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The Sámi ( ; also spelled Sami or Saami) are a Finno-Ugric-speaking people inhabiting the region of Sápmi (formerly known as Lapland), which today encompasses large northern parts of
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...
,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
,
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...
, and of the
Murmansk Oblast Murmansk Oblast (russian: Му́рманская о́бласть, p=ˈmurmənskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ, r=Murmanskaya oblast, ''Murmanskaya oblast''; Kildin Sami: Мурман е̄ммьне, ''Murman jemm'ne'') is a federal subject (an oblast) o ...
, Russia, most of the
Kola Peninsula The Kola Peninsula (russian: Кольский полуостров, Kolsky poluostrov; sjd, Куэлнэгк нёа̄ррк) is a peninsula in the extreme northwest of Russia, and one of the largest peninsulas of Europe. Constituting the bulk ...
in particular. The Sámi have historically been known in English as Lapps or Laplanders, but these terms are regarded as offensive by the Sámi, who prefer the area's name in their own languages, e.g. Northern Sámi . Their traditional languages are the Sámi languages, which are classified as a branch of the Uralic language family. Traditionally, the Sámi have pursued a variety of livelihoods, including coastal fishing, fur trapping, and sheep herding. Their best-known means of livelihood is semi-
nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...
ic reindeer herding. about 10% of the Sámi were connected to reindeer herding, which provides them with meat, fur, and transportation; around 2,800 Sámi people were actively involved in reindeer herding on a full-time basis in Norway. For traditional, environmental, cultural, and political reasons, reindeer herding is legally reserved for only Sámi in some regions of the Nordic countries.


Etymologies


Sámi

Speakers of Northern Sámi refer to themselves as (the Sámis) or (of Sámi kin), the word being
inflected In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and de ...
into various grammatical forms. Other Sámi languages use
cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical ef ...
words. As of around 2014, the current consensus among specialists was that the word ''Sámi'' was borrowed from the Proto-Baltic word , meaning 'land' (
cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical ef ...
with Slavic (), of the same meaning). The word ''Sámi'' has at least one cognate word in Finnish: Proto-Baltic was also borrowed into Proto-Finnic, as . This word became modern Finnish (Finnish for the region of Tavastia; the second ''ä'' of is still found in the adjective ). The Finnish word for Finland, , is also thought probably to derive ultimately from Proto-Baltic , though the precise route is debated and proposals usually involve complex processes of borrowing and reborrowing. and its adjectival form must come from '/'. In one proposal, this Finnish word comes from a
Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic br ...
word , itself from Proto-Baltic , in turn borrowed from Proto-Finnic , which was borrowed from . The Sámi institutions—notably the
parliaments In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
, radio and TV stations, theatres, etc.—all use the term ''Sámi'', including when addressing outsiders in Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, or English. In Norwegian and Swedish, the Sámi are today referred to by the localized form .


''Finn''

The first probable historical mention of the Sámi, naming them , was by
Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...
, about AD 98. Variants of ''Finn'' or were in wide use in ancient times, judging from the names and () in classical
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
and Greek works. ''Finn'' (or variants, such as , 'striding Finn') was the name originally used by Norse speakers (and their proto-Norse speaking ancestors) to refer to the Sámi, as attested in the Icelandic Eddas and
Norse sagas is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the Super NES to t ...
(11th to 14th centuries). The etymology is somewhat uncertain, but the consensus seems to be that it is related to
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
, from proto-Germanic ('to find'), the logic being that the Sámi, as hunter-gatherers "found" their food, rather than grew it. This etymology has superseded older speculations that the word might be related to ''fen''. As Old Norse gradually developed into the separate Scandinavian languages, Swedes apparently took to using ''Finn'' to refer to inhabitants of what is now Finland, while the Sámi came to be called ''Lapps''. In Norway, however, Sámi were still called ''Finns'' at least until the modern era (reflected in toponyms like , , and ), and some northern Norwegians will still occasionally use ''Finn'' to refer to Sámi people, although the Sámi themselves now consider this to be an inappropriate term. Finnish immigrants to Northern Norway in the 18th and 19th centuries were referred to as
Kvens Kvens (; fi, kveeni; no, kvenar, kvener; sv, kväner; se, kveanat) are a Balto-Finnic ethnic minority in Norway. They are descended from Finnish peasants and fishermen who emigrated from the northern parts of Finland and Sweden to Norther ...
to distinguish them from the Sámi "Finns". Ethnic
Finns Finns or Finnish people ( fi, suomalaiset, ) are a Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these ...
() are a distinct group from Sámi.


''Lapp''

The word ''Lapp'' can be traced to
Old Swedish Old Swedish (Modern Swedish: ) is the name for two distinct stages of the Swedish language that were spoken in the Middle Ages: Early Old Swedish (), spoken from about 1225 until about 1375, and Late Old Swedish (), spoken from about 1375 unti ...
, Icelandic (plural) perhaps of Finnish origin; compare Finnish "Lapp", "Lapland" (possibly meaning "wilderness in the north"), the original meaning being unknown. It is unknown how the word ''Lapp'' came into the Norse language, but one of the first written mentions of the term is in the by the twelfth-century Danish historian , who referred to 'the two Lappias', although he still referred to the Sámi as s. In fact, Saxo never explicitly connects the Sámi with the "two Laplands". The term "Lapp" was popularized and became the standard terminology by the work of , (1673). The Sámi are often known in other languages by the
exonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group ...
s ''Lap'', ''Lapp'', or ''Laplanders'', although these are considered derogatory terms by some, while others accept at least the name ''Lappland''. Variants of the name ''Lapp'' were originally used in Sweden and Finland and, through Swedish, adopted by many major European languages: en, Lapps; German, nl, Lappen; french: Lapons; el, Λάπωνες (); hu, lappok; it, Lapponi; pl, Lapończycy; pt, Lapões; es, Lapones; ro, laponi; . In Russian the corresponding term is () and in Ukrainian (). In Finland and Sweden, ''Lapp'' is common in place names, such as (), (
South Karelia South Karelia ( fi, Etelä-Karjala; sv, Södra Karelen) is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Kymenlaakso, South Savo and North Karelia, as well as Russia (Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast). Historical province ''For his ...
) and ( North Savo) in Finland; and (
Stockholm County Stockholm County ( sv, Stockholms län, link=no ) is a county or ''län'' (in Swedish) on the Baltic Sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stockho ...
), () and () in Sweden. As already mentioned, ''Finn'' is a common element in Norwegian (particularly Northern Norwegian) place names, whereas ''Lapp'' is exceedingly rare. Terminological issues in Finnish are somewhat different. Finns living in Finnish Lapland generally call themselves , whereas the similar word for the Sámi people is . This can be confusing for foreign visitors because of the similar lives Finns and Sámi people live today in Lapland. is also a common family name in Finland. In Finnish, is the most commonly used word nowadays, especially in official contexts.


History

The western
Uralic languages The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian ...
are believed to spread from the region along the
Volga The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catch ...
, which is the longest river in Europe. The speakers of Finnic and Sámi languages have their roots in the middle and upper Volga region in the Corded Ware culture. These groups presumably started to move to the northwest from the early home region of the Uralic peoples in the second and third quarters of the 2nd millennium BC. On their journey, they used the ancient river routes of northern Russia. Some of these peoples, who may have originally spoken the same western Uralic language, stopped and stayed in the regions between
Karelia Karelia ( Karelian and fi, Karjala, ; rus, Каре́лия, links=y, r=Karélija, p=kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə, historically ''Korjela''; sv, Karelen), the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance fo ...
, Ladoga and
Lake Ilmen Lake Ilmen ( rus, И́льмень, p=ˈilʲmʲɪnʲ) is a large lake in the Novgorod Oblast of Russia. A historically important lake, it formed a vital part of the medieval trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks. The city of Novgorod - ...
, and even further to the east and to the southeast. The groups of these peoples that ended up in the
Finnish Lakeland Finnish Lakeland or Finnish lake district ( fi, Järvi-Suomi, "Lake Finland", sv, Insjöfinland) is the largest of the four landscape regions into which the geography of Finland is divided. The hilly, forest-covered landscape of the lake pl ...
from 1600 to 1500 BC later "became" the Sámi. The Sámi people arrived in their current homeland some time after the beginning of the
Common Era Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...
. The Sámi language first developed on the southern side of Lake Onega and
Lake Ladoga Lake Ladoga (; rus, Ла́дожское о́зеро, r=Ladozhskoye ozero, p=ˈladəʂskəjə ˈozʲɪrə or rus, Ла́дога, r=Ladoga, p=ˈladəɡə, fi, Laatokka arlier in Finnish ''Nevajärvi'' ; vep, Ladog, Ladoganjärv) is a fresh ...
and spread from there. When the speakers of this language extended to the area of modern-day Finland, they encountered groups of peoples who spoke a number of smaller ancient languages ( Paleo-Laplandic languages), which later became extinct. However, these languages left traces in the Sámi language ( Pre-Finnic substrate). As the language spread further, it became segmented into dialects. The geographical distribution of the Sámi has evolved over the course of history. From the
Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
, the Sámi occupied the area along the coast of Finnmark and the
Kola Peninsula The Kola Peninsula (russian: Кольский полуостров, Kolsky poluostrov; sjd, Куэлнэгк нёа̄ррк) is a peninsula in the extreme northwest of Russia, and one of the largest peninsulas of Europe. Constituting the bulk ...
. This coincides with the arrival of the Siberian genome to
Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...
and Finland, which may correspond with the introduction of the Finno-Ugric languages in the region.
Petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...
s and archeological findings such as settlements, dating from about 10,000 BC can be found in Lapland and Finnmark, although these have not been demonstrated to be related to the Sámi people. These hunter-gatherers of the late
Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός '' palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...
and early
Mesolithic The Mesolithic ( Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymo ...
were named
Komsa The Komsa culture (''Komsakulturen'') was a Mesolithic culture of hunter-gatherers that existed from around 10,000 BC in Northern Norway. The culture is named after Mount Komsa in the community of Alta, Norway, Alta, Finnmark, where the remains o ...
by the researchers.


Relationship between the Sámi and the Scandinavians

The Sámi have a complex relationship with the Scandinavians (known as Norse people in the medieval era), the dominant peoples of Scandinavia, who speak
Scandinavian languages The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is als ...
and who founded and thus dominated the kingdoms of Norway and Sweden in which most Sámi people live. While the Sámi have lived in
Fennoscandia __NOTOC__ Fennoscandia ( Finnish, Swedish and no, Fennoskandia, nocat=1; russian: Фенноскандия, Fennoskandiya) or the Fennoscandian Peninsula is the geographical peninsula in Europe, which includes the Scandinavian and Kola penin ...
for around 3,500 years, Sámi settlement of Scandinavia does not predate Norse/Scandinavian settlement of Scandinavia, as sometimes popularly assumed. The migration of Germanic-speaking peoples to Southern Scandinavia happened independently and separate from the later Sámi migrations into the northern regions. For centuries, the Sámi and the Scandinavians had relatively little contact; the Sámi primarily lived in the inland of northern Fennoscandia, while Scandinavians lived in southern Scandinavia and gradually colonised the Norwegian coast; from the 18th and especially the 19th century, the governments of Norway and Sweden started to assert sovereignty more aggressively in the north, and targeted the Sámi with Scandinavization policies aimed at forced assimilation from the 19th century. Before the era of forced Scandinavization policies, the Norwegian and Swedish authorities had largely ignored the Sámi and did not interfere much in their way of life. While Norwegians moved north to gradually colonise the coast of modern-day
Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; sme, Romsa ja Finnmárku ; fkv, Tromssa ja Finmarkku; fi, Tromssa ja Finnmark, lit. Troms and Finnmark in English), is a county in northern Norway that was established on 1 January 2020 as the result of a regional reform. ...
to engage in an export-driven fisheries industry prior to the 19th century, they showed little interest in the harsh and non-arable inland populated by reindeer-herding Sámi. Unlike the Norwegians on the coast who were strongly dependent on their trade with the south, the Sámi in the inland lived off the land. From the 19th century Norwegian and Swedish authorities started to regard the Sámi as a "backward" and "primitive" people in need of being "civilized", imposing the Scandinavian languages as the only valid languages of the kingdoms and effectively banning Sámi language and culture in many contexts, particularly schools.


Southern limits of Sámi settlement in the past

How far south the Sámi extended in the past has been debated among historians and archeologists for many years. The Norwegian historian Yngvar Nielsen, commissioned by the Norwegian government in 1889 to determine this question in order to settle contemporary questions of Sámi land rights, concluded that the Sámi had lived no farther south than Lierne in
Nord-Trøndelag Nord-Trøndelag (; "North Trøndelag") was a county constituting the northern part of the present-day Trøndelag county in Norway. The county was established in 1804 when the old Trondhjems amt was divided into two: Nordre Trondhjems amt and S ...
county until around 1500, when they started moving south, reaching the area around Lake Femund in the 18th century. This hypothesis is still accepted among many historians, but has been the subject of scholarly debate in the 21st century. In recent years, several archaeological finds indicate a Sámi presence in southern Norway in the Middle Ages, and in southern Sweden, including finds in Lesja, in Vang, in Valdres and in
Hol Hol is a municipality in Viken county, Norway. Administrative history The area of Hol was separated from the municipality Ål in 1877 to become a separate municipality. In 1937 a part of neighboring Uvdal with 220 inhabitants moved to Hol munic ...
and Ål in Hallingdal. Proponents of the Sámi interpretations of these finds assume a mixed population of Norse and Sámi people in the mountainous areas of southern Norway in the Middle Ages.


