Inuit for the qiviut. Qiviut is superior to wool or other fabric used by Europeans in keeping out the cold, and would likely become a status symbol amongst the wealthy. For Greenlanders, it would be a major trade good to Iceland and Norway, eventually even surpassing ivory. Unlike ivory which was undercut by African ivory, qiviut would remain a profitable export, allowing Greenlanders to import their daily needs and continue their expeditions to harvest timber and such.

Europeans would thus know that this "oxwool" or whatever name qiviut becomes known as comes from the far west. This would implant an idea that the far west (i.e. the Americas) is rich in people trading this substance, which will disappoint a lot of explorers since it's unlikely non-Inuit will adopt the muskox (muskox is sensitive to wet conditions, so aside from maybe Athabaskans in the Rockies, this pastoralism won't spread far south). However, they'll likely find the Grand Banks and the wealth in furs in the Americas.

Aside from what I mentioned, what other effects might this cause for the Americas and later Europe? In terms of colonialism, I think it will make the Scandinavians take a lead on colonising the New World.

It seems plausible considering the Saitops culture domesticated horses with no knowledge of agriculture.
I know nothing about animal husbandry
 
Honestly there’s much easier animal to domesticate than the Muskox in the same range; the caribou. And it would be pretty easy, let say someone introduce the reindeer to the Americas and it’s hybridized with the caribous. That may serve as inspiration for domesticating muskox, the most likely place for this to happen would likely be Thule, as the geography limit the migration of reindeer, which could result in semi-sendentary reindeer herders, the rich fishing in the region also help. it’s also one of the few places where muskoxes and humans lives close to each other in Greenland. Let’s say they hunt some muskoxes, and bring the calves home. Muskoxes aren’t a easy animal to domesticate. But if the Dorset people domesticate them primarily for their wool, they could let them wander around and simply collect the wool they lost, while they slowly killed the most aggressive animals and protected them against predators. The result would likely still be a pretty hostile animals, but not one which reacted hostile to human on sight. With some time I could see the muskox become a arctic version of the yak. As the Norse arrived, I could see them spread the domesticated muskox to Europe, mostly to Fennoscandinavia and subarctic and arctic Russia.
 
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Having time to think about it and let's keep it simple to have as little change to history as possible, reindeer herding are introduced to the pre-Inuit who spread it over their population area, even with reindeer herding they don't move inland because of conflict with the inland Native Americans(in general there was little contact between the pre-Inuit/Inuits and the Native Americans, and the little contact Europeans know off are reputed to have been quite hostile). The pre-Inuits was primarily hunters so the use of reindeer herding would be relative natural for them and a general contribution to their lifestyle. According to Encyclopædia Britannica, the Dorset (the last pre-inuit culture) didn't use dog sleds, so we see rein deer being used in similar manner to Eurasia as beast of burden, food, milk and riding. This result in a relatively large population of pre-Inuits. In Greenland we see the Independence II culture first beginning the domestication of muskox. Let call this culture the Peary Culture.


It starts with the Peary culture simply collecting qiviut (the soft muskox underwool) which the muskox shed in the spring. These textiles are useful for the Peary people, but overhunting lead to the muskox disappearing near their settlements, as result they develop a taboo at overhunting them. Over the next few centuries the muskox population grow near their settlements, but hunting still happens, but at some point around 500BC we see the first archaeological evidence of the muskox living in Peary settlements, at the same time we see a expansion in the use of their wool, both in clothing and in different tools. We see the Peary culture expand both south and west and we see the expansion of muskox herding. reindeer are still in use, but we see a move toward reindeer being used mainly as a riding animal.


Around 1AD the settlements in Peary Land disappear because of climate change and we a split of the Peary Culture between the Ellesmere and Scorebysund culture. The former will replace the Dorset culture outside Quebec, while the later will stay more conservative and colonize East Greenland. We see Peary land being recolonized by the Scorebysund culture again but disappear from the region again. West and South Greenland was colonized by the Ellesmere culture in 500 AD, but with the medieval warm period they began declining in the south.


It at this point we see the first contact with the Norse. There’s little early contact as Ellesmere culture was thinly populated, but a few years after the first Norse settlements was create the sagas report the early contact. They called the Ellesmere people for the Rifafolk.


It was surprisingly peaceful, the Ellesmere culture and Norse had little to fight over, the Norse preferred warmer area near the coast, while the Ellesmere did hunt seal, the Norse was fishermen. The Ellesmere was interested in the tools and foodstuff of the Norse, while the Norse was interested in qiviut, walrus ivory and pelts. As such the Norse grew rich in selling these to Europe.


The Norse had little interest in adopting muskox as the sheep and cattle served the same purpose, at least in the southern settlement. But as the muskox allowed more northern settlement and summer trip to the island of Disko was common, a few permanent settlements were set up on Disko, these made heavily use of muskox and hay farming, they also intermarried with the Rifafolk. We also see the first introduction of saddle riding on reindeer both among the Norse and Rifafolk. Hay farming also spread to Rifafolk settlements.


But a storm was on the way, the Inuit expansion, the Inuits was hunter-gathers, and made little use of reindeer, but their tool kit was much more advanced than the other pre-Inuit cultures, and much better especially for fishing. Their use of dog sleds also gave them much greater mobility than the reindeer riders, especially in the winter. As such their expansion was fast and efficient, they reach and replaced most of the Ellesmere and Dorset culture by 1300. Some part of Ellesmere culture survived by migrate inland on the big islands and solely becoming muskox and reindeer herders and mixing it with hay farming.


At the same time the Medieval Warm Period ended, and cattle and sheep became harder to rase in Greenland, the result was the universal adoption of muskox and to lesser extent reindeer instead. The disappearance of the Rifafolk also lead to a need to produce qiviut among the Norse. This also led to the spread of muskox to Iceland and Norway, they could here use marginal land, which hadn’t been in use earlier, like the central highland tundra in Iceland and the mountainous areas of Norway. But Greenland kept a reputation to produce the best pelts.


Inuits also spread through Peartland into the Scorebysund culture, but here instead of a replacement we saw the hybridization of the cultures into the Late Scorebysund culture. The mix of herding, hunting and fishing resulted in this marginal land being able to feed a greater population.


The late medieval sagas are full of the conflict between the Inuits and the Norse Greenlanders, but the Norse survived and thrived thanks to continued trade with Europe and the muskox usefulness in the barren wasteland of Greenland. As such as we reached 1500 Greenland was home to 7000 Norse Greenlanders and an unknown population of Inuits.


In Fennoscandinavia the muskox had resulted in increase population in the more marginal regions, but it didn’t cause a population explosion just an earlier spread and more dense population in these marginal regions. Norwegians also moved into the northern White Sea region where they came to replace the the local Pomors, as such Norway/Denmark and Norvogrod/Russia saw several conflicts over the ownership over the region.
 
I like it.:cool:

Does the increased population lead to more raiding? Or a stronger defense against invasion? Or both?
 
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