Why do Eskimos not build substantial brick homes?

Answer 1

If you called someone who lived in the frozen north an "eskimo" they would flatten you. it's the same as calling someone of african - american heritage a "n****r". They're called the "Inuit" people these days. Their name for themselves - "eskimo" is a terribly derogatory term.

They didn't build their shelters from bricks because bricks require subsantial amounts of a certain type of clay to make and a bucketload of wood to cook them. Neither resource is available when you've got a couple of hundred metres of ice to get through before you hit the earth. and THAT'S frozen solid. Ice and snow are easily obtainable resources that take very little to work into an incredibly warm and peaceful environment which you can simply walk away from once you've finished harvesting the food resources in the immediate neighbourhood.

A better question to ask would be "why do we Westerners spend so much energy and resources on building brick homes when there are so many other cheaper solutions around, like adobe / mud brick?"

I've been involved in the building of both igloos and mudbrick houses and both make a lot more sense than the standard three bed red brick venereal diseases which are so goddamn prolific....

Love and Light,

Jarrah

Answer 2

If you mean why didn't they, the answer goes something like this.
1. They were nomadic to some extent so there was no need.
2. You can't make bricks from frozen earth.
3. They didn't have time in the summer to build permanent structures they were busy finding food to survive the coming winter.

Answer 3

Bricks (made of clay, in large quantities) are not readily available in these neighborhoods. Snow is. They use the resources they have at hand, and they have become good at it.

Answer 4

igloos donot leave cold inside it because it slowly melts and the outside cold prevents it melting so balancing the temperature.but in the case of brick house the outside temperature will dominate