Origins of the Norwegian Sea Sámi


Bubonic plague

Until the arrival of
bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the plague bacterium ('' Yersinia pestis''). One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and vomiting, as wel ...
in northern Norway in 1349, the Sámi and the Norwegians occupied very separate economic niches. The Sámi hunted reindeer and fished for their livelihood. The Norwegians, who were concentrated on the outer islands and near the mouths of the fjords, had access to the major European trade routes so that, in addition to marginal farming in the
Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, ...
,
Troms Troms (; se, Romsa; fkv, Tromssa; fi, Tromssa) is a former county in northern Norway. On 1 January 2020 it was merged with the neighboring Finnmark county to create the new Troms og Finnmark county. This merger is expected to be reversed by t ...
, and Finnmark counties, they were able to establish commerce, trading fish for products from the south. According to old Nordic texts, the Sea Sámi and the Mountain Sámi are two classes of the same people and not two different ethnic groups, as had been erroneously believed. This socioeconomic balance greatly changed when
bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the plague bacterium ('' Yersinia pestis''). One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and vomiting, as wel ...
came to northern Norway in December 1349. The Norwegians were closely connected to the greater European trade routes, along which the plague traveled; consequently, they were infected and died at a far higher rate than Sámi in the interior. Of all the states in the region, Norway suffered the most from this
plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...
. Depending on the
parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...
, 60 to 76 percent of northern Norwegian farms were abandoned following the plague, while land-rents, another measure of population, dropped to 9-28% of pre-plague levels. Although the population of northern Norway is sparse compared to southern Europe, the disease spread just as fast. The spread of the plague-carrying
flea Flea, the common name for the order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult fleas grow to about long, ...
('' Xenopsylla cheopsis'') from the south was facilitated by the transport of wooden
barrels A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, u ...
holding wheat, rye, or wool, where the fleas were able to live, and even reproduce, for several months at a time. The Sámi lived on fish and reindeer meat, and did not eat wheat or rye. They lived in communities detached from the Norwegians; being only loosely connected to the European trade routes, they fared far better than the Norwegians.


Fishing industry

Fishing has always been the main livelihood for the many Sámi living permanently in coastal areas. Archeological research shows that the Sámi have lived along the coast and once lived much farther south in the past, and they were also involved in work other than reindeer herding (e.g., fishing, agriculture, iron work). The fishing along the north Norwegian coast, especially in the Lofoten and Vesterålen islands, is quite productive, with a variety of fish; during medieval times, it was a major source of income for both the fishermen and the Norwegian monarchy. With such massive population drops caused by the
Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...
, the tax revenues from this industry greatly diminished. Because of the huge profits that could be had from these fisheries, the local authorities offered incentives to the Sámi—faced with their own population pressures—to settle on the newly vacant farms. This started the economic division between the Sea Sámi (''sjøsamene''), who fished extensively off the coast, and the Mountain Sámi (''fjellsamene, innlandssamene''), who continued to hunt reindeer and small-game animals. They later herded reindeer. Even as late as the early 18th century, there were many Sámi who were still settling on these farms left abandoned from the 1350s. After many years of continuous migration, these Sea Sámi became far more numerous than the reindeer-herding mountain Sámi, who today only make up 10% of all Sámi. In contemporary times, there are also ongoing consultations between the Government of Norway and the Sámi Parliament regarding the right of the coastal Sámi to fish in the seas on the basis of historical use and international law. State regulation of sea fisheries underwent drastic change in the late 1980s. The regulation linked quotas to vessels and not to fishers. These newly calculated quotas were distributed free of charge to larger vessels on the basis of the amount of the catch in previous years, resulting in small vessels in Sámi districts falling outside the new quota system to a large degree.


Mountain Sámi

As the Sea Sámi settled along Norway's fjords and inland waterways, pursuing a combination of farming, cattle raising, trapping and fishing, the minority Mountain Sámi continued to hunt wild
reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subs ...
. Around 1500, they started to tame these animals into herding groups, becoming the well-known reindeer nomads, often portrayed by outsiders as following the traditional Sámi lifestyle. The Mountain Sámi had to pay taxes to three states,
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...
,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
and
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
, as they crossed each border while following the annual reindeer migrations; this caused much resentment over the years. Between 1635 and 1659, the Swedish crown forced Swedish conscripts and Sámi cart drivers to work in the Nasa silver mine, causing many Sámis to emigrate from the area to avoid forced labour. As a result, the population of Pite- and Lule-speaking Sámi decreased greatly.


Post-1800s

For long periods of time, the Sámi lifestyle thrived because of its adaptation to the
Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...
environment. Indeed, throughout the 18th century, as Norwegians of Northern Norway suffered from low fish prices and consequent depopulation, the Sámi cultural element was strengthened, since the Sámi were mostly independent of supplies from Southern Norway. During the 19th century, the pressure of Christianization of the Sámi increased, with some Sámi adopting Laestadianism. With the introduction of seven compulsory years of school in 1889, the Sámi language and traditional way of life came increasingly under pressure from forced cultural normalization. Strong economic development of the north also ensued, giving Norwegian culture and language higher status. On the Swedish and Finnish sides, the authorities were less militant, although the Sámi language was forbidden in schools and strong economic development in the north led to weakened cultural and economic status for the Sámi. From 1913 to 1920, the Swedish race-segregation political movement created a race-based biological institute that collected research material from living people and graves. Throughout history, Swedish settlers were encouraged to move to the northern regions through incentives such as land and water rights, tax allowances, and military exemptions. The strongest pressure took place from around 1900 to 1940, when Norway invested considerable money and effort to assimilate Sámi culture. Anyone who wanted to buy or lease state lands for agriculture in Finnmark had to prove knowledge of the Norwegian language and had to register with a Norwegian name. This caused the dislocation of Sámi people in the 1920s, which increased the gap between local Sámi groups (something still present today) that sometimes has the character of an internal Sámi ethnic conflict. In 1913, the Norwegian parliament passed a bill on "native act land" to allocate the best and most useful lands to Norwegian settlers. Another factor was the
scorched earth A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy. Any assets that could be used by the enemy may be targeted, which usually includes obvious weapons, transport vehicles, commun ...
policy conducted by the German army, resulting in heavy war destruction in northern Finland and northern Norway in 1944–45, destroying all existing houses, or ''kota'', and visible traces of Sámi culture. After
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, the pressure was relaxed, though the legacy was evident into recent times, such as the 1970s law limiting the size of any house Sámi people were allowed to build. The
controversy Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opposite d ...
over the construction of the hydro-electric power station in Alta in 1979 brought Sámi rights onto the political agenda. In August 1986, the national anthem ("
Sámi soga lávlla The Sámi ( ; also spelled Sami or Saami) are a Finno-Ugric-speaking people inhabiting the region of Sápmi (formerly known as Lapland), which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and of the Murmansk Oblast, Rus ...
") and flag (
Sámi flag The Sámi flag is the flag of Sápmi and the Sámi people, one of the indigenous people groups of the Nordic countries and the Kola Peninsula of the Russian Federation. First Sámi flag The first, unofficial Sámi flag was designed by Sa ...
) of the Sámi people were created. In 1989, the first Sámi parliament in Norway was elected. In 2005, the Finnmark Act was passed in the Norwegian parliament giving the Sámi parliament and the Finnmark Provincial council a joint responsibility of administering the land areas previously considered state property. These areas (96% of the provincial area), which have always been used primarily by the Sámi, now belong officially to the people of the province, whether Sámi or Norwegian, and not to the Norwegian state.


Contemporary issues

The indigenous Sámi population is a mostly urbanised demographic, but a substantial number live in villages in the high Arctic. The Sámi are still coping with the cultural consequences of language and culture loss caused by generations of Sámi children being taken to missionary and/or state-run boarding schools and the legacy of laws that were created to deny the Sámi rights (e.g., to their beliefs, language, land and to the practice of traditional livelihoods). The Sámi are experiencing cultural and environmental threats, including: oil exploration, mining, dam building, logging, climate change, military bombing ranges, tourism and commercial development.


Natural resource extraction

Sápmi is rich in precious metals, oil, and natural gas. Mining activities and prospecting to extract these resources from the region often interfere with reindeer grazing and calving areas and other aspects of traditional Sámi life. Some active mining locations include ancient Sámi spaces that are designated as ecologically protected areas, such as the Vindelfjällen Nature Reserve. The Sámi Parliament has opposed and rejected mining projects in the Finnmark area, and demanded that resources and mineral exploration benefit local Sámi communities and populations, as the proposed mines are in Sámi lands and will affect their ability to maintain their traditional livelihood. In Kallak (Sámi: ''Gállok'') a group of indigenous and non-indigenous activists protested against the UK-based mining company
Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. ...
which operated a drilling program in lands used for grazing reindeer during the winter. There is often local opposition to new mining projects where environmental impacts are perceived to be very large, as very few plans for mine reclamation have been made. In Sweden, taxes on minerals are intentionally low in an effort to increase mineral exploration for economic benefit, though this policy is at the expense of Sámi populations. ILO Convention No. 169 would grant rights to the Sámi people to their land and give them power in matters that affect their future. In Russia's Kola Peninsula, vast areas have already been destroyed by mining and smelting activities, and further development is imminent. This includes oil and natural gas exploration in the
Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian terr ...
. Oil spills affect fishing and the construction of roads. There is a gas pipeline that stretches across the Kola Peninsula, and power lines cut off access to reindeer calving grounds and sacred sites. In northern Finland, there has been a longstanding dispute over the destruction of forests, which prevents reindeer from migrating between seasonal feeding grounds and destroys supplies of lichen that grow on the upper branches of older trees. This lichen is the reindeer's only source of sustenance during the winter months, when snow is deep. The logging has been under the control of the state-run forest system.
Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...
, reindeer herders, and Sámi organisations carried out a historic joint campaign, and in 2010, Sámi reindeer herders won some time as a result of these court cases. Industrial logging has now been pushed back from the most important forest areas either permanently or for the next 20 years, though there are still threats, such as mining and construction plans of holiday resorts on the protected shorelines of Lake Inari.


Land rights

The Swedish government has allowed the world's largest onshore wind farm to be built in Piteå, in the Arctic region where the Eastern Kikkejaure village has its winter reindeer pastures. The wind farm will consist of more than 1,000 wind turbines and an extensive road infrastructure, which means that the feasibility of using the area for winter grazing in practice is impossible. Sweden has received strong international criticism, including by the UN Racial Discrimination Committee and the Human Rights Committee, that Sweden violates Sámi ''landrättigheter'' (land rights), including by not regulating industry. In Norway some Sámi politicians (for example—Aili Keskitalo) suggest giving the Sámi Parliament a special veto right on planned mining projects. Government authorities and NATO have built bombing-practice ranges in Sámi areas in northern Norway and Sweden. These regions have served as reindeer calving and summer grounds for thousands of years, and contain many ancient Sámi sacred sites.


Water rights

State regulation of sea fisheries underwent drastic change in the late 1980s. The regulation linked quotas to vessels and not to fishers. These newly calculated quotas were distributed free of cost to larger vessels on the basis of the amount of the catch in previous years, resulting in small vessels in Sámi districts falling outside the new quota system to a large degree. The Sámi recently stopped a water-prospecting venture that threatened to turn an ancient sacred site and natural spring called Suttesaja into a large-scale water-bottling plant for the world market—without notification or consultation with the local Sámi people, who make up 70 percent of the population. The Finnish National Board of Antiquities has registered the area as a heritage site of cultural and historical significance, and the stream itself is part of the Deatnu/Tana watershed, which is home to Europe's largest salmon river, an important source of Sámi livelihood. In Norway, government plans for the construction of a hydroelectric power plant in the Alta river in Finnmark in northern Norway led to a political controversy and the rallying of the Sámi popular movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s. As a result, the opposition in the Alta controversy brought attention to not only environmental issues but also the issue of Sámi rights.


Climate change and the environment

Reindeer have major cultural and economic significance for indigenous peoples of the North. The human-ecological systems in the North, like reindeer pastoralism, are sensitive to change, perhaps more than in virtually any other region of the globe, due in part to the variability of the Arctic climate and ecosystem and the characteristic ways of life of indigenous Arctic peoples. The 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster caused nuclear fallout in the sensitive Arctic ecosystems and poisoned fish, meat and berries. Lichens and mosses are two of the main forms of vegetation in the Arctic and are highly susceptible to airborne pollutants and heavy metals. Since many do not have roots, they absorb nutrients, and toxic compounds, through their leaves. The lichens accumulated airborne radiation, and 73,000 reindeer had to be killed as "unfit" for human consumption in Sweden alone. The government promised Sámi indemnification, which was not acted upon by government. Radioactive wastes and spent nuclear fuel have been stored in the waters off the Kola Peninsula, including locations that are only "two kilometers" from places where Sámi live. There are a minimum of five "dumps" where spent nuclear fuel and other radioactive waste are being deposited in the Kola Peninsula, often with little concern for the surrounding environment or population.


Tourism

The tourism industry in Finland has been criticized for turning Sámi culture into a marketing tool by promoting opportunities to experience "authentic" Sámi ceremonies and lifestyle. At many tourist locales, non-Sámi dress in inaccurate replicas of Sámi traditional clothing, and gift shops sell crude reproductions of Sámi handicraft. One popular "ceremony", crossing the Arctic Circle, actually has no significance in Sámi spirituality. To some Sámi, this is an insulting display of cultural exploitation.


