Editing Sámi people (section)

==History==
{{Main|Sámi history}}
[[File:LocationSapmi.png|thumb|Spread of the Sámi people at present{{image reference needed|date=November 2022}}]]
[[File:Saami Family 1900.jpg|thumb|A Sámi family in Norway around 1900]]
The western [[Uralic languages#History|Uralic languages]] are believed to have spread from the original [[Proto-Uralic homeland]] along the [[Volga]], which is the [[List of rivers of Europe#Rivers of Europe by length|longest river]] in Europe.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Lang |first=Valter |title=Homo Fennicus – Itämerensuomalaisten etnohistoria |trans-title=Homo Fennicus – Ethnohistory of the Baltic Finns |publisher=Suomalaisen kirjallisuuden seura |year=2020 |isbn=978-951-858-130-0 |location=Helsinki |page=104 |language=fi}}</ref> 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]], [[Lake Ladoga|Ladoga]] and [[Lake Ilmen]], and even further to 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.<ref name=":3" /> The Sámi people arrived in their current homeland some time during the [[Bronze Age]] or early [[Iron Age]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rahkonen |first=Pauli |date=2021 |title=Suomeen suuntautuneiden nimistövirtausten monimuotoisuus |trans-title=The diversity of nomenclature flows directed to Finland |url=https://muinaistutkija.journal.fi/article/view/131557/80405 |journal=Muinaistutkija |language=fi |publisher=Suomen arkeologinen seura |volume=1 |page=21}}</ref>

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 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-Finno-Ugric substrate|Pre-Finnic substrate]]). As the language spread further, it became segmented into dialects.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kalmistopiiri |first=Tekijä |date=6 February 2020 |title=Saamen kielten leviäminen Suomeen ja Skandinaviaan |trans-title=The spread of the Sámi languages to Finland and Scandinavia |url=https://kalmistopiiri.fi/2020/02/06/saamelaiskielten-leviaminen-suomeen-ja-skandinaviaan/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031101530/https://kalmistopiiri.fi/2020/02/06/saamelaiskielten-leviaminen-suomeen-ja-skandinaviaan/ |archive-date=31 October 2020 |access-date=22 October 2020 |website=KALMISTOPIIRI |language=fi}}</ref> The geographical distribution of the Sámi has evolved over the course of history. From the [[Bronze Age]], the Sámi occupied the area along the coast of Finnmark and the [[Kola Peninsula]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Schiffels |first1=Stephan |last2=Krause |first2=Johannes |last3=Haak |first3=Wolfgang |last4=Onkamo |first4=Päivi |last5=Pääbo |first5=Svante |last6=Kelso |first6=Janet |last7=Sajantila |first7=Antti |last8=Weihmann |first8=Antje |last9=Ongyerth |first9=Matthias |date=27 November 2018 |title=Ancient Fennoscandian genomes reveal origin and spread of Siberian ancestry in Europe |journal=[[Nature Communications]] |language=en |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=5018 |bibcode=2018NatCo...9.5018L |doi=10.1038/s41467-018-07483-5 |issn=2041-1723 |pmc=6258758 |pmid=30479341}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Tambets |first1=Kristiina |last2=Metspalu |first2=Mait |last3=Lang |first3=Valter |last4=Villems |first4=Richard |last5=Kivisild |first5=Toomas |last6=Kriiska |first6=Aivar |last7=Thomas |first7=Mark G. |last8=Díez-del-Molino |first8=David |last9=Crema |first9=Enrico Ryunosuke |date=20 May 2019 |title=The Arrival of Siberian Ancestry Connecting the Eastern Baltic to Uralic Speakers further East |journal=[[Current Biology]] |language=en |volume=29 |issue=10 |pages=1701–1711.e16 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2019.04.026 |issn=0960-9822 |pmc=6544527 |pmid=31080083}}</ref>

[[Petroglyph]]s and archeological findings such as settlements, dating from about 10,000&nbsp;BC can be found in Lapland and Finnmark, although these have not been demonstrated to be related to the Sámi people.<ref name="http">{{Cite web |title=The ski-going people |url=http://www.galdu.org/web/index.php?artihkkal=320&giella1=eng |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122031153/http://galdu.org/web/index.php?artihkkal=320&giella1=eng |archive-date=22 November 2010 |website=Galdu: Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples}}</ref> These [[hunter-gatherers]] of the late [[Paleolithic]] and early [[Mesolithic]] were named [[Komsa]] by the researchers.

