Misplaced Pages

#222777

78-576: (Redirected from Saami Conference ) International conference of Sámi people The first international Sámi Conference was officially opened in Jokkmokk , Sweden on August 31, 1953 and closed four days later on September 3. Since then, the Sámi conferences have come to be important venues for the Sámi across Norway , Sweden , Finland and Russia to come together and discuss critical Sámi issues. Delegates have used

156-457: A Proto-Germanic word * sōma- , itself from Proto-Baltic * sāma- , in turn borrowed from Proto-Finnic * šämä , which was borrowed from * žēmē . The Sámi institutions—notably the parliaments , 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,

234-569: A Norwegian name. This partly 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. Another example of forced displacement occurred between 1919 and 1920 in Norway and Sweden. This has been the topic of a recent work of journalism by Sámi author Elin Anna Labba , translated into English in 2023 under

312-529: 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. Speakers of Northern Sámi refer to themselves as Sámit (the Sámis) or Sápmelaš (of Sámi kin), the word Sápmi being inflected into various grammatical forms. Other Sámi languages use cognate words. As of around 2014,

390-407: A living. I 1953 Jokkmokk, Sweden References [ edit ] ^ "Sámiid 22. konferánsa // The 22nd Saami Conference" . Sámiráđđi . Retrieved 2022-06-29 . ^ Tråante Declaration (PDF) (Report). Saami Conference. 2017. ^ "По итогам 20-ой конференции определен новый состав Союза саамов" . Мурманский вестник. 2013-05-07. Archived from

468-537: 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. The Sámi have for centuries, even today, been

546-586: 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. 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

624-519: 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. 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

702-632: 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 lapp i lainen , whereas the similar word for the Sámi people is lapp a lainen . This can be confusing for foreign visitors because of the similar lives Finns and Sámi people live today in Lapland. Lappalainen

780-564: Is also a common family name in Finland. In Finnish, saamelainen is the most commonly used word nowadays, especially in official contexts. The western Uralic languages are believed to have spread from the original Proto-Uralic homeland along the Volga , 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

858-633: Is an important locality for Sámi people and the location of several institutions related to them, including an education centre, the Ájtte museum, and an office of the Sámi Parliament of Sweden . Jokkmokk was a transit center for Sami refugees from Norway during World War II , in addition to the centre in Kjesäter . Jokkmokk Market has been taking place since 1605. On the first Thursday in February every year, thousands of people gather in

SECTION 10

#1732790860223

936-469: 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 . Oil spills affect fishing and

1014-444: 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 , 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

1092-701: The Bronze Age , the Sámi occupied the area along the coast of Finnmark and the Kola Peninsula . This coincides with the arrival of the Siberian genome to Estonia and Finland, which may correspond with the introduction of the Finno-Ugric languages in the region. Petroglyphs 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

1170-521: The Corded Ware culture . These groups presumably started to move to the northwest from the homeland of the early Uralic peoples in the second and third quarters of the 2nd millennium BC. On their journey, they used the ancient river routes of what is now northern Russia. Some of these peoples, who may have originally spoken the same western Uralic language, stopped and stayed in the regions between Karelia , Ladoga and Lake Ilmen , and even further to

1248-692: The Sámi XVII 2000 Kiruna, Sweden Self-governance XVI 1996 Murmansk, Russia Verddevuohta in the north — the Sámi model XV 1992 Helsinki, Finland The Sámi unite in Europe XIV 1989 Lakselv, Norway Self-governance XIII 1986 Åre, Sweden Tourism in Sápmi XII 1983 Utsjoki, Finland XI 1980 Tromsø, Norway Sámi political program X 1978 Arjeplog, Sweden IX 1976 Inari, Finland How do

1326-588: 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-nomadic reindeer herding . As of 2007 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

1404-785: The fjords , had access to the major European trade routes so that, in addition to marginal farming in the Nordland , Troms , 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 came to northern Norway in December 1349. The Norwegians were closely connected to

1482-473: 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

1560-530: 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. The city of Rovaniemi offers day care and preschool education in the Sámi language, and then as basic education first as supplementary native language education starting from

1638-781: The Middle Ages, and in southern Sweden, including finds in Lesja Municipality , in Vang Municipality , in Valdres and in Hol Municipality and Ål Municipality 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. In Finland, a 2022 study said that Sámi habitation

SECTION 20

#1732790860223

1716-517: The Norwegians; being only loosely connected to the European trade routes, they fared far better than the Norwegians. 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

1794-533: The Scandinavian languages as the only valid languages of the kingdoms and effectively banning Sámi language and culture in many contexts, particularly schools. 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

1872-414: The Sámi are today referred to by the localized form Same . The first probable historical mention of the Sámi, naming them Fenni , was by Tacitus , about AD 98. Variants of Finn or Fenni were in wide use in ancient times, judging from the names Fenni and Φίννοι ( Phinnoi ) in classical Roman and Greek works . Finn (or variants, such as skridfinn , 'skiing Finn' )