Discrimination against the Sámi

The Sámi have for centuries, even today, been the subject of discrimination and abuse by the dominant cultures in the nations they have historically inhabited. They have never been a single community in a single region of Sápmi, which until recently was considered only a cultural region. Norway has been criticized internationally for the politics of
Norwegianization Norwegianization (''Fornorsking av samer'') was an official policy carried out by the Norwegian government directed at the Sámi and later the Kven people of northern Norway, in which the goal was to assimilate non-Norwegian-speaking native popul ...
of and discrimination against the Sámi. On 8 April 2011, recommendations from the UN Racial Discrimination Committee were delivered to Norway, addressing many issues related to the legacy of Norwegianization policies, including the need for more Sámi language education, interpreters, and cultural support. One committee recommendation was that discrimination against someone based upon their language be added to Article 1 of the Norwegian Discrimination and Accessibility Act. A new present status report was to have been ready by the end of 2012. In 2018, The
Storting The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years ...
commissioned The Truth and Reconciliation Commission to lay the foundation for recognition of the experiences of the Sámi subject to Norwegianization and the subsequent consequences. Sweden has faced similar criticism for its
Swedification Swedification refers to the spread and/or imposition of the Swedish language, people and culture or policies which introduced these changes. In the context of Swedish expansion within Scandinavia, ''Swedification'' can refer to both the integratio ...
policies, which began in the 1800s and lasted until the 1970s. In 2020, Sweden funded the establishment of an independent truth commission to examine and document past abuse of Sámi by the Swedish state. In 2021, the
Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sw ...
made a formal apology to Sweden's Sámi population for its role in forced conversions and Swedification efforts, outlining a multiyear reconciliation plan. In Finland, where Sámi children, like all Finnish children, are entitled to day care and language instruction in their own language, the Finnish government has denied funding for these rights in most of the country, including in Rovaniemi, the largest municipality in Finnish Lapland. Sámi activists have pushed for nationwide application of these basic rights. As in the other countries claiming sovereignty over Sámi lands, Sámi activists' efforts in Finland in the 20th century achieved limited government recognition of the Sámis' rights as a recognized minority, but the Finnish government has maintained its legally enforced premise that the Sámi must prove their land ownership, an idea incompatible with and antithetical to the traditional reindeer-herding Sámi way of life. This has effectively allowed the Finnish government to take without compensation, motivated by economic gain, land occupied by the Sámi for centuries.


Official Sámi policies


Norway

The Sámi have been recognized as an
indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
in Norway (1990 according to
ILO convention 169 The Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 is an International Labour Organization Convention, also known as ILO Convention 169, or C169. It is the major binding international convention concerning indigenous peoples and tribal peopl ...
as described below), and therefore, according to international law, the Sámi people in Norway are entitled special protection and rights. The legal foundation of the Sámi policy is: * Article 110a of the Norwegian Constitution. * The Sámi Act (12 June 1987, No. 56. The constitutional amendment states: "It is the responsibility of the authorities of the State to create conditions enabling the Sámi people to preserve and develop its language, culture and way of life." This provides a legal and political protection of the Sámi language, culture and society. In addition the "amendment implies a legal, political and moral obligation for Norwegian authorities to create an environment conducive to the Sámis themselves influencing on the development of the Sámi community". The Sámi Act provides special rights for the Sámi people: * "... the Sámis shall have their own national Sámi Parliament elected by and amongst the Sámis" (Chapter 1–2). * The Sámi people shall decide the area of activity of the Norwegian Sámi Parliament. * The Sámi and Norwegian languages have equal standing in Norway (section 15; Chapter 3 contains details with regards to the use of the Sámi language). The Norwegian Sámi Parliament also elects 50% of the members to the board of the Finnmark Estate, which controls 95% of the land in the county of Finnmark. In addition, the Sámi have special rights to reindeer husbandry. In 2007, the Norwegian Parliament passed the new Reindeer Herding Act acknowledging
siida The siida is a Sámi local community that has existed from time immemorial. A ''siida'' ( se, siida; smn, sijdâ; sma, sïjte; smj, tjiellde; sjd, сыййт, translit=syjjt; sjt, се̄ййп, italic=no, translit=siejjp; sms, paalǥâskå ...
as the basic institution regarding land rights, organization, and daily herding management. Norway has also accepted international conventions, declarations and agreements applicable to the Sámi as a minority and indigenous people including: * The International Covenant on Civil and Political Right (1966). Article 27 protects minorities, and indigenous peoples, against discrimination: "In those states in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities, shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or use their own language." * ILO Convention No. 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries (1989). The convention states that rights for the indigenous peoples to land and natural resources are recognized as central for their material and cultural survival. In addition, indigenous peoples should be entitled to exercise control over, and manage, their own institutions, ways of life and economic development in order to maintain and develop their identities, languages and religions, within the framework of the states in which they live. * The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965). * The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). * The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979). * The Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (1995). * The Council of Europe's Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (1992). * The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007).


Sweden

Sweden recognised the existence of the "Sámi nation" in 1989, but the ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, C169 has not been adopted. The Sametingslag was established as the Swedish Sámi Parliament on 1 January 1993. In 1998, Sweden formally apologized for the wrongs committed against the Sámi. Sámi is one of five national minority languages recognized by Swedish law. The Compulsory School Ordinance states that Sámi pupils are entitled to be taught in their native language; however, a municipality is only obliged to arrange mother-tongue teaching in Sámi if a suitable teacher is available and the pupil has a basic knowledge of Sámi. In 2010, after 15 years of negotiation, Laponiatjuottjudus, an association with Sámi majority control, will govern the
UNESCO World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...
Laponia. The reindeer-herding law will apply in the area as well.


Finland

The act establishing the Finnish Sámi Parliament (Finnish: Saamelaiskäräjät) was passed on 9 November 1973. Sámi people have had very little representation in Finnish national politics. In fact, as of 2007, Janne Seurujärvi, a Finnish Centre Party representative, was the first Sámi ever to be elected to the Finnish Parliament. Finland ratified the 1966 U.N. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights though several cases have been brought before the U.N. Human Rights Committee. Of those, 36 cases involved a determination of the rights of individual Sámi in Finland and Sweden. The committee decisions clarify that Sámi are members of a minority within the meaning of Article 27 and that deprivation or erosion of their rights to practice traditional activities that are an essential element of their culture do come within the scope of Article 27. Finland recognized the Sámi as a "people" in 1995, but has yet to ratify ILO Convention 169 Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples. Sámi in Finland have had access to Sámi language instruction in some schools since the 1970s, and language rights were established in 1992. There are three Sámi languages spoken in Finland: North Sámi,
Skolt Sámi Skolt Sámi ( , "the Sámi language", or , "the Eastern Sámi language", if a distinction needs to be made between it and the other Sámi languages) is a Uralic, Sámi language that is spoken by the Skolts, with approximately 300 speakers in ...
and
Inari Sámi Inari Sámi (, "the Inarian language", or , "the Inari (Aanaar) Sámi language") is a Sámi language spoken by the Inari Sámi of Finland. It has approximately 300 speakers, the majority of whom are middle-aged or older and live in the municip ...
. Of these languages, Inari Sámi, which is spoken by about 350 speakers, is the only one that is used entirely within the borders of Finland, mainly in the municipality of Inari. The case of J. Lansman versus Finland concerned a challenge by Sámi reindeer herders in northern Finland to the Finnish Central Forestry Board's plans to approve logging and construction of roads in an area used by the herdsmen as winter pasture and spring calving grounds. Finland has denied any aboriginal rights or land rights to the Sámi people; in Finland, non-Sámi can herd reindeer.


Russia

The 1822 Statute of Administration of Non-Russians in Siberia asserted state ownership over all the land in Siberia and then "granted" possessory rights to the natives. Governance of indigenous groups, and especially collection of taxes from them, necessitated protection of indigenous peoples against exploitation by traders and settlers. During the Soviet era, the inhabitants of the Kola tundra were forcibly relocated to kolkhoz'es (collective communities) by the state; most Sámi were settled at Lujávri ( Lovozero). The 1993 Constitution, Article 69 states, "The Russian Federation guarantees the rights of small indigenous peoples in accordance with the generally accepted principles and standards of international law and international treaties of the Russian Federation." For the first time in Russia, the rights of indigenous minorities were established in the 1993 Constitution. The Russian Federation ratified the 1966 U.N. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; Section 2 explicitly forbids depriving a people of "its own means of subsistence." The
Russian Duma The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...
(parliament) has adopted partial measures to implement it. The Russian Federation lists distinct indigenous peoples as having special rights and protections under the Constitution and federal laws and decrees. These rights are linked to the category known since Soviet times as the ''malochislennye narody'' ("small-numbered peoples"), a term that is often translated as "indigenous minorities", which include Arctic peoples such as the Sámi, Nenets, Evenki, and Chukchi. In April 1999, the Russian Duma passed a law that guarantees socio-economic and cultural development to all indigenous minorities, protecting traditional living places and acknowledging some form of limited ownership of territories that have traditionally been used for hunting, herding, fishing, and gathering activities. The law, however, does not anticipate the transfer of title in fee simply to indigenous minorities. The law does not recognize development rights, some proprietary rights including compensation for damage to the property, and limited exclusionary rights. It is not clear, however, whether protection of nature in the traditional places of inhabitation implies a right to exclude conflicting uses that are destructive to nature or whether they have the right to veto development. The Russian Federation's Land Code reinforces the rights of numerically small peoples ("indigenous minorities") to use places they inhabit and to continue traditional economic activities without being charged rent. Such lands cannot be allocated for unrelated activities (which might include oil, gas, and mineral development or tourism) without the consent of the indigenous peoples. Furthermore, indigenous minorities and ethnic groups are allowed to use environmentally protected lands and lands set aside as nature preserves to engage in their traditional modes of land use. Regional law, Code of the
Murmansk Oblast Murmansk Oblast (russian: Му́рманская о́бласть, p=ˈmurmənskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ, r=Murmanskaya oblast, ''Murmanskaya oblast''; Kildin Sami: Мурман е̄ммьне, ''Murman jemm'ne'') is a federal subject (an oblast) o ...
, calls on the organs of state power of the oblast to facilitate the native peoples of the Kola North, specifically naming the Sámi, "in realization of their rights for preservation and development of their native language, national culture, traditions and customs." The third section of Article 21 states: "In historically established areas of habitation, Sámi enjoy the rights for traditional use of nature and raditionalactivities." Throughout the Russian North, indigenous and local people have difficulties with exercising control over resources upon which they and their ancestors have depended for centuries. The failure to protect indigenous ways, however, stems not from inadequacy of the written law, but rather from the failure to implement existing laws. Violations of the rights of indigenous peoples continue, and oil, gas, and mineral development and other activities, (mining, timber cutting, commercial fishing, and tourism) that bring foreign currency into the Russian economy. The life ways and economy of indigenous peoples of the Russian North are based upon reindeer herding, fishing, terrestrial and sea mammal hunting, and trapping. Many groups in the Russian Arctic are semi-nomadic, moving seasonally to different hunting and fishing camps. These groups depend upon different types of environment at differing times of the year, rather than upon exploiting a single commodity to exhaustion. Throughout northwestern Siberia, oil and gas development has disturbed pastureland and undermined the ability of indigenous peoples to continue hunting, fishing, trapping, and herding activities. Roads constructed in connection with oil and gas exploration and development destroy and degrade pastureland, ancestral burial grounds, and sacred sites and increase hunting by oil workers on the territory used by indigenous peoples. In the Sámi homeland on the Kola Peninsula in northwestern Russia, regional authorities closed a fifty-mile (eighty-kilometer) stretch of the Ponoi River (and other rivers) to local fishing and granted exclusive fishing rights to a commercial company offering catch-and-release fishing to sport fishers largely from abroad. This deprived the local Sámi (see Article 21 of the Code of the Murmansk Oblast) of food for their families and community and of their traditional economic livelihood. Thus, closing the fishery to locals may have violated the test articulated by the U.N. Human Rights Committee and disregarded the Land Code, other legislative acts, and the 1992 Presidential decree. Sámi are not only forbidden to fish in the eighty-kilometer stretch leased to the Ponoi River Company but are also required by regional laws to pay for licenses to catch a limited number of fish outside the lease area. Residents of remote communities have neither the power nor the resources to demand enforcement of their rights. Here and elsewhere in the circumpolar north, the failure to apply laws for the protection of indigenous peoples leads to "criminalization" of local indigenous populations who cannot survive without "poaching" resources that should be accessible to them legally. Although indigenous leaders in Russia have occasionally asserted indigenous rights to land and resources, to date there has been no serious or sustained discussion of indigenous group rights to ownership of land. Russia has not adopted the ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, C169.


Nordic Sámi Convention

On 16 November 2005 in
Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
, a group of experts, led by former
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Norway The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Norway () is the judicial leader of the Supreme Court of Norway. The following is a chronological list of chief justices since the court was established: * 1814–27: Johan Randulf Bull - Named in 1814 ...
Professor
Carsten Smith Carsten Smith (born 13 July 1932, in Oslo) is a Norwegian judge and lawyer. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo (1977–1979) and as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Norway (1991–2002). After his retirement from ...
, submitted a proposal for a Nordic Sámi Convention to the annual joint meeting of the ministers responsible for Sámi affairs in Finland, Norway and Sweden and the presidents of the three Sámi Parliaments from the respective countries. This convention recognizes the Sámi as one indigenous people residing across national borders in all three countries. A set of minimum standards is proposed for the rights of developing the Sámi language and culture and rights to land and water, livelihoods and society. The convention has not yet been ratified in the Nordic countries.


Culture

To make up for past suppression, the authorities of Norway, Sweden and Finland now make an effort to build up Sámi cultural institutions and promote Sámi culture and language.