===Relationship between the Sámi and the Scandinavians===
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 separately from the Sámi migrations into the northern regions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Price |first=Theron Douglas |author-link=T. Douglas Price |title=Ancient Scandinavia: An Archaeological History from the First Humans to the Vikings |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-19-023197-2}}</ref> 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 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 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 the Scandinavian languages as the only valid languages of the kingdoms and effectively banning Sámi language and culture in many contexts, particularly schools.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mathisen |first=Stein R. |title=Cultural Identity in Transition: Contemporary Conditions, Practices and Politics of a Global Phenomenon |date=2004 |publisher=Atlantic. |editor-last=Kupiainen |editor-first=Jari |chapter=Ethnic Identities in Global and Local Discourses: Contested Narratives of Sámi Ethnic Heritage |editor-last2=Sevänen |editor-first2=Erkki |editor-last3=Stotesbury |editor-first3=John A.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Jahreskog |first=Birgitta |title=The Sami national minority in Sweden |date=2009 |publisher=Rättsfonden |isbn=978-0-391-02687-2}}</ref>

===Southern limits of Sámi settlement in the past===
[[File:Lapper og Reinsdyr.jpg|thumb|A Sámi man and child in [[Finnmark]], Norway, {{c.|1900|lk=no}}]]
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 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |author-link=Yngvar Nielsen |year=1891 |title=Lappernes fremrykning mot syd i Trondhjems stift og Hedemarkens amt |trans-title=The incursion of Lapps southwards in the see of Trondhjem and county of Hedemarken |journal=Det Norske Geografiske Selskabs årbog |language=no |volume=1 |issue=1889–1890 |pages=18–52 |author-first=Yngvar |author-last=Nielsen}}</ref> 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 the Middle Ages, and in southern Sweden,<ref name="Broadbent">{{Cite book |last=Broadbent |first=Noel |url=https://archive.org/details/lappslabyrinthss82010broa/page/304 |title=Lapps and Labyrinths: Saami Prehistory, Colonization, and Cultural Resilience |date=16 March 2010 |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press]] |isbn=978-0-9788460-6-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/lappslabyrinthss82010broa/page/304 304]}}</ref> including finds in [[Lesja Municipality]], in [[Vang Municipality]], in [[Valdres]] and in [[Hol Municipality]] and [[Ål Municipality]] in [[Hallingdal]].<ref name="Gjerde">{{Cite journal |year=2009 |title=Samiske tufter i Hallingdal? |trans-title=Sami foundations in Hallingdal? |journal=Viking |language=no |volume=72 |issue=2009 |pages=197–210 |first=Hege |last=Skalleberg Gjerde}}</ref> 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.<ref name="autogenerated2">{{rp|208}}</ref>

In Finland, a 2022 study said that Sámi habitation 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 the two provinces by Finns and Swedes led to the assimilation and disappearance of a distinct Sámi population by the 14th century.<ref name="Solantie2022">Reijo Solantie. *Helsingin pitäjän sekä muun Etelä-Suomen kadonnut saamelaisasutus.* In *Helsingin pitäjä - Vantaa 2022 Helsinge - Vanda*, published by Vantaa-Seura, 2022. [https://issuu.com/vantaa-seura/docs/hp2022_digi/s/16514722]</ref>

===Origins of the Norwegian Sea Sámi===
[[File:Three Sámi Lapp women, c1890s.jpg|thumb|Three Sámi women]]

====Bubonic plague====
[[File:1928 Lyngen Troms Norway group Mountain Sami people Photo pcard.jpg|thumb|right|Sámi people in Norway, 1928]]
Until the arrival of [[bubonic plague]] in northern Norway in 1349, the Sámi and the Norwegians occupied very separate economic [[Ecological niche|niches]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pesklo |first=Christopher |title=Pursuing Sami Genealogy |url=http://www.lavvu.com/geno/SamiArtical.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322140622/http://www.lavvu.com/geno/SamiArtical.html |archive-date=22 March 2012 |access-date=22 June 2013 |publisher=Lavvu.com}}</ref> The Sámi hunted reindeer and fished for their livelihood. The Norwegians, who were concentrated on the outer islands and near the mouths of 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.{{sfn|Urbańczyk|1992|p=255}} 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Troels-Lund |first=Fredrik |url=https://runeberg.org/dagligt/1/0182.html |title=In Northern Mists: Dagligt Liv i Norden i det sekstende Aarhundrede |publisher=[[Gyldendal]] |year=1914 |location=Copenhagen |pages=129–130 |language=da |trans-title=In Northern Mists: Daily Life in the North in the Sixteenth Century |access-date=4 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110426053920/http://runeberg.org/dagligt/1/0182.html |archive-date=26 April 2011 |url-status=live |via=[[Projekt Runeberg]]}}</ref>

