Nils Ante Kuhumen Swedish Sami and Lap in traditional clothing made of reindeer hide in Swedish Lapland in the Arctic Circle
The Sami people (also Sámi, Saami, Lapps and Laplanders) are the indigenous people of Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. Their ancestral lands span across an area the size of Sweden in the Nordic countries. The Sami are one of the largest indigenous groups in Europe. Their languages are the Sami languages, which are classified as Finno-Ugric. Traditional Sami occupations are hunting, fishing, reindeer herding and farming, though only a minority of today's Sami make a living from these activities alone, and virtually none live in a natural economy nor have a nomadic lifestyle. The population is estimated at about 85,000, although it is difficult to establish the exact figure. The Norwegian state recognizes any Norwegian as Sami if they have one great-grandparent whose home language was Sami. Roughly half of all Sami live in Norway, but many live in Sweden too. Finland and Russia are also home to smaller groups located in the far north. The Sami in Russia were forced by the Soviet authorities to relocate to a collective called Lovozero/Lujávri, in the central part of the Kola Peninsula. Traditionally, the Sami had a variety of livelihoods; fishing on the coast and in the inland, trapping animals for fur, sheep herding, etc. The best known livelihood is reindeer herding, but only a small percentage of the Sami have been mainly reindeer herders over the last centuries. Today, many Sami lead modern lives in the cities inside and outside the traditional Sami area, with modern jobs. Some 10% still practice reindeer herding, which is for traditional and cultural reasons allowed to Sami people only in some parts of Nordic countries.
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Photo credit: © Nick Haslam / Alamy / Afripics
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