why did the eskimos not move south?

[Analog]

No scorpions, rattle snakes, fire ants, pythons, malaria, and other tropical maladies.

 

[Squisher]

People fear change. Why should I move South with those choosing to do so when I know I can survive here? For every person that is always seeking greener pastures there will be those refusing to move even when facts state living here will be full of hardship.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

First off: They did (which is where all the various native tribes throughout North and South America came from).

Second: They didn't have access to our understanding of the world. There was no guarantee that the entire world wasn't just a big vast icy wasteland. Why risk moving around in that when you're likely to die without proper shelter?

Third: Moving is a huge fucking ordeal even today. How hard do you think it is to walk from Alaska to California with no modern technology? That's a journey that could take a lifetime, and with no guarantee of success or superior climate, that's a suicide mission. Sure, it eventually worked out well for the people who were crazy enough to try, but most people are pretty content to stay where they are as long as they aren't perpetually miserable (or there's no promise of anything better).

 

[dainthomas]

First off: They did (which is where all the various native tribes throughout North and South America came from).

Second: They didn't have access to our understanding of the world. There was no guarantee that the entire world wasn't just a big vast icy wasteland. Why risk moving around in that when you're likely to die without proper shelter?

Third: Moving is a huge fucking ordeal even today. How hard do you think it is to walk from Alaska to California with no modern technology? That's a journey that could take a lifetime, and with no guarantee of success or superior climate, that's a suicide mission. Sure, it eventually worked out well for the people who were crazy enough to try, but most people are pretty content to stay where they are as long as they aren't perpetually miserable (or there's no promise of anything better).

Plus the land was already settled to the south (after the initial migration). It's not just walking to California, which would be difficult but doable. But anyone tired of the cold would be walking to California and be under constant attack because they're moving through someone else's territory. Huge PITA if you're doing alright where you are.

In one of my anthropology class, I also learned that cultures in more favorable climates are generally bigger a-holes because they're constantly fighting off other people trying to move in. Inuit had to battle the elements, but no one else wanted to live there so it was a bit more of a stable situation that way.

 

[shortylickens]

Why didn't people in Minnesota move south?

Because then we'd be Texans.

 

[SP33Demon]

If you believe the anthropologists, they did...and we ended up with American Indians as well as the various other "Indian" tribes throughout North, Central, and South America.

(Bering Straits land bridge)

Yup, what Boomer said.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-genetic-footprints-africa.html

That study almost confirms it, they need to test eskimo dna markers next.