1950-468: The Sámi had lived no farther south than Lierne Municipality in Trøndelag 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

2028-694: The Sámi live and why? VIII 1974 Snåsa, Norway Work and work methods at the (Nordic) Sámi Institute VII 1971 Gällivare, Sweden Sámi cultural policy VI 1968 Hetta, Finland Do the Sámi have a future in the Nordic Countries: Sámi, governmental and civil rights V 1965 Tana, Norway Sámi plans for the future IV 1962 Kiruna, Sweden Democracy and minorities III 1959 Inari, Finland Reindeer husbandry, language issues, etc. II 1956 Karasjok, Norway Scholastic and educational issues, natural resources and ways of making

2106-484: The 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

2184-617: 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

2262-487: The Sámi people. These hunter-gatherers of the late Paleolithic and early Mesolithic were named Komsa by the researchers. 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 and who founded and thus dominated the kingdoms of Norway and Sweden. The migration of Germanic-speaking peoples to Southern Scandinavia happened independently and separate from

2340-514: 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 to distinguish them from the Sámi "Finns". Ethnic Finns ( suomalaiset ) are a group related to the Sámi, but distinct from them. The word Lapp can be traced to Old Swedish lapper , Icelandic lappir (plural) perhaps of Finnish origin; compare Finnish lappalainen "Lapp", Lappi "Lapland" (possibly meaning "wilderness in

2418-405: 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

Sámi Conference - Misplaced Pages Continue

2496-851: The Sámi with the "two Laplands". The term "Lapp" was popularized and became the standard terminology by the work of Johannes Schefferus , Acta Lapponica (1673). The Sámi are often known in other languages by the exonyms 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: English: Lapps ; German, Dutch : Lappen ; French : Lapons ; Greek : Λάπωνες ( Lápōnes ); Hungarian : lappok ; Italian : Lapponi ; Polish : Lapończycy ; Portuguese : Lapões ; Spanish : Lapones ; Romanian : laponi ; Turkish : Lapon . In Russian

2574-602: 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

2652-412: 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

2730-457: The area to avoid forced labour. As a result, the population of Pite - and Lule -speaking Sámi decreased greatly. For long periods of time, the Sámi lifestyle thrived because of its adaptation to the Arctic 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

2808-447: 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

2886-637: The conferences as a forum to approve cultural symbols such as the Sami flag , the Sámi anthem Sámi soga lávlla , and Sami National Day . List of Sámi Conferences [ edit ] Conference Location Main theme XXII 2021 Gällivare, Sweden XXI 2017 Trondheim, Norway Self-determination, rights to natural resources, Sámi languages XX 2013 Murmansk, Russia Sápmi 2053 - Sami culture and intensive industrial development XIX 2008 Rovaniemi, Finland XVIII 2004 Áváhki, Norway Sápmi for

2964-493: 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

3042-466: The corresponding term is лопари́ ( lopari ) and in Ukrainian лопарі́ ( lopari ). In Finland and Sweden, Lapp is common in place names, such as Lappi ( Satakunta ), Lappeenranta ( South Karelia ) and Lapinlahti ( North Savo ) in Finland; and Lapp ( Stockholm County ), Lappe ( Södermanland ) and Lappabo ( Småland ) in Sweden. As already mentioned, Finn

3120-531: The current consensus among specialists was that the word Sámi was borrowed from the Proto-Baltic word * žēmē , meaning 'land' ( cognate with Slavic zemlja ( земля ), of the same meaning). The word Sámi has at least one cognate word in Finnish : Proto-Baltic * žēmē was also borrowed into Proto-Finnic , as * šämä . This word became modern Finnish Häme (Finnish for

3198-679: The dark winters are long and cold, although polar night is not quite observed with a sun angle of 0.4° at the winter solstice. Combining an elevation of 250 metres (820 ft) with being at the foot of the Scandinavian Mountains , Jokkmokk is both cooled down during the day and experiences temperature inversion during night. This combination makes it the coldest municipal seat in Sweden in terms of winter temperatures, although some rural localities in Lapland are even colder. Sami people The Sámi ( / ˈ s ɑː m i / SAH -mee ; also spelled Sami or Saami ) are

Sámi Conference - Misplaced Pages Continue

3276-467: 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

3354-478: The east and to the southeast. The groups of these peoples that ended up in the Finnish Lakeland from 1600 to 1500 BC later "became" the Sámi. The Sámi people arrived in their current homeland some time during the Bronze Age or early Iron Age . The Sámi language first developed on the southern side of Lake Onega and Lake Ladoga and spread from there. When the speakers of this language extended to

3432-548: 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 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,

3510-550: 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

3588-511: The first grade and as a voluntary subject on its own starting from the fourth grade. 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

3666-755: 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

3744-444: 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 . Depending on the parish , 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

