The Sami people, the natives of the North

The Sami people (also known as Lap, Lapp, or Laplanders) are the Nordic countries’ only official indigenous people, inhabiting the North of Scandinavia, Sápmi.

Non-Sami and many regional maps have often called this same region Lapland, but this term can be either misleading, offensive, or both.

Among the Sami people, Sápmi is strictly used and accepted. Sápmi is located in Northern Europe, including parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.

The Sami people celebrate their National day on the 6th of February.


Photo Nomad Sami late 1800eds Northern Sweden Norway © Saamiblog

Traditionally, the Sami lived of coastal fishing, fur trapping and sheep and reindeer herding. The Sami’s rich culture and heritage regards to language, traditional clothing, food, handcraft and music are distinctively different from other ethnic groups in Scandinavia.

Their language and culture are being endangered, yet still the Sami people have only recently been acknowledged as the indigenous people of the Nordic countries, with official rights to protect their heritage.

4 thoughts on “The Sami people, the natives of the North

  1. In 2008 we had a long weekend in Helsinki and we went to the History Museum, it was amazing to see old pictures and footages of how they coped with tough conditions. Thanks for the post!

  2. Everything in this article is so interesting. I’ve been always fascinated by Northern Europe and this made my day.
    I love the traditional clothes and I am missing Finland now. Such a beautiful places, Northern Europe countries are!
    Thank you so much for sharing.

    Momographica

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