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Generally speaking, the people of each community and region make their clothing with one or more specific aims in mind. They use the materials available in their local environment, and we may thus assume that the longer the isolation of a particular community, the greater the individuality shown by the clothing. This has certainly been true of the Inuit of West and East Greenland, prior to those times in the past when they came increasingly to be confronted by Europeans. In West Greenland this occurred as early as the second half of the eighteenth century. [17] East Greenland, however, remained isolated until the end of the nineteenth century, and thus free of outside influences. The end of East Greenland's isolation came in 1884, when a Danish expedition led by Lieutenant Gustav Holm [18] explored the east coast of Greenland. From that moment on a great many new ideas, materials and customs began, slowly but surely, to penetrate Greenland society. Where clothing is concerned, changes began to become clearly visible.
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