3822-473: 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. Sápmi is rich in precious metals, oil, and natural gas. Mining activities and prospecting to extract these resources from

3900-456: 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

3978-400: The new quota system to a large degree. 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 . Around 1500, they started to tame these animals into herding groups, becoming the well-known reindeer nomads , often portrayed by outsiders as following

SECTION 50

#1732790860223

4056-575: 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. 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

4134-532: 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 tax revenues from this industry greatly diminished. Because of the huge profits that could be had from these fisheries,

4212-541: 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

4290-510: 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 Gesta Danorum by the twelfth-century Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus , who referred to 'the two Lappias', although he still referred to the Sámi as (Skrid-)Finn s. In fact, Saxo never explicitly connects

4368-443: 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 and Finnmark to engage in an export-driven fisheries industry prior to

4446-457: 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

4524-687: The original on 2013-05-14 . Retrieved 2013-04-21 . ^ "27. – 31.10.2008 Rovaniemi, Finland" . 2008-10-10 . Retrieved 2013-04-21 . External links [ edit ] Report for the 9th Sámi Conference (PDF) Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sámi_Conference&oldid=1239990574 " Categories : Sámi history International conferences Recurring events established in 1953 1953 establishments in Sweden Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Jokkmokk Jokkmokk

4602-405: The people of the province, whether Sámi or Norwegian, and not to the Norwegian state. 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

4680-467: The population of northern Norway is sparse compared to southern Europe, the disease spread just as fast. The spread of the plague-carrying flea ( Xenopsylla cheopsis ) from the south was facilitated by the transport of wooden barrels 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

4758-539: 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

SECTION 60

#1732790860223

4836-472: 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 over the construction of the hydro-electric power station in Alta Municipality in 1979 brought Sámi rights onto the political agenda. In August 1986, the national anthem (" Sámi soga lávlla ") and flag ( Sámi flag ) of

4914-699: 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 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

4992-500: The region of Tavastia ; the second ä of * šämä is still found in the adjective häm ä läinen ). The Finnish word for Finland, Suomi , is also thought probably to derive ultimately from Proto-Baltic * žēmē , though the precise route is debated and proposals usually involve complex processes of borrowing and reborrowing. Suomi and its adjectival form suom a lainen must come from * sōme- / sōma- . In one proposal, this Finnish word comes from

5070-533: 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

5148-442: 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

5226-407: 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 of and discrimination against the Sámi. On 8 April 2011, recommendations from

5304-611: The title The Rocks Will Echo Our Sorrow: The Forced Displacement of the Northern Sámi . 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 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 ,

5382-453: The town for concerts, exhibitions and trade in one of the most important social events for the Sámi people in Sápmi . Temperatures during the festival can drop as low as −40 °C (−40 °F). Influenced by its inland and northerly position, Jokkmokk's variety of a subarctic climate ( Dfc ) is very cold by Swedish standards. Summers are normally relatively mild, with midnight sun , and

5460-449: The traditional Sámi lifestyle. The Mountain Sámi had to pay taxes to three states, Norway , Sweden and Russia , 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

5538-433: 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. Non-Sámi Finns began to move to Lapland in the 1550s. The Sámi have been recognized as an Indigenous people in Norway (1990 according to ILO convention 169 as described below), and therefore, according to international law,

5616-599: The traditionally Sámi -speaking Indigenous peoples inhabiting the region of Sápmi , which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway , Sweden , Finland , and of the Kola Peninsula in Russia . The region of Sápmi was formerly known as Lapland, and the Sámi have historically been known in English as Lapps or Laplanders , but these terms are regarded as offensive by the Sámi, who prefer their own endonym , e.g. Northern Sámi Sápmi . Their traditional languages are

5694-410: The two provinces by Finns and Swedes led to the assimilation and disappearance of a distinct Sámi population by the 14th century. Until the arrival of bubonic plague 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

5772-516: 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 Finnmark , Finnsnes , Finnfjord and Finnøy ), and some northern Norwegians will still occasionally use Finn to refer to Sámi people, although

5850-512: Was found in the entirety of continental Finland at least until the 14th century. Toponyms of Sámi origin are common in the southernmost provinces of Finland Proper and Uusimaa , e.g. Aurajoki ~ Oarrijohka "Squirrel River". The Sámi coexisted with Finns and Swedes and traded squirrel furs with them. The division was based on occupation: unlike Finns and Swedes, the Sámi did not engage in significant agriculture, relying on fishing, hunting, gathering and fur trapping instead. Complete colonization of

5928-502: 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. The tourism industry in Finland has been criticized for turning Sámi culture into

6006-576: 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 (11th to 14th centuries). The etymology is somewhat uncertain, but the consensus seems to be that it is related to Old Norse finna , from proto-Germanic * finþanan ('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

6084-400: Was to have been ready by the end of 2012. In 2018, The Storting 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 policies, which began in the 1800s and lasted until the 1970s. In 2020, Sweden funded

#222777