Duodji (craft)

Duodji, the Sámi handicraft, originates from the time when the Sámis were self-supporting nomads, believing therefore that an object should first and foremost serve a purpose rather than being primarily decorative. Men mostly use wood, bone, and antlers to make items such as antler-handled scrimshawed Sámi knives,
drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...
, and guksi (burl cups). Women used leather and roots to make items such as gákti (clothing), and birch- and spruce-root woven baskets.


Clothing

Gákti are the traditional clothing worn by the Sámi people. The gákti is worn both in ceremonial contexts and while working, particularly when herding reindeer. Traditionally, the gákti was made from reindeer leather and sinews, but nowadays, it is more common to use wool, cotton, or silk. Women's gákti typically consist of a dress, a fringed shawl that is fastened with 1–3 silver brooches, and boots/shoes made of reindeer fur or leather. Sámi boots (or '' nutukas'') can have pointed or curled toes and often have band-woven ankle wraps. Eastern Sámi boots have a rounded toe on reindeer-fur boots, lined with felt and with beaded details. There are different gákti for women and men; men's gákti have a shorter "jacket-skirt" than a women's long dress. Traditional gákti are most commonly in variations of red, blue, green, white, medium-brown tanned leather, or reindeer fur. In winter, there is the addition of a reindeer fur coat and leggings, and sometimes a poncho (luhkka) and rope/lasso. The colours, patterns and the jewellery of the gákti indicate where a person is from, if a person is single or married, and sometimes can even be specific to their family. The collar, sleeves and hem usually have appliqués in the form of geometric shapes. Some regions have ribbonwork, others have tin embroidery, and some Eastern Sámi have beading on clothing or collar. Hats vary by sex, season, and region. They can be wool, leather, or fur. They can be embroidered, or in the East, they are more like a beaded cloth crown with a shawl. Some traditional shamanic headgear had animal hides, plaits, and feathers, particularly in East Sápmi. The gákti can be worn with a belt; these are sometimes band-woven belts, woven, or beaded. Leather belts can have scrimshawed antler buttons, silver concho-like buttons, tassels, or brass/copper details such as rings. Belts can also have beaded leather pouches, antler needle cases, accessories for a fire, copper rings, amulets, and often a carved and/or scrimshawed antler handled knife. Some Eastern Sámi also have a hooded jumper (малиц) from reindeer skins with wool inside and above the knee boots.


Media and literature

* There are short daily news bulletins in Northern Sámi on national TV in
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...
,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
and
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...
.
Children's television Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...
shows in Sámi are also frequently made. There is also a radio station for Northern Sámi, which has some news programs in the other Sámi languages. * A single daily newspaper is published in Northern Sámi, ''
Ávvir ''Ávvir'' is a newspaper written in the Northern Sámi language with editorial offices or reporters in Kárášjohka, Guovdageaidnu, Áltá, Girkonjárga, and Romsa, Norway. It is currently published five times a week, from Monday to Friday, ...
'', along with a few magazines. * There is a Sámi theatre, Beaivvaš, in Kautokeino on the Norwegian side, as well as in Kiruna on the Swedish side. Both tour the entire Sámi area with drama written by Sámi authors or international translations. * A number of novels and poetry collections are published every year in Northern Sámi, and sometimes in the other Sámi languages as well. The largest Sámi publishing house is Davvi Girji. * The first secular book published in a Sámi language was
Johan Turi Johan Turi, born Johannes Olsen Thuri also spelt Johan Tuuri or Johan Thuri or Johan Thuuri (March 12, 1854 – November 30, 1936) was the first Sami author to publish a secular work in a Sami language. His first book was called ''Muitalus sám ...
's ''Muitalus sámiid birra'' (An Account of the Sámi), released in 1910 with text in Northern Sámi and Danish.


Music

A characteristic feature of Sámi musical tradition is the singing of ''
joik A joik or yoik (anglicised, where the latter spelling in English conforms with the pronunciation; also named , , , or in the Sámi languages) is a traditional form of song in Sámi music performed by the Sámi people of Sapmi in Northern Europ ...
''. Joiks are song-chants and are traditionally sung ''
a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...
'', usually sung slowly and deep in the throat with apparent emotional content of sorrow or anger. Joiks can be dedicated to animals and birds in nature, special people or special occasions, and they can be joyous, sad or melancholic. They often are based on syllablic improvisation. In recent years, musical instruments frequently accompany joiks. The only traditional Sámi instruments that were sometimes used to accompany joik are the "fadno" flute (made from reed-like '' Angelica archangelica'' stems) and hand drums (frame drums and bowl drums).


Education

* Education with Sámi as the first language is available in all four countries, and also outside the Sámi area. * Sámi University College is located in Kautokeino. Sámi language is studied in several universities in all countries, most notably the
University of Tromsø The University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway ( Norwegian: ''Universitetet i Tromsø – Norges arktiske universitet''; Northern Sami: ''Romssa universitehta – Norgga árktalaš universitehta'') is a state university in Norway ...
, which considers Sámi a mother tongue, not a foreign language.


Festivals

* Numerous Sámi festivals throughout the Sápmi area celebrate different aspects of the Sámi culture. The best known on the Norwegian side is
Riddu Riđđu Riddu Riđđu is an annual Sámi music and culture festival held in Olmmáivággi (Manndalen) in the Gáivuotna (Kåfjord) municipality in Norway. The goal of the festival is to bring forward both Sámi culture and that of other indigenous peop ...
, though there are others, such as in Inari. Among the most festive are the Easter festivals taking place in
Kautokeino Kautokeino ( no, Kautokeino; se, Guovdageaidnu ; fkv, Koutokeino; fi, Koutokeino) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino. Other village ...
and Karasjok before the springtime reindeer migration to the coast. These festivals combine traditional culture with modern phenomena such as snowmobile races. They celebrated the new year known as Ođđajagemánnu.


Visual arts

In addition to Duodji (Sámi handicraft), there is a developing area of contemporary Sámi visual art. Galleries such as Sámi Dáiddaguovddáš (Sami Center for Contemporary Art) are being established.


Dance

Unlike many other Indigenous peoples, traditional dance is generally not a visible manifestation of Sámi identity. This has led to a common misconception that Sámi, at least in western Sápmi, have no traditional dance culture. The Sámi modern dance company Kompani Nomad looked to old descriptions of shamanistic rituals and behaviors to identify "lost" Sámi dances and reimagine them through contemporary dance. An example is the ''lihkadus'' (ecstasy dance) described in sources from the 16th and 17th centuries, but which was adapted by Swedish–Sámi priest
Lars Levi Laestadius Lars Levi Laestadius (; 10 January 1800 – 21 February 1861) was a Swedish Sami pastor and administrator of the Swedish state Lutheran church in Lapland who founded the Laestadian pietist revival movement to help his largely Sami congregati ...
, who brought it and other Sámi traditions into the
Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sw ...
as part of the Laestadianism movement. Partner and group dancing have been a part of Skolt Sámi culture and among Sámi on the Kola Peninsula since at least the second half of the 1800s. These square dances, couple dances, circle dances, and singing games are influenced by Karelian and Northern Russian dance cultures, likely under the influence of Russian traders, military service under the tsar, and the
Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...
. This eastern Sápmi dance tradition has been more continuous and has been adapted by modern Sámi dance companies such as Johtti Kompani.


Reindeer husbandry

Reindeer husbandry has been and still is an important aspect of Sámi culture. Traditionally the Sámi lived and worked in reindeer herding groups called ''
siida The siida is a Sámi local community that has existed from time immemorial. A ''siida'' ( se, siida; smn, sijdâ; sma, sïjte; smj, tjiellde; sjd, сыййт, translit=syjjt; sjt, се̄ййп, italic=no, translit=siejjp; sms, paalǥâskå ...
t'', which consist of several families and their herds. Members of the ''siida'' helped each other with the management and husbandry of the herds. During the years of forced assimilation, the areas in which reindeer herding was an important livelihood were among the few where the Sámi culture and language survived. Today in Norway and Sweden, reindeer husbandry is legally protected as an exclusive Sámi livelihood, such that only persons of Sámi descent with a linkage to a reindeer herding family can own, and hence make a living off, reindeer. Presently, about 2,800 people are engaged in reindeer herding in Norway. In Finland, reindeer husbandry is not exclusive and is also practiced to a limited degree by ethnic Finns. Legally, it is restricted to EU/ EEA nationals resident in the area. In the north (Lapland), it plays a major role in the local economy, while its economic impact is lesser in the southern parts of the area ( Province of Oulu). Among the reindeer herders in Sámi villages, the women usually have a higher level of formal education in the area.


Games

The Sámi have traditionally played both card games and board games, but few Sámi games have survived, because Christian missionaries and Laestadianists considered such games sinful. Only the rules of three Sámi board games have been preserved into modern times. '' Sáhkku'' is a running-fight
board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a co ...
where each player controls a set of soldiers (referred to as "women" and "men") that race across a board in a loop, attempting to eliminate the other player's soldiers. The game is related to South Scandinavian daldøs, Arabian
tâb Tâb is the Egyptian name of a running-fight board game played in several Muslim (mostly Arab) countries, and a family of similar board games played in North Africa (as ''sîg'') and Western Asia, from Iran to West Africa and from Turkey to Soma ...
and Indian tablan. Sáhkku differs from these games in several respects, most notably the addition of a piece – "the king" – that changes gameplay radically. '' Tablut'' is a pure strategy game in the tafl family. The game features "Swedes" and a "Swedish king" whose goal is to escape, and an army of "Muscovites" whose goal is to capture the king. Tablut is the only tafl game where a relatively intact set of rules have survived into our time. Hence, all modern versions of tafl (commonly called "Hnefatafl" and marketed exclusively as "Norse" or "Viking" games) are based on the Sámi game of tablut. ''
Dablot Prejjesne Dablo (also called Dablot Prejjesne) is a family of two-player strategy board games of the Sámi people. Different variants of the game have been played in different parts of Sápmi. Names The word "dablo" is a non-Sámi attempt to write the Sout ...
'' is a game related to alquerque which differs from most such games (e.g.
draughts Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; British English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checker ...
) by having pieces of three different ranks. The game's two sides are referred to as "Sámi" (king, prince, warriors) and "Finlenders" (landowners, landowner's son, farmers).


Cultural region

Sápmi is located in Northern Europe, includes the northern parts of
Fennoscandia __NOTOC__ Fennoscandia ( Finnish, Swedish and no, Fennoskandia, nocat=1; russian: Фенноскандия, Fennoskandiya) or the Fennoscandian Peninsula is the geographical peninsula in Europe, which includes the Scandinavian and Kola penin ...
and spans four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. Non-Sámi and many regional maps have often called this same region ''Lapland'' as there is considerable regional overlap between Sápmi and the provinces of Lappland in Sweden and Lapland in Finland. Much of Sápmi falls outside of those provinces. Despite the terms use in tourism, ''Lapland'' can be either misleading or offensive, or both, to Sámi, depending on the context and where this word is used. Among the Sámi people, ''Sápmi'' is strictly used and acceptable.


Extent

There is no official geographic definition for the boundaries of Sápmi. However, the following counties and provinces are usually included: *
Finnmark Finnmark (; se, Finnmárku ; fkv, Finmarku; fi, Ruija ; russian: Финнмарк) was a county in the northern part of Norway, and it is scheduled to become a county again in 2024. On 1 January 2020, Finnmark was merged with the neighbour ...
county in Norway *
Jämtland county Jämtland County ( sv, Jämtlands län, ) is a county or ''län'' in the middle of Sweden consisting of the provinces of Jämtland and Härjedalen, along with minor parts of Hälsingland and Ångermanland, plus two small uninhabited strips of ...
in Sweden * Lapland region in Finland *
Murmansk oblast Murmansk Oblast (russian: Му́рманская о́бласть, p=ˈmurmənskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ, r=Murmanskaya oblast, ''Murmanskaya oblast''; Kildin Sami: Мурман е̄ммьне, ''Murman jemm'ne'') is a federal subject (an oblast) o ...
in Russia *
Nord-Trøndelag Nord-Trøndelag (; "North Trøndelag") was a county constituting the northern part of the present-day Trøndelag county in Norway. The county was established in 1804 when the old Trondhjems amt was divided into two: Nordre Trondhjems amt and S ...
county in Norway *
Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, ...
county in Norway *
Norrbotten county Norrbotten County ( sv, Norrbottens län; se, Norrbottena leatna, fi, Norrbottenin lääni) is the northernmost county or ''län'' of Sweden. It is also the largest county by land area, almost a quarter of Sweden's total area. It shares borders ...
in Sweden *
Troms Troms (; se, Romsa; fkv, Tromssa; fi, Tromssa) is a former county in northern Norway. On 1 January 2020 it was merged with the neighboring Finnmark county to create the new Troms og Finnmark county. This merger is expected to be reversed by t ...
county in Norway *
Västerbotten county Västerbotten County ( sv, Västerbottens län) is a county or ''län'' in the north of Sweden. It shares the borders with the counties of Västernorrland, Jämtland, and Norrbotten, as well as the Norwegian county of Nordland and the Gulf of Bo ...
in Sweden The municipalities of Gällivare, Jokkmokk and
Arjeplog Arjeplog (; Pite Sami: ) is a locality and the seat of Arjeplog Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 1,977 inhabitants in 2010. It is a popular winter test site for the Asian and European car industries and featur ...
in Swedish Lappland were designated a UNESCO
World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...
in 1996 as a "Laponian Area". The Sámi Domicile Area in Finland consists of the municipalities of
Enontekiö Enontekiö (; sme, Eanodat ; sv, Enontekis; smn, Iänudâh; sms, Jeänõk) is a municipality in the Finnish part of Lapland with approx. inhabitants. It is situated in the outermost northwest of the country and occupies a large and very spa ...
, Utsjoki and Inari as well as a part of the municipality of Sodankylä. About 3,000 of Finland's about 10,000 people speak Sámi as their mother tongue. Today, a considerable part of the Finnish Sámi live outside the Sápmi region, for example in
Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
there is a relatively large and active Sámi minority. According to the Sámi Parliament, the Sámi live in 230 municipalities out of a total of 336 municipalities in Finland. 75% of Sámi under the age of 10 live outside the Sápmi region.


