User:Generalissima/Canadian bios

= Qalaherriaq =

Qalaherriaq (c. 1834 – June 14, 1856), baptized as Erasmus Augustine Kallihirua, was an Inughuaq who served as a guide for the HMS Assistance, afterwards becoming the first Greenlandic Inuk to visit the United Kingdom.

Name
Qalaherriaq was known by various names. Qalaherriaq or Qalaherhuaq are approximations of his name's pronunciation in his native dialect of Inuktun, rendered as Qalasirssuaq in standard Greenlandic. This was rendered Kallihirua in contemporary sources, and frequently abbreviated "Kalli". He was named Erasmus York (after Captain Erasmus Ommanney and Cape York), before his baptism in 1853 as Erasmus Augustine Kallihirua. Other spellings of his name include Caloosa, Calahierna, Kalersik, Ka’le’sik, Qalaseq, and Kalesing.

Early life and Ommanney's expedition
Qalaherriaq was born to Qisunnguaq and Saattoq c. 1834, members of an Inughuit band near Wolstenholme Fjord in northwestern Greenland. He had a younger sister, alongside possibly another younger sibling, both of unknown name.

Newfoundland and death
Qalaherriaq died suddenly at St. John's on June 14, 1856. An autopsy was taken in the following weeks to ascertain a cause of death, concluding that he died of heart failure associated with long-term tuberculosis.