Circumpolar peoples and Arctic peoples are umbrella terms for the various indigenous peoples of the Arctic. Prehistory The earliest inhabitants of North America's central and eastern Arctic are referred to as the Arctic small tool tradition (AST) and existed c. 2500 BC. AST consisted of several Paleo-Eskimo cultures, including the Independence cultures and Pre-Dorset culture. The Dorset culture (Inuktitut: Tuniit or Tunit) refers to the next inhabitants of central and eastern Arctic. The Dorset culture evolved because of technological and economic changes during the period of 1050–550 BC. With the exception of the Quebec/Labrador peninsula, the Dorset culture vanished around 1500 AD. Dorset/Thule culture transition dates around the 9th–10th centuries. Scientists theorize that there may have been cross-contact of the two cultures with sharing of technology, such as fashioning harpoon heads, or the Thule may have found Dorset remnants and adapted their ways with the predecessor culture. Others believe the Thule displaced the Dorset. Historical and contemporary peoples By 1300, the Inuit, present-day Arctic inhabitants and descendants of Thule culture, had settled in west Greenland, and moved into east Greenland over the following century. Over time, the Inuit have migrated throughout the Arctic regions of Canada, Greenland, Russia and the United States. Other Circumpolar North Indigenous peoples include the Chukchi, Evenks, Inupiat, Khanty, Koryaks, Nenets, Sami, Yukaghir, and Yupik. Yupik People still refer to themselves as Eskimo which means "snowshoe netters", not "raw meat eaters" as it is sometimes mistakenly translated. List of peoples by ethnolinguistic grouping Ancient Beringian - Siberia and Alaska Chukotko-Kamchatkan Chukchi, Siberia (Chukotka Autonomous Okrug), Russia Koryaks, Siberia (Kamchatka Krai), Russia Tungusic Evenks, China (Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang), Mongolia, Russia Evens, Siberia (Magadan Oblast, Kamchatka Krai and Sakha), Russia Turkic Northeast Turkic Dolgans, Siberia (Krasnoyarsk Krai), Russia Yakuts, Siberia (Sakha), Russia Eskimo-Aleut Eskimo Yupik: Alaska and the Russian Far East (Chukotka Autonomous Okrug) Alutiiq, Alaska Central Alaskan Yup'ik, Alaska Cup'ik, Alaska Cup'ig, Nunivak Island (Alaska) Siberian Yupik, Siberia (Chukotka Autonomous Okrug), Russia Inuit: Greenland, Northern Canada (Nunavut, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut, Northwest Territories (Inuvik Region) and Yukon), Alaska, United States Kalaallit, Greenland Iñupiat: Northwest Arctic and North Slope boroughs and the Bering Straits, Alaska, United States Aleut: Aleutian Islands, Alaska, United States and Kamchatka Krai, Russia Uralic Finno-Ugric Permian Komi, Russia (Komi Republic and Perm Krai) Udmurt, Russia Sami: Northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia (Murmansk Oblast) Balto-Finnic Finns, Finland, Norway Karelians, Finland, Russia Samoyedic Nenets, Russia Enets, Siberia