Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Norway's Sami
The formerly nomadic Sami people (once known as Lapps) are Norway's largest ethnic
minorityandcanreasonablyclaimtobeNorway'slongest-standingresidents-theyhavein-
habited northern Scandinavia and northwestern Russia for millennia. Of the approximately
60,000 Sami, around 40,000 reside in Norway, primarily inhabiting the far northern region
of Finnmark (scattered groups live in Nordland, Trøndelag and other regions of central Nor-
way). The Sami, who refer to their traditional lands as Sápmi or Samiland, are also present
in Sweden, Finland and Russia.
To be officially considered Sami and (if 18 or over) be able to vote in elections for the Sami Parliament, a
person must regard themselves as Sami, speak Sami as their first language or at least one of their parents,
grandparents or great-grandparents must have spoken Sami as their first language.
Sami History
Although it's believed that the Sami migrated to Norway from Siberia as early as 11,000
yearsago,theoldestwrittenreferencetotheSamiwaspennedbytheRomanhistorianTacit-
us in AD 98. In AD 555 the Greek Procopius referred to Scandinavia as Thule (the 'furthest
north'), and its peoples as
skridfinns,
who hunted, herded reindeer and travelled about on
skis. The medieval Icelandic sagas confirm trading between Nordic peoples and the Sami;
the trader Ottar, who 'lived further north than any other Norseman', served in the court of
English king Alfred the Great and wrote extensively about his native country and its indi-
genous peoples.
The Sámi People: Traditions in Transition
by Veli-Pekka Lehtola takes you on a journey through Sami his-
tory and is a study of how Sami culture has adapted to the needs of the modern world.
During medieval times, the Sami people lived by hunting and trapping in small com-
munities known as
siida
. While the 17th- and 18th-century colonisation of the north by
Nordic farmers presented conflicts with this system, many newcomers found that the Sami
way of life was better suited to the local conditions and adopted their dress, diet and cus-
toms.
Around1850,withSamitraditionscomingunderincreasingthreatfrommissionaryactiv-
ity, reforms were introduced, restricting the use of the Sami language in schools. From 1902