Important Sámi towns

The following towns and villages have a significant Sámi population or host Sámi institutions (Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish or Russian name in parentheses): * Aanaar, Anár, or Aanar (Inari), is the location of the Finnish Sámi Parliament, Sajos Sámi Cultural Centre, SAKK – (Sámi Education Institute), Anarâškielâ servi (Inari Sámi Language Association), and the Inari Sámi Siida Museum. * Aarborte (Hattfjelldal) is a southern Sámi center with a Southern Sámi-language school and a Sámi culture center. * Árjepluovve (Arjeplog) is the Pite Saami center in Sweden. * Deatnu (Tana) has a significant Sámi population. * Divtasvuodna (Tysfjord) is a center for the Lule-Sámi population. The
Árran Árran is the Lule Sámi center in the village of Drag in Hamarøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The center was established in 1994 to foster and promote the Lule Sámi language and culture Culture () is an umbrella term whic ...
Lule-Sámi center is located here. * Gáivuotna (Kåfjord, Troms) is an important center for the Sea-Sámi culture. Each summer the
Riddu Riđđu Riddu Riđđu is an annual Sámi music and culture festival held in Olmmáivággi (Manndalen) in the Gáivuotna (Kåfjord) municipality in Norway. The goal of the festival is to bring forward both Sámi culture and that of other indigenous peop ...
festival is held in Gáivuotna. The municipality has a Sámi-language center and hosts the Ája Sámi Center. The opposition against Sámi language and culture revitalization in Gáivuotna was infamous in the late 1990s and included Sámi-language road signs being shot to pieces repeatedly. * Giron (Kiruna), proposed seat of the Swedish Sámi Parliament. *
Guovdageaidnu Kautokeino ( no, Kautokeino; se, Guovdageaidnu ; fkv, Koutokeino; fi, Koutokeino) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino. Other villages ...
(Kautokeino) is perhaps the cultural capital of the Sámi. About 90% of the population speaks Sámi. Several Sámi institutions are located in Kautokeino including: Beaivváš Sámi Theatre, a Sámi secondary school and reindeer-herding School, the Sámi University College, the Nordic Sámi Research Institute, the Sámi Language Board, the Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous People, and the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry. In addition, several Sámi media are located in Kautokeino including the Sámi-language ''
Áššu ''Áššu'' was a Northern Sámi-language newspaper published twice a week and distributed across Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. In 2008, ''Áššu'' ceased publication to merge with the rival paper ''Min Áigi'' to form ''Ávvir''. Histo ...
'' newspaper, and the DAT Sámi publishing house and record company. Kautokeino also hosts the, which includes the Sámi Grand Prix 2010 (Sámi Musicfestival) and the Reindeer Racing World Cup. The
Kautokeino rebellion The Sami revolt in Guovdageaidnu, also known as the Kautokeino uprising, was a revolt in the town of Kautokeino in northern Norway in 1852 by a group of Sami who attacked representatives of the Norwegian authorities. The rebels killed the local ...
in 1852 is one of the few Sámi rebellions against the Norwegian government's oppression against the Sámi. * Iänudâh, or Eanodat (Enontekiö). * Jiellevárri, or Váhčir (Gällivare) * Jåhkåmåhkke (Jokkmokk) holds a Sámi market on the first weekend of every February and has a Sámi school for language and traditional knowledge called Samij Åhpadusguovdásj. * Kárášjohka (Karasjok) is the seat of the Norwegian Sámi Parliament. Other important Sámi institutions are located in Kárášjohka, including
NRK Sámi Radio NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the larges ...
, the Sámi Collections museum, the Sámi Art Centre, the Sámi Specialist Library, the Mid-Finnmark legal office, a child and adolescent psychiatry outpatient clinic – one of few on a national level approved for providing full specialist training. Other significant institutions include a Sámi Specialist Medical Centre, and the Sámi Health Research Institute. In addition, the Sápmi cultural park is in the township, and the Sámi-language ''
Min Áigi ''Min Áigi'' (''Our Time'' in Northern Sami) was a twice-weekly Northern Sámi language newspaper based in Kárášjohka, Norway. In 2008, ''Min Áigi'' ceased publication to merge with the rival paper '' Áššu'' to form '' Ávvir''. Histor ...
'' newspaper is published here. * Leavdnja (Lakselv) in Porsáŋgu (Porsanger) municipality is the location of the Finnmark Estate and the ''
Ságat ''Ságat'' is a Sámi newspaper written in Norwegian that is published in Leavdnja, Finnmark, Norway. History and profile ''Ságat'' was founded in Vadsø Vadsø (; sme, Čáhcesuolu; fkv, Vesisaari) is a municipality in Troms og Fin ...
'' Sámi newspaper. The Finnmarkseiendommen organization owns and manages about 95% of the land in Finnmark, and 50% of its board members are elected by the Norwegian Sámi Parliament. * Луя̄ввьр (Lovozero) * Staare (Östersund) is the center for the Southern Sámi people living in Sweden. It is the site for Gaaltije – centre for South Sámi culture – a living source of knowledge for South Sámi culture, history and business. Staare also hosts the Sámi Information Centre and one of the offices to the Sámi Parliament in Sweden. * Njauddâm is the center for the Skolt Sámi of Norway, which have their own museum Äʹvv in the town. * Ohcejohka (Utsjoki). * Snåase (Snåsa) is a center for the Southern Sámi language and the only municipality in Norway where Southern Sámi is an official language. The Saemien Sijte Southern Sámi museum is located in Snåase. * Unjárga (Nesseby) is an important center for the Sea Sámi culture. It is also the site for the Várjjat Sámi Museum and the Norwegian Sámi Parliament's department of culture and environment. The first Sámi to be elected into the Norwegian Parliament, Isak Saba, was born there. * Árviesjávrrie (Arvidsjaur). New settlers from the south of Sweden did not arrive until the second half of the 18th century. Because of that, Sámi tradition and culture has been well preserved. Sámi people living in the south of Norrbotten, Sweden, use the city for Reindeer herding during the summer. During winter they move the Reindeers to the coast, to Piteå.


Demographics

In the geographical area of Sápmi, the Sámi are a small population. According to some, the estimated total Sámi population is about 70,000. One problem when attempting to count the population of the Sámi is that there are few common criteria of what "being a Sámi" constitutes. In addition, there are several Sámi languages and additional dialects, and there are several areas in Sapmi where few of the Sámi speak their
native language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother to ...
due to the forced cultural assimilation, but still consider themselves Sámi. Other identity markers are
kinship In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...
(which can be said to, at some level or other, be of high importance for all Sámi), the geographical region of Sápmi where their family came from, and/or protecting or preserving certain aspects of Sámi culture. All the Nordic Sámi Parliaments have included as the "core" criterion for registering as a Sámi the
identity Identity may refer to: * Identity document * Identity (philosophy) * Identity (social science) * Identity (mathematics) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film * ''Identity'' (2003 film), an ...
in itself—one must declare that one truly considers oneself a Sámi. Objective criteria vary, but are generally related to kinship and/or language. Still, due to the
cultural assimilation Cultural assimilation is the process in which a minority group or culture comes to resemble a society's majority group or assume the values, behaviors, and beliefs of another group whether fully or partially. The different types of cultural ass ...
of the Sámi people that had occurred in the four countries over the centuries, population estimates are difficult to measure precisely. The population has been estimated to be between 80,000 and 135,000 across the whole Nordic region, including urban areas such as
Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
, Norway, traditionally considered outside Sápmi. The Norwegian state recognizes any Norwegian as Sámi if he or she has one great-grandparent whose home language was Sámi, but there is not, and has never been, any registration of the home language spoken by Norwegian people. Roughly half of all Sámi live in Norway, but many live in Sweden, with smaller groups living in the far north of Finland and the
Kola Peninsula The Kola Peninsula (russian: Кольский полуостров, Kolsky poluostrov; sjd, Куэлнэгк нёа̄ррк) is a peninsula in the extreme northwest of Russia, and one of the largest peninsulas of Europe. Constituting the bulk ...
of Russia. The Sámi in Russia were forced by the Soviet authorities to relocate to a collective called Lovozero/Lujávri, in the central part of the Kola Peninsula.


Language

There is no single Sámi language, but a group of ten distinct Sámi languages. Six of these languages have their own written standards. The Sámi languages are relatively closely related, but not mutually intelligible; for instance, speakers of Southern Sámi cannot understand Northern Sámi. Especially earlier, these distinct languages were referred to as "dialects", but today, this is considered misleading due to the deep differences between the varieties. Most Sámi languages are spoken in several countries, because linguistic borders do not correspond to national borders. All Sámi languages are at some
degree of endangerment Degree of endangerment is an evaluation assigned by UNESCO to the languages in the Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.
, ranging from what
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...
defines as "definitely endangered" to "extinct". This is due in part to historic laws prohibiting the use of Sámi languages in schools and at home in Sweden and Norway. Sámi languages, and Sámi song-chants, called joiks, were illegal in Norway from 1773 until 1958. Then, access to Sámi instruction as part of schooling was not available until 1988. Special residential schools that would assimilate the Sámi into the dominant culture were established. These were originally run by missionaries, but later, controlled by the government. For example, in Russia, Sámi children were taken away when aged 1–2 and returned when aged 15–17 with no knowledge of their language and traditional communities. Not all Sámi viewed the schools negatively, and not all of the schools were brutal. However, being taken from home and prohibited from speaking Sámi has resulted in cultural alienation, loss of language, and lowered self-esteem. The Sámi languages belong to the
Uralic The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian lan ...
language family, linguistically related to Finnish,
Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also * ...
, and Hungarian. Due to prolonged contact and import of items foreign to Sámi culture from neighboring Scandinavians, there are a number of Germanic loanwords in Sámi, particularly for "urban" objects. The majority of the Sámi now speak the majority languages of the countries they live in, i.e., Swedish, Russian, Finnish and Norwegian. Efforts are being made to further the use of Sámi languages among Sámi and persons of Sámi origin. Despite these changes, the legacy of cultural repression still exists. Many older Sámi still refuse to speak Sámi. In addition, Sámi parents still feel alienated from schools and hence do not participate as much as they could in shaping school curricula and policy. In Norway, the name of the language is ''samisk'', and the name of the people is ''Same''; in Finland, the name of the language is spelled ''saame'' and the name of the people ''saamelainen''. American scientist
Michael E. Krauss Michael E. Krauss (August 15, 1934 – August 11, 2019) was an American linguist, professor emeritus, founder and long-time head of the Alaska Native Language Center. He died on August 11, 2019, four days before his 85th birthday. The Alaska ...
published in 1997 an estimate of Sámi population and their languages.Krauss, M. E. 1997. The indigenous languages of the North: A report on their present state. In H. Shoji and J. Janhunen (eds.), ''Northern minority languages: Problems of survival'', pp. 1–34. Osaka and Fairbanks: National Museum of Ethnology and Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Kemi Sámi language Kemi (; sme, Giepma ; smn, Kiemâ; sms, Ǩeeʹmm; Swedish (historically): ''Kiemi'') is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located very near the city of Tornio and the Swedish border. The distance to Oulu is to the south and to Ro ...
became extinct in the 19th century. Many Sámi do not speak any of the Sámi languages any more due to historical assimilation policies, so the number of Sámi living in each area is much higher.


Division by geography

Sápmi is traditionally divided into: * Eastern Sápmi (Inari, Skolt, Akkala, Kildin and Teri Sámi in Kola peninsula (Russia) and Inari (Finland, formerly also in eastern Norway) * Northern Sápmi (Northern, Lule and Pite Sámi in most of northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland) * Southern Sápmi (Ume and Southern Sámi in central parts of Sweden and Norway) It should also be noted that many Sámi now live outside Sápmi, in large cities such as
Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
in Norway.


Division by occupation

A division often used in Northern Sámi is based on occupation and the area of living. This division is also used in many historical texts: * Reindeer Sámi or Mountain Sámi (in Northern Sámi boazosapmelash or badjeolmmosh). Previously nomadic Sámi living as reindeer herders. Now most have a permanent residence in the Sámi core areas. Some 10% of Sámi practice reindeer herding, which is seen as a fundamental part of a Sámi culture and, in some parts of the Nordic countries, can be practiced by Sámis only. * Sea Sámi (in Northern Sámi ''mearasapmelash''). These lived traditionally by combining fishing and small-scale farming. Today, often used for all Sámi from the coast regardless of their occupation. * Forest Sámi who traditionally lived by combining fishing in inland rivers and lakes with small-scale reindeer-herding. * City Sámi who are now probably the largest group of Sámi.


