Editing Arjeplog Municipality (section)

==History==
People lived in the area of today's municipality as early as 10,000 years ago, following the end of the [[last glacial period|last ice age]]. For a long time it was only populated by a fishing and hunting people, the [[Sami people]], who have their own language and breed [[reindeer]] in northern Sweden, and today have special rights as a Swedish [[minority group]].

The population in today's municipality was only a few hundred people in the 17th and 18th century, most of them Sami, and the rest of Sweden did not know much of them. Not until 1640 did [[Queen regnant|Queen]] [[Christina of Sweden]] order a church to be built in order to [[Christianization|Christianize]] the Sami people in Arjeplog. The church was inaugurated in 1642. At first the deceased were buried under the earthen floor in the church, but eventually the stench became unbearable and the procedure had to end.

===Silver===
The interest in Arjeplog had been sparked when [[silver]] was found in the area in the 1620s, and a mining industry was established there 1635–1659. It has been estimated that the amount of silver mined was 36 kilograms per year.

In August 1659, the Danes and Norwegians &ndash; who were in the [[Denmark–Norway]] union &ndash; attacked and burned down the mining village. The mining industry was then stalled for 120 years.

It was once again taken up in 1719, probably as a means of supporting the war of King [[Charles XII of Sweden]]. The mining was upheld until 1810, when the low profits, harsh climate and the long distances led to its closure. There are still remains from that time in the village [[Adolfström]].

There are also several names in the area such as ''Silvervägen'' ("Silver Road") and ''Silversundet'' ("Silver Strait") reminding of its silver history. When a Sami [[museum]] was built in the town of Arjeplog in 1965, it was appropriately named ''Silvermuseet'' ("The Silver Museum"). It is filled with Sami photos and [[artifact (archaeology)|artifacts]].