The Sami of Sàpmi

The Sami of Sàpmi

From the Svalbard Islands we move south and come to the Sàpmi.

This is the land of the Sami, an indigenous people of northern Europe, a territory extending from the Kola peninsula in Russia to central Norway.
70,000 people inhabit this part of the Arctic, with over half of them in Norway, 20,000 in Sweden, 7,500 in Finland and 2,000 at the most in Russia.
The Sami, Europe's Indians, have survived in these hyperboreal lands for thousands of years. Total symbiosis with nature has enabled them to live without problems: the tundra gives them a home and reindeer give them sustenance.
Today, only 10% of the population are herders but the REINDEER continues to play a central role in the economy and culture of this people.
Over the centuries, the mild natured Sami have suffered military and cultural invasion from neighbouring peoples. Things started to change in the middle of the last century and they are now one of the indigenous populations in Europe enjoying a higher degree of recognition, with parliaments in the nations they live in, their own language, a flag and a national holiday.
But trying to preserve a culture and its traditions is not an easy battle and certainly hasn’t been won yet.
It is a goal that the Sami share with many other Arctic ethnic groups and that almost makes them a single, extended people.