Division by country

According to the Norwegian Sámi Parliament, the Sámi population of Norway is 40,000. If all people who speak Sámi or have a parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent who speaks or spoke Sámi are included, the number reaches 70,000. As of 2021, 20,545 people were registered to vote in the election for the Sámi Parliament in Norway. The bulk of the Sámi live in Finnmark and Northern
Troms Troms (; se, Romsa; fkv, Tromssa; fi, Tromssa) is a former county in northern Norway. On 1 January 2020 it was merged with the neighboring Finnmark county to create the new Troms og Finnmark county. This merger is expected to be reversed by t ...
, but there are also Sámi populations in Southern Troms,
Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, ...
and
Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denma ...
. Due to recent migration, it has also been claimed that
Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
is the municipality with the largest Sámi population. The Sámi are in a majority only in the municipalities of Guovdageaidnu–Kautokeino, Kárášjohka–Karasjok, Porsáŋgu–Porsanger, Deatnu–Tana and Unjárga–Nesseby in Finnmark, and Gáivuotna–Kåfjord in Northern Troms. This area is also known as the Sámi core area, and Sámi and Norwegian are co-equal administrative languages here. According to the Swedish Sámi Parliament, estimates of the size of the Sámi population of Sweden ranges from 20,000 to 40,000. As of 2021, 9,226 people were registered to vote in elections to the Swedish Sámi Parliament. According to the Finnish Population Registry Center and the Finnish Sámi Parliament, the Sámi population living in Finland was 10,753 in 2019. As of 31 December 2021, only 2,023 people were registered as speaking a Sámi language as their mother tongue. According to the 2010 All-Russia Census, the Sámi population of Russia was 1,771.


Sámi diaspora outside of Sápmi

There are an estimated 30,000 people living in North America who are either Sámi, or descendants of Sámi. Most have settled in areas that are known to have Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish immigrants. Some of these concentrated areas are
Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...
,
North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, ...
,
Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...
,
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, the
Upper Peninsula of Michigan The Upper Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...
,
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
,
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
,
Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...
and Alaska; and throughout Canada, including
Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
,
Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
and
Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Pro ...
, and the Canadian territories of the
Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
,
Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...
and
Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the '' Nunavut Act'' and the '' Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act'' ...
. Descendants of these Sámi immigrants typically know little of their heritage because their ancestors purposely hid their indigenous culture to avoid discrimination from the dominating Scandinavian or Nordic culture. Some of these Sámi are part of a diaspora that moved to North America in order to escape assimilation policies in their home countries. There were also several Sámi families that were brought to North America with herds of reindeer by the U.S. and Canadian governments as part of the "Reindeer Project" designed to teach the Inuit about reindeer herding. There is a long history of Sámi in Alaska. Some of these Sámi immigrants and descendants of immigrants are members of the Sami Siida of North America.


Organization

Sápmi demonstrates a distinct semi-national identity that transcends the borders between Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. There is no movement for sovereign state, but they do seek greater autonomy in respective nation states.


Sámi Parliaments

The Sámi Parliaments (''Sámediggi'' in
Northern Sámi Northern or North Sámi ( ; se, davvisámegiella ; fi, pohjoissaame ; no, nordsamisk; sv, nordsamiska; disapproved exonym Lappish or Lapp) is the most widely spoken of all Sámi languages. The area where Northern Sámi is spoken covers the ...
, ''Sämitigge'' in
Inari Sámi Inari Sámi (, "the Inarian language", or , "the Inari (Aanaar) Sámi language") is a Sámi language spoken by the Inari Sámi of Finland. It has approximately 300 speakers, the majority of whom are middle-aged or older and live in the municip ...
, ''Sää'mte'ǧǧ'' in
Skolt Sámi Skolt Sámi ( , "the Sámi language", or , "the Eastern Sámi language", if a distinction needs to be made between it and the other Sámi languages) is a Uralic, Sámi language that is spoken by the Skolts, with approximately 300 speakers in ...
) founded in Finland (1973), Norway (1989) and Sweden (1993) are the representative bodies for peoples of Sámi heritage. Russia has not recognized the Sámi as a minority and, as a result, recognizes no Sámi parliament, even if the Sámi people there have formed an unrecognised Sámi Parliament of Russia. There is no single, unified Sámi parliament that spans across the Nordic countries. Rather, each of the aforementioned three countries has set up its own separate legislatures for Sámi people, even though the three Sámi Parliaments often work together on cross-border issues. In all three countries, they act as an institution of cultural autonomy for the indigenous Sámi people. The parliaments have very weak political influence, far from autonomy. They are formally public authorities, ruled by the Scandinavian governments, but have democratically elected parliamentarians, whose mission is to work for the Sámi people and culture. Candidates' election promises often get into conflict with the institutions' submission under their governments, but as authorities, they have some influence over the government.


Norwegian organizations

The main organisations for Sámi representation in Norway are the ''siidas''. They cover northern and central Norway.


Swedish organizations

The main organisations for Sámi representation in Sweden are the ''siidas''. They cover northern and central Sweden.


Finnish organizations

In contrast to Norway and Sweden, in Finland, a ''siida'' (''paliskunta'' in Finnish) is a reindeer-herding corporation that is not restricted by ethnicity. There are indeed some ethnic Finns who practice reindeer herding, and in principle, all residents of the reindeer herding area (most of Finnish Lapland and parts of Oulu province) who are citizens of EEA countries, i.e., the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
and Norway,
Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...
and
Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German language, German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constit ...
, are allowed to join a ''paliskunta''.


Russian organizations

In 2010, the Sámi Council supported the establishment of a cultural center in Russia for Arctic peoples. The Center for Northern Peoples aims to promote artistic and cultural cooperation between the Arctic peoples of Russia and the Nordic countries, with particular focus on indigenous peoples and minorities.


Border conflicts

Sápmi, the Sámi traditional lands, cross four national borders. Traditional summer and winter pastures sometimes lie on different sides of the borders of the nation-states. In addition to that, there is a border drawn for modern-day Sápmi. Some state that the rights (for reindeer herding and, in some parts, even for fishing and hunting) include not only modern Sápmi but areas that are beyond today's Sápmi that reflect older territories. Today's "borders" originate from the 14th to 16th centuries when land-owning conflicts occurred. The establishment of more stable dwelling places and larger towns originates from the 16th century and was performed for strategic defence and economic reasons, both by peoples from Sámi groups themselves and more southern immigrants. Owning land within the borders or being a member of a ''
siida The siida is a Sámi local community that has existed from time immemorial. A ''siida'' ( se, siida; smn, sijdâ; sma, sïjte; smj, tjiellde; sjd, сыййт, translit=syjjt; sjt, се̄ййп, italic=no, translit=siejjp; sms, paalǥâskå ...
'' (Sámi corporation) gives rights. A different law enacted in Sweden in the mid-1990s gave the right to anyone to fish and hunt in the region, something that was met with skepticism and anger amongst the ''siidas''. Court proceedings have been common throughout history, and the aim from the Sámi viewpoint is to reclaim territories used earlier in history. Due to a major defeat in 1996, one ''siida'' has introduced a sponsorship "Reindeer Godfather" concept to raise funds for further battles in courts. These "internal conflicts" are usually conflicts between non-Sámi land owners and reindeer owners. Cases question the Sámi ancient rights to reindeer pastures. In 2010, Sweden was criticized for its relations with the Sámi in the Universal Periodic Review conducted by the Working Group of the Human Rights Council. The question whether the
fjeld The Scandinavian Mountains or the Scandes is a mountain range that runs through the Scandinavian Peninsula. The western sides of the mountains drop precipitously into the North Sea and Norwegian Sea, forming the fjords of Norway, whereas to the ...
's territory is owned by the governments (crown land) or by the Sámi population is not answered. From an indigenous perspective, people "belong to the land", the land does not belong to people, but this does not mean that hunters, herders, and fishing people do not know where the borders of their territories are located as well as those of their neighbors.


Sámi identity symbols

Although the Sámi have considered themselves to be one people throughout history, the idea of Sápmi, a Sámi
nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by th ...
, first gained acceptance among the Sámi in the 1970s, and even later among the majority population. During the 1980s and 1990s, a Sámi flag was created, a Sámi anthem was written, and the date of a national day was established.


The Sámi Flag

The Sámi flag was inaugurated during the Sámi Conference in Åre, Sweden, on 15 August 1986. It was the result of a competition for which many suggestions were entered. The winning design was submitted by the artist Astrid Båhl from
Skibotn Skibotn ( se, Ivgubahta, Kven: ''Yykeänperä'') is a village in Storfjord Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is located on the southeastern shore of the Lyngen fjord in Northern Norway. The village area is located at the cr ...
, Norway. The motif (shown right) was derived from the shaman's drum and the poem "Päiven Pārne ("Sons of the Sun") by the South Sámi Anders Fjellner describing the Sámi as sons and daughters of the sun. The flag has the Sámi colours, red, green, yellow and blue, and the circle represents the sun (red) and the moon (blue).


The Sámi People's Day

The Sámi National Day falls on 6 February as this date was when the first Sámi congress was held in 1917 in
Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, an ...
, Norway. This congress was the first time that Norwegian and Swedish Sámi came together across their national borders to work together to find solutions for common problems. The resolution for celebrating on 6 February was passed in 1992 at the 15th Sámi congress in Helsinki. Since 1993, Norway, Sweden and Finland have recognized 6 February as Sámi National Day.


"Song of the Sámi People"

"" ("Song of the Sámi People", ) was originally a poem written by Isak Saba that was published in the newspaper '' Saǥai Muittalægje'' for the first time on 1 April 1906. In August 1986, it became the Sámi anthem. Arne Sørli set the poem to music, which was then approved at the 15th Sámi Conference in
Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
in 1992. "" has been translated into all of the Sámi languages.


Religion

Many Sámi people continued to practice their religion up until the 18th century. Most Sámi today belong to the state-run
Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...
churches of Norway, Sweden and Finland. Some Sámi in Russia belong to the
Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...
, and similarly, some Skolt Sámi resettled in Finland are also part of an
Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...
congregation, with an additional small population in Norway.


Indigenous Sámi religion

Indigenous Sámi religion is a type of
polytheism Polytheism is the belief in multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religious sects and rituals. Polytheism is a type of theism. Within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, t ...
. (See Sámi deities.) There is some diversity due to the wide area that is Sápmi, allowing for the evolution of variations in beliefs and practices between tribes. The beliefs are closely connected to the land,
animism Animism (from Latin: ' meaning ' breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things— animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather syst ...
, and the
supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...
. Sámi spirituality is often characterized by
pantheism Pantheism is the belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical with divinity and a supreme supernatural being or entity, pointing to the universe as being an immanent creator deity still expanding and creating, which has ...
, a strong emphasis on the importance of personal spirituality and its interconnectivity with one's own daily life, and a deep connection between the natural and spiritual "worlds". Among other roles, the Noaidi, or Sámi shaman, enables ritual communication with the supernatural through the use of tools such as drums,
Joik A joik or yoik (anglicised, where the latter spelling in English conforms with the pronunciation; also named , , , or in the Sámi languages) is a traditional form of song in Sámi music performed by the Sámi people of Sapmi in Northern Europ ...
,
Fadno Fadno is a reed instrument and domestic flute of the Sami people of Scandinavia, made from Angelica archangelica. The instrument features a reed and three to six (generally four) fingerholes and appears to have no parallels among the surrounding S ...
, chants, sacred objects, and fly agaric. Some practices within the Sámi religion include natural sacred sites such as mountains, springs, land formations, Sieidi, as well as man-made ones such as
petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...
s and
labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by ...
s. Sámi cosmology divides the universe into three worlds. The upper world is related to the South, warmth, life, and the color white. It is also the dwelling of the gods. The middle world is like the Norse Midgard, it is the dwelling of humans and it is associated with the color red. The third world is the underworld and it is associated with the color black, it represents the north, the cold and it is inhabited by otters, loons, and seals and mythical animals. Sámi religion shares some elements with
Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern per ...
, possibly from early contacts with trading Vikings (or vice versa). They were the last worshippers of Thor, as late as the 18th century according to contemporary ethnographers. Through a mainly French initiative from
Joseph Paul Gaimard Joseph Paul Gaimard (31 January 1793 – 10 December 1858) was a French naval surgeon and naturalist. Biography Gaimard was born at Saint-Zacharie on January 31, 1793. He studied medicine at the naval medical school in Toulon, subseque ...
as part of his La Recherche Expedition, Lars Levi Læstadius began research on Sámi mythology. His work resulted in ''
Fragments of Lappish Mythology ''Fragments of Lappish Mythology'' is the detailed documented account of the Sami religious beliefs and mythology during the mid-19th century. It was written between 1838–1845 by Swedish minister Lars Levi Laestadius, but was not published unti ...
'', since by his own admission, they contained only a small percentage of what had existed. The fragments were termed ''Theory of Gods'', ''Theory of Sacrifice'', ''Theory of Prophecy, or short reports about rumorous Sami magic'' and ''Sami sagas''. Generally, he claims to have filtered out the Norse influence and derived common elements between the South, North, and Eastern Sámi groups. The mythology has common elements with other indigenous religions as well—such as those of indigenous peoples in
Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...
and
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
.


Christian mission

The term ''Sámi religion'' usually refers to the traditional religion, practiced by most Sámi until approximately the 18th century.
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...
was introduced by
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
missionaries as early as the 13th century. Increased pressure came after the
Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...
, and rune drums were burned or sent to museums abroad. In this period, many Sámi practiced their traditional religion at home, while going to church on Sunday. Since the Sámi were considered to possess "witchcraft" powers, they were often accused of sorcery during the 17th century and were the subjects of witchcraft trials and burnings. In Norway, a major effort to convert the Sámi was made around 1720, when
Thomas von Westen Thomas von Westen (13 September 1682 – 9 April 1727) was a Norwegian Lutheran priest and missionary. He was a driving force in the Sami mission, and founded the education institution ''Seminarium Scholasticum'', the later Seminarium Lapponic ...
, the "Apostle of the Sámi", burned drums, burned sacred objects, and converted people. Out of the estimated thousands of drums before this period, only about 70 are known to remain today, scattered in museums around Europe. Sacred sites were destroyed, such as sieidi (stones in natural or human-built formations), álda and sáivu (sacred hills), springs, caves and other natural formations where offerings were made. In the far east of the Sámi area, the Russian monk Trifon converted the Sámi in the 16th century. Today, St. George's chapel in Neiden, Norway (1565), testifies to this effort.


