Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sámi were spread throughout Lapland, but during the 1600s Swedes increased their pres-
ence and in 1670 various cult sites and religious objects were destroyed by the Lutheran
Church's Gabriel Tuderus (1638-1703). Churches were built.
In the following centuries, more Finns came, adopted reindeer-herding and were assim-
ilated into Sámi communities (or vice versa).
The Petsamo area, northeast of Inari, was ceded to Finland in 1920 by the Treaty of
Tartu. The Soviet Union attacked the mineral-rich area during the Winter War (1939-40),
annexed it in 1944, and has kept it. Skolt Sámi from Petsamo were resettled in Sevettijärvi,
Nellim and Virtaniemi.
The German army's retreat in 1944-45 was a scorched-earth affair; they burned all
buildings in their path to hold off pursuit. Only a few churches, villages and houses in La-
pland date from the prewar period.
