 After 1850 the interior became depopulated because of diseases, the decline of the caribou and the migration to the coast (including the Mackenzie Delta area in Canada, where they are called Uummarmiut) where whaling and fox trapping provided a temporarily promising alternative.Historically, the Nunamiut hunted caribou.When caribou numbers dwindled in the 19th century, some Nunamiut migrated towards the Mackenzie River delta.