Laestadius

Around 1840 Swedish Sámi
Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...
pastor and administrator
Lars Levi Laestadius Lars Levi Laestadius (; 10 January 1800 – 21 February 1861) was a Swedish Sami pastor and administrator of the Swedish state Lutheran church in Lapland who founded the Laestadian pietist revival movement to help his largely Sami congregati ...
initiated among the Sámi a puritanical pietist movement emphasizing complete abstinence from alcohol. This movement is still very dominant in Sámi-speaking areas. Laestadius spoke many languages, and he became fluent and preached in Finnish and
Northern Sámi Northern or North Sámi ( ; se, davvisámegiella ; fi, pohjoissaame ; no, nordsamisk; sv, nordsamiska; disapproved exonym Lappish or Lapp) is the most widely spoken of all Sámi languages. The area where Northern Sámi is spoken covers the ...
in addition to his native Southern Sámi and Swedish, L. Laestadius, ''
Fragments of Lappish Mythology ''Fragments of Lappish Mythology'' is the detailed documented account of the Sami religious beliefs and mythology during the mid-19th century. It was written between 1838–1845 by Swedish minister Lars Levi Laestadius, but was not published unti ...
'', Trans. Börje Vähämäki, Aspasia Books, Beaverton, Ont. Canada. (2002), p.24 (introduction by Juha Pentikäinen).
the language he used for scholarly publications. Two great challenges Laestadius had faced since his early days as a church minister were the indifference of his Sámi parishioners, who had been forced by the
Swedish government The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden ( sv, Konungariket Sveriges regering) is the national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's executive authority. The Government consists of the Prime Ministerappointed and dismissed by the Speaker of th ...
to convert from their shamanistic religion to Lutheranism, and the misery caused them by alcoholism. The spiritual understanding Laestadius acquired and shared in his new sermons "filled with vivid metaphors from the lives of the Sámi that they could understand, ... about a God who cared about the lives of the people" had a profound positive effect on both problems. One account from a Sámi cultural perspective recalls a new desire among the Sámi to learn to read and a "bustle and energy in the church, with people confessing their sins, crying and praying for forgiveness ... lcohol abuseand the theft of he Sámis'reindeer diminished, which had a positive influence on the Sámi's relationships, finances and family life."


Neo-shamanism and traditional healing

Today there are a number of Sámi who seek to return to the traditional
Pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. I ...
values of their ancestors. There are also some Sámi who claim to be ''noaidi'' and offer their services through newspaper advertisements, in
New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...
arrangements, or for tourist groups. While they practice a religion based on that of their ancestors, widespread anti-pagan
prejudice Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's per ...
has caused these shamans to be generally not viewed as part of an unbroken Sámi religious tradition. Traditional Sámi beliefs are composed of three intertwining elements: animism, shamanism, and polytheism. Sámi animism is manifested in the Sámi's belief that all significant natural objects (such as animals, plants, rocks, etc.) possess a soul; and from a polytheistic perspective, traditional Sámi beliefs include a multitude of spirits. Many contemporary practitioners are compared to practitioners of neo-paganism, as a number of neopagan religions likewise combine elements of ancient pagan religions with more recent revisions or innovations, but others feel they are attempting to revive or reconstruct indigenous Sámi religions as found in historic, folkloric sources and oral traditions. In 2012, County Governor of Troms approved Shamanic Association of Tromsø as a new religion. A very different religious idea is represented by the numerous "wise men" and "wise women" found throughout the Sámi area. They often offer to heal the sick through rituals and traditional medicines and may also combine traditional elements, such as older Sámi teachings, with newer monotheistic inventions that Christian missionaries taught their ancestors, such as readings from the Bible.


Genetic studies

Anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms an ...
s have been studying the Sámi people for hundreds of years for their assumed physical and cultural differences from the rest of the Europeans. Recent genetic studies have indicated that the two most frequent maternal lineages of the Sámi people are the haplogroups V (
Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...
in Europe and not found in Finland 1500 years ago) and U5b (ancient in Europe). Y-chromosome haplogroup N-VL29 makes up 20%, came from Siberia 3500 years ago. Y-chromosome N-Z1936 makes up similarly about 20%, and likely came from Siberia with the Sámi language, but slightly later than N-VL29. This tallies with archeological evidence suggesting that several different cultural groups made their way to the core area of Sámi from 8000 to 6000 BC, presumably including some of the ancestors of present-day Sámi. The Sámi have been found to be genetically unrelated to people of the
Pitted Ware culture The Pitted Ware culture ( 3500 BC– 2300 BC) was a hunter-gatherer culture in southern Scandinavia, mainly along the coasts of Svealand, Götaland, Åland, north-eastern Denmark and southern Norway. Despite its Mesolithic economy, it ...
. The Pitted Ware culture are in turn genetically continuous with the original Scandinavian Hunter-Gatherers.


History of scientific research carried out on the Sámi

The genetic makeup of Sámi people has been extensively studied for as long as such research has been in existence. Ethnographic photography of the Sámi began with the invention of the camera in the 19th century. This continued on into the 1920s and 1930s, when Sámi were photographed naked and anatomically measured by scientists, with the help of the local police—sometimes at gunpoint—to collect data that would justify their own racial theories. Thus, there is a degree of distrust by some in the Sámi community towards genetic research. Examples of discriminatory actions include the Statens Institut for Rasbiologi compulsory sterilization project on the basis of race, which continued until 1975, and Sámi graves being plundered to provide research materials, of which their remains and artifacts from this period from across Sápmi can still be found in various state collections. In the late 19th century, colonial fascination with Arctic peoples led to human beings exhibited in
human zoos Human zoos, also known as ethnological expositions, were public displays of people, usually in a so-called "natural" or "primitive" state. They were most prominent during the 19th and 20th centuries. These displays sometimes emphasized the sup ...
. Sámi people were exhibited with their traditional lavvu tents, weapons, and sleds, beside a group of reindeer at
Tierpark Hagenbeck The Tierpark Hagenbeck is a zoo in Stellingen, Hamburg, Germany. The collection began in 1863 with animals that belonged to Carl Hagenbeck Sr. (1810–1887), a fishmonger who became an amateur animal collector. The park itself was founded by C ...
and other zoos across the globe.


Notable people of Sámi descent


Science

*
Ante Aikio Ante Aikio (Sámi: Luobbal Sámmol Sámmol Ánte; born 1977) is a Finnish linguist of Sámi origin who has been a professor of Sámi languages at the Sámi University of Applied Sciences in Kautokeino, Norway since 2015. Prior to this he has been ...
(born 1977), in
Northern Sámi Northern or North Sámi ( ; se, davvisámegiella ; fi, pohjoissaame ; no, nordsamisk; sv, nordsamiska; disapproved exonym Lappish or Lapp) is the most widely spoken of all Sámi languages. The area where Northern Sámi is spoken covers the ...
''Luobbal Sámmol Sámmol Ánte'', Finnish-Sámi linguist specializing in
Uralic languages The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian ...
,
historical linguistics Historical linguistics, also termed diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of language change over time. Principal concerns of historical linguistics include: # to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages # ...
, Sámi languages and Sámi prehistory at the
Sámi University of Applied Sciences Sámi University of Applied Sciences ( se, Sámi allaskuvla, no, Samisk høgskole) is a university that is located in the village of Kautokeino in Kautokeino Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. It was established in 1989 and has about 20 ...
in
Kautokeino Kautokeino ( no, Kautokeino; se, Guovdageaidnu ; fkv, Koutokeino; fi, Koutokeino) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino. Other village ...
, Norway. * Louise Bäckman (1926–2021) Born in Tärnaby, Ume Sámi speaker. Professor emerita in Religious Studies. She has carried out several studies of pre-Christian religion among the Sámi and has made contributions in the study of Sámi sociology and language. * Israel Ruong (1903–1986) Born in Arjeplog. A Swedish-Sámi linguist, politician and professor of Sámi languages and culture at the University of Uppsala in Sweden. Israel Ruong spoke Pite Sámi as his mother tongue. * Ande Somby (1958–present) Born in Buolbmat. A University Researcher, artist, cofounder of DAT.


Explorers and adventurers

* Samuel Balto (1861–1921), Arctic explorer—one of the first people to cross Greenland on skis (together with Nansen)—and gold miner. The very famous dog Balto was named after Samuel Balto. * Lars Monsen (1963–present) adventurer, explorer, journalist and author.


Literature

* Ella Holm Bull (1929–2006), author, musician, schoolteacher. * Anders Fjellner (1795–1876),
Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
priest and poet. Wrote down the mythological
joik A joik or yoik (anglicised, where the latter spelling in English conforms with the pronunciation; also named , , , or in the Sámi languages) is a traditional form of song in Sámi music performed by the Sámi people of Sapmi in Northern Europ ...
that inspired the Sámi flag. * Ailo Gaup (1944–2014), an author and neo-
shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spir ...
who participated in founding the Beaivváš Sámi Theatre. * Isak Mikal Saba (1875–1925), politician and writer. Was the first Sámi parliamentarian (Norwegian Labour Party) and wrote the Sámi national anthem. * Olaus Sirma (1655–1719), the first Sámi poet known by name. *
Johan Turi Johan Turi, born Johannes Olsen Thuri also spelt Johan Tuuri or Johan Thuri or Johan Thuuri (March 12, 1854 – November 30, 1936) was the first Sami author to publish a secular work in a Sami language. His first book was called ''Muitalus sám ...
(1854–1936), wrote first secular book in Sámi. *
Nils-Aslak Valkeapää Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, known as ''Áillohaš'' in the Northern Sami language (23 March 1943 – 26 November 2001), was a Finnish Sami writer, musician and artist. He was born in Enontekiö in Lapland province, Finland. He lived most of his ...
(1943–2001), musician, poet and artist.


Music

* Adjagas, musical group. * The Blacksheeps, punk rock band. * Mari Boine (1956–present), musician. *
Ane Brun Ane Brun (; born Ane Brunvoll on 10 March 1976) is a Norwegian songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist of Sami origin. Since 2003, she has recorded ten albums, eight of which are studio albums of original material (including a collection of duets), ...
, singer and songwriter. * Fred Buljo (1988–present), rapper, singer, joik. Member of KEiiNO and Duolva Duottar. *
Frode Fjellheim Frode Fjellheim (born 27 August 1959 in Mussere) is a Southern Saami yoiker and musician (piano and synthesizer) from Norway. He is best known for his band Transjoik and as the composer of the 2002 song "Eatnemen Vuelie", which was later adapt ...
,
joik A joik or yoik (anglicised, where the latter spelling in English conforms with the pronunciation; also named , , , or in the Sámi languages) is a traditional form of song in Sámi music performed by the Sámi people of Sapmi in Northern Europ ...
musician. *
Ingor Ánte Áilo Gaup Ingor Antte Ailu Gaup, or in correct Sámi spelling: Iŋgor Ántte Áilu Gaup, artist-name Ailloš (born 25 March 1960 in Kautokeino, Norway) is a Sámi actor, composer, and folk musician. He is the brother of professor and politician Ole Henri ...
(1960–present), actor, composer, and folk musician. * Jonne Järvelä (1974–present), musician and songwriter. *
Sofia Jannok Brita Maret "Sofia" Jannok (born 15 September 1982) is a Swedish Sami artist, singer, songwriter and radio host. Several times, she has publicly taken a stance in social media against the establishment of mines on land used by Sami reindeer her ...
(1982–present), performer, musician and radio host. *
Agnete Johnsen Agnete Kristin Johnsen (born 4 July 1994), also known as Agnete Saba, or simply Agnete, is a Norwegian singer and songwriter. Johnsen is best known for being the lead singer of the Norwegian teen punk band The BlackSheeps. She represented Norway i ...
(1994–present), singer and songwriter. * Inga Juuso (1945–2014), singer and actress. * Gustav Kappfjell (1913–1999), Sámi joiker and artist. Also noted for being part of the resistance movement during WW2. *
Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her st ...
(1943–present), musician and painter. * Mikkâl Morottaja (1984–present), rap musician. *
Jaco Pastorius John Francis Anthony "Jaco" Pastorius III (; December 1, 1951 – September 21, 1987) was an American jazz bassist, composer and producer. He recorded albums as a solo artist and band leader and was a member of Weather Report from 1976 to 1981. ...
(1951–1987), influential American jazz musician, composer and electric bass player. *
John Persen John Andreas Persen (9 November 1941 – 12 December 2014) was a Norwegian composer. John Persen grew up in a laestadian, Sami family in Ráigeadja in Porsanger and was a son-in-law of Finn Strømsted. In 1968, John Persen moved to Oslo to s ...
(1941–2014), composer. * Ulla Pirttijärvi (1971–present),
joik A joik or yoik (anglicised, where the latter spelling in English conforms with the pronunciation; also named , , , or in the Sámi languages) is a traditional form of song in Sámi music performed by the Sámi people of Sapmi in Northern Europ ...
singer. *
Roger Pontare Fred Roger Pontare (born Roger Johansson; 17 October 1951) is a Swedish musician. He lives in Bjuråker in Hudiksvalls kommun. Pontare was born in Arjeplog Municipality, and is of Sami descent. He has represented Sweden twice in the Eurovisi ...
(1951–present), musician. *
Wimme Saari Wimme Saari (also known as just Wimme, b. 1959, Kelottijärvi, Enontekiö) is a Finnish Sami yoiker. Wimme Saari combines traditional Sami singing with his own improvisations, usually to a techno-ambient accompaniment by members of Finnish elect ...
(1959–present), musician. *
Ánde Somby Ánde Somby, born in Buolbmat, Norway, is a traditional Sami joik artist and an associate professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Tromsø, specializing in Indigenous Rights Law. Somby has been active yoiker since 1974. He has also ...
, Sámi musician and law professor. * Lisa Cecilia Thomasson-Bosiö, or Lapp-Lisa (1878–1932), singer. * Vajas, musical group. * Niko Valkeapää (1968–present), musician and songwriter. *
Nils-Aslak Valkeapää Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, known as ''Áillohaš'' in the Northern Sami language (23 March 1943 – 26 November 2001), was a Finnish Sami writer, musician and artist. He was born in Enontekiö in Lapland province, Finland. He lived most of his ...
(1943–2001), musician, poet and artist.


Film and theatre

* Mikkel Gaup, actor. *
Nils Gaup Nils Gaup (born 12 April 1955) is a Sámi film director from Norway. Career Gaup was born in Kautokeino, Finnmark County in Northern Norway. He first intended to become an athlete but from 1974 to 1978 he went to drama school and studied at the ...
(1955–present), film director. Well-known films include '' Ofelaš'' (''Pathfinder''), which was nominated for an Academy Award, and the 2008 film ''
Kautokeino-Opprøret ''The Kautokeino Rebellion'' ( no, Kautokeino-opprøret, se, Guovdageainnu Stuimmit) is a 2008 film based on the true story of the Kautokeino riots in Kautokeino, Norway in 1852 in response to the Norwegian exploitation of the Sami community a ...
'', based on the
Kautokeino Rebellion The Sami revolt in Guovdageaidnu, also known as the Kautokeino uprising, was a revolt in the town of Kautokeino in northern Norway in 1852 by a group of Sami who attacked representatives of the Norwegian authorities. The rebels killed the local ...
. *
Jalmari Helander Jalmari Helander (born 21 July 1976) is a Finnish screenwriter and film director. He is known for the 2010 film '' Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale'' (in which Cate Blanchett named it as one of her favorite movies) and the 2014 action-adventure ' ...
(1976), Finnish screenwriter and film director. * Lance Henriksen (1940), actor of Norwegian parentage; his grandmother was Sámi. * Anni-Kristiina Juuso (1979–present), actress. *
Sara Margrethe Oskal Sara Margrethe Oskal (born 1970) is a Norwegian Sami writer, actress, artisan, director and film producer from Kautokeino in the north of Norway. In 2012, she was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize for her Sami poetry collection ''Sa ...
(born 1970), actress, film director * Lene Cecilia Sparrok (1997), Norwegian actress of Sámi descent. * Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Canadian filmmaker, Indigenous rights activist, and actress of Sámi and
Blackfoot The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or "Blackfoot language, Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up t ...
heritage, on her father's and mother's sides, respectively.Tailfeathers, Elle Máijá. "Biography & Filmography". Elle Máijá Tailfeathers. Works in multiple genres including experimental, documentary, drama, and action. *
Onni Tommila Onni Tommila (born 18 July 1999) is a Finnish actor, known for the films '' Last Cowboy Standing'' (2009), '' Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale'' (2010) and '' Big Game'' (2014). Tommila also appeared in the 2005 '. He was also the voice of Eetu in ...
(1999), Finnish actor. *
Tommy Wirkola Tommy Wirkola (born 6 December 1979) is a Norwegian film director and writer. Career His first film was 2007's '' Kill Buljo'', which he co-wrote with Stig Frode Henriksen. They later made the 2009 horror comedy ''Dead Snow''. In 2010 they agai ...
(1979), Norwegian filmmaker of Finnish Sámi descent. * Renée Zellweger (1969), Oscar-winning actress whose Norwegian mother is of partial Sámi descent.


Politics and society

*
Lars Levi Laestadius Lars Levi Laestadius (; 10 January 1800 – 21 February 1861) was a Swedish Sami pastor and administrator of the Swedish state Lutheran church in Lapland who founded the Laestadian pietist revival movement to help his largely Sami congregati ...
(1800–61), religious reformer, botanist and ethnologist. * Ole Henrik Magga (1947–present), politician. The first President of the Norwegian Sámi Parliament (NSR) and first Chairman of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. * Helga Pedersen (1973–present) politician. The first Sámi member of Government (Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, Norwegian Labour Party). * Elsa Laula Renberg (1877–1931), politician and activist. Organized the first international Sámi conference and wrote a rhetorically powerful pamphlet of resistance to colonization. * Isak Mikal Saba (1875–1925), politician and writer. Was the first Sámi parliamentarian (Norwegian Labour Party) and wrote the Sámi national anthem. * Janne Seurujärvi (1975–present), politician. The first Sámi member of
Parliament of Finland The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The ...
. *
Irja Seurujärvi-Kari Irja Seurujärvi-Kari (born 21 March 1947, Utsjoki) is a Finnish Sámi politician and academic. Education and academic career Seurujärvi-Kari obtained a master's degree in English philology from the University of Oulu in 1974, and a PhD i ...
(born 1947), politician and academic; member of the Finnish Sámi Parliament. * Laila Susanne Vars (1976–present), former vice-president of the Sámi Parliament in Norway, first Sámi woman with a PhD in law, member of the UN
Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), CDH is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. ...
(EMRIP), rector of the Sámi University of Applied Sciences.


Visual arts

* Simen Johan (1973–present), Visual Artist. Born in
Kirkenes Kirkenes (; ; Skolt Sami: ''Ǩeârkknjargg;'' fi, Kirkkoniemi; ; russian: Киркенес) is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, in the far northeastern part of Norway. The town ...
,
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...
, lives and works in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
* , artist. *
Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her st ...
(1943–present) musician and painter. Unconfirmed. *
Nils-Aslak Valkeapää Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, known as ''Áillohaš'' in the Northern Sami language (23 March 1943 – 26 November 2001), was a Finnish Sami writer, musician and artist. He was born in Enontekiö in Lapland province, Finland. He lived most of his ...
(1943–2001), musician, poet and artist.


Sports

* Ailo Gaup (1980–present), a motorcross sportsman who invented the "underflip". * John Halvorsen, athletics. * Leo Komarov (1987–present), Finnish
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...
player for the
Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...
. Born in
Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...
and raised in
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...
and is of Russian-Sámi parentage. *
Anja Pärson Anja Sofia Tess Pärson (; born 25 April 1981) is a Swedish former alpine skier. She is an Olympic gold medalist, seven-time gold medalist at the World Championships, and two-time overall Alpine Skiing World Cup champion. This included winning ...
(1981–present) and
Jens Byggmark Jens Byggmark (born 22 August 1985) is a Swedish former World Cup alpine ski racer who specialised in the technical events of slalom and giant slalom. Byggmark was born in Örebro but was raised in Tärnaby. He raced for Tärna IK Fjällvinde ...
(1985–present), alpine skiers. * Morten Gamst Pedersen (1981–present),
Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
player (former player for Blackburn Rovers). * Jon Rønningen, wrestler. Olympic gold medalist. * Lars Rønningen, wrestler. *
Börje Salming Anders Börje Salming (; 17 April 1951 – 24 November 2022) was a Swedish ice hockey player. He was a defenceman who played professionally for 23 seasons, for the clubs Brynäs IF, Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, and AIK. He spent ...
(1951–2022), legendary NHL defenseman, member of
Hockey Hall of Fame The Hockey Hall of Fame (french: Temple de la renommée du hockey) is a museum and hall of fame located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League (NHL) rec ...
, voted to the IIHF all-century team.


Other

* , the single noble family of Sámi descent ( Swedish nobility). * , famous criminal.


See also

* Environmental racism in Europe * Hamburg culture * List of indigenous peoples * Reindeer in Russia *''
Sampo Lappelill ''Sampo Lappelill. En saga från Lappland.'' (''Sampo the Little Lapp Boy. A Tale from Lappland'') is a fairy tale by Finnish writer Zachris Topelius about an adventurous Sámi boy who defies the Mountain King creature. "Lapp" is the historical t ...
''


Sámi culture

*
Fourth World The Fourth World is an extension of the three-world model, used variably to refer to # Sub-populations socially excluded from global society, such as uncontacted peoples; # Hunter-gatherer, nomadic, pastoral, and some subsistence farming pe ...
* Inari * Indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East *
Knud Leem Sami noaidi with a drum used for runic divination">Sami shamanism-->Sami noaidi with a drum used for runic divination (''meavrresgárri''). Illustrations printed from copperplates by O.H. von Lode in Florence, after drawings made by Knud Leem for ...
* Sámi cuisine * Sápmi Park – Located Karasjok, Norway, Sápmi Park and visitor center presents the Sámi culture and its history through exhibits and a special effect theater presentation, entitled "The Magic Theater" designed originally by award-winning experience designer Bob Rogers (designer) and the design team BRC Imagination Arts. * Ume Sámi language


Sámi films

* ''
The White Reindeer ''The White Reindeer'' ( fi, Valkoinen peura, sv, Den Vita Renen) is a 1952 Finnish horror drama film directed by Erik Blomberg in his feature film debut. It was entered in competition at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival and earned the Jean Coc ...
'' (''Valkoinen peura'') (1952), a Finnish horror drama film set in Finnish Lapland, among the Sámi people. * '' Pathfinder'' (''Ofelaš'') (1988), film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film; filmed in Norway featuring Sámi actors speaking in Sámi * '' Give Us Our Skeletons'', a 1999 documentary about the scientific racism and racial classification movement carried out on the Sámi * '' The Cuckoo'' (''Kukushka'') (2002), film set during World War II with a Sámi woman as one of the main characters * '' Last Yoik in Saami Forests?'' (2007), made for the United Nations, a documentary about land rights disputes in Finnish Lapland * ''The Sami'' (''Saamelainen'') (2007), a Mushkeg Media documentary about the state of aboriginal languages * ''
Wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...
'' (2008), an examination of how the traditions of the Sámi villagers in northern Sweden are confronted with modern-day society * '' Herdswoman'' (2008), a documentary about land rights disputes in reindeer grazing areas * '' The Kautokeino Rebellion'' (2008), feature film that concerns the ethnic-religious Sámi revolt in Guovdageaidnu of 1852 * ''Magic Mushrooms and Reindeer: Weird Nature'' (2009), short video on the use of ''
Amanita muscaria ''Amanita muscaria'', commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita, is a basidiomycete of the genus ''Amanita''. It is also a muscimol mushroom. Native throughout the temperate and boreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere, ''Amanita muscar ...
'' mushrooms by the Sámi people and their
reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subs ...
, produced by the BBC * ''Suddenly Sami'' (2009), in which the filmmaker finds out that her mother has been hiding her Arctic indigenous Sámi heritage from her * ''Midnight Sun'' (2016), crime series which revolves around Sámi culture and conflicts of Sámi culture with modern Swedish society * '' Sami Blood'' (2016), a movie chronicling the life of a Sámi girl taken into a Swedish boarding school to be assimilated as a Swede * '' Frozen'' (2013), features a major character named Kristoff who wears clothing resembling Sámi attire and has a pet reindeer. * '' Frozen II'' (2019), features the forest tribe known as the Northuldra, which is based on the Sámi people, and the theme song ''Vuelie'', written by Norwegian
joik A joik or yoik (anglicised, where the latter spelling in English conforms with the pronunciation; also named , , , or in the Sámi languages) is a traditional form of song in Sámi music performed by the Sámi people of Sapmi in Northern Europ ...
er
Frode Fjellheim Frode Fjellheim (born 27 August 1959 in Mussere) is a Southern Saami yoiker and musician (piano and synthesizer) from Norway. He is best known for his band Transjoik and as the composer of the 2002 song "Eatnemen Vuelie", which was later adapt ...
and performed by Norwegian female choral group Cantus, is based on
Sámi music In traditional Sámi music songs (e.g. Kvad and Leudd songs) and joiks are important musical expressions of the Sámi people and Sámi languages. The Sámi also use a variety of musical instruments, some unique to the Sámi, some traditional Sc ...
; there is a Sámi language dubbing of the film * '' Klaus'' (2019), animated film about "a postman stationed in a town to the North who befriends a reclusive toy-maker" featuring Sámi characters


Notes


References


Sources

* * * *


Further reading

*
Robert Paine (1926–2010)
*


Sámi books

* The ''
Germania Germania ( ; ), also called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman province of the same name, was a large historical region in north-c ...
'' by
Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...
(the chapter on
Fenni The Fenni were an ancient people of northeastern Europe, first described by Cornelius Tacitus in '' Germania'' in AD 98. Ancient accounts The Fenni are first mentioned by Cornelius Tacitus in '' Germania'' in 98 A.D. Their location is uncert ...
) * ''Vigilant Ancestor: A World of Secrets Whispered in My Ear'', by H. D. Rennerfeldt. . * ''The Sami Peoples of the North: A Social and Cultural History'', by Neil Kent. . * ''The Sámi People: Traditions in Transitions'', by Veli-Pekka Lehtola. . * ''God Wears Many Skins: Myth and Folklore of the Sami People'', by Jabez L. Van Cleef. . * ''Liberating Sápmi: Indigenous Resistance in Europe's Far North'', by Gabriel Kuhn. .


External links

* *
Saami Council
*
Encyclopaedia of Saami Culture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sami People * Ethnic groups in Finland Ethnic groups in Sweden Ethnic groups in Norway Ethnic groups in Russia Finnic peoples Indigenous peoples of Europe Scandinavia Pastoralists Modern nomads Nomadic groups in Eurasia White Sea Indigenous peoples in the Arctic Indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East