This socioeconomic balance greatly changed when [[bubonic plague]] came to northern Norway in December 1349. The Norwegians were closely connected to 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 (disease)|plague]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sandnes |first=Jørn |url=https://portal.research.lu.se/portal/en/publications/desertion-and-land-colonization-in-the-nordic-countries-c-13001600--comparative-report-from-the-scandinavian-research-project-on-deserted-farms-and-villages(a4182d3c-4577-42c1-ae7a-dc58c509adaa).html#Overview |title=Desertion and Land Colonization in the Nordic Countries c. 1300–1600: comparative report from the Scandinavian research project on deserted farms and villages |publisher=Almqvist & Wiksell |year=1981 |isbn=91-22-00431-9 |location=Stockholm |chapter=Settlement and Development in the Late Middle Ages c. 1300–1540 |access-date=16 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210516103144/https://portal.research.lu.se/portal/en/publications/desertion-and-land-colonization-in-the-nordic-countries-c-13001600--comparative-report-from-the-scandinavian-research-project-on-deserted-farms-and-villages(a4182d3c-4577-42c1-ae7a-dc58c509adaa).html#Overview |archive-date=16 May 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> Depending on the [[parish]], 60 to 76 percent of northern Norwegian farms were abandoned following the plague,{{sfn|Urbańczyk|1992|p=242–244}} while land-rents, another measure of population, dropped to 9–28% of pre-plague levels.{{sfn|Urbańczyk|1992|p=250}} Although 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.{{sfn|Urbańczyk|1992|p=256}} The Sámi lived on fish and reindeer meat, and did not eat wheat or rye. They lived in communities detached from the Norwegians; being only loosely connected to the European trade routes, they fared far better than the Norwegians.{{sfn|Urbańczyk|1992|p=245}}

==== Indigenous fishing practices ====
Traditionally fishing for the Sámi was done locally on a small scale. Who could fish depended on the fisher's locality to the sea and their knowledge of the landscape.<ref name=":7">Tsiouvalas, A. Evans, J. (2023). ‘From “Common Pools” to “Fish Pools”: Shifting Property Institutions in Traditional Waters of Norway and Canada’. ''Ocean Development & International law 54'' (2), pp135-162.</ref> Fishermen would use common fishing grounds and would have their own personal and secret spots.<ref name=":8">Eythorsson, E. (1993). ‘Sami Fjord Fishermen and the State: Traditional Knowledge and Resource Management in Northern Norway’. In: Inglis, J, T. (eds.). ''Traditional Ecological Knowledge Concepts and Cases.'' Ontario: International Program on Traditional Ecological Knowledge International Development Research Centre.</ref><ref name=":7" /> To navigate to these spots, they did so by naming the spot [[Topography|topographically]], relating to costal landmarks and the landscape of the seafloor.<ref name=":9">Brattland, C. (2013). ‘Mapping Rights in Costal Sami seascapes’. ''Arctic Review on Law and Politics, 1'' (1), pp28-53.</ref> Fishermen where able to catch through a knowledge of the local costal terrain, the landscape of the sea floor, and their ability to predict the tides and fish based on the season.<ref name=":9" /> Such knowledge was learned generationally:<blockquote>"To make a living from fishing in the fjord, you are quite dependent on the knowledge passed on from the earlier generations about what species of fish can be exploited here, tidal currents, fishing spots, how to place nets and so on. This is often a matter of accurate calculation. In periods with a short supply of fish, this kind of knowledge becomes even more important. The young are not interested in learning these things, they depend on the sonar technology, but they don't last very long as fishermen."<ref name=":8" /></blockquote>The indigenous knowledge became less used due to colonialism,  the replacing of indigenous place names, and the development of modern fishing techniques.<ref name=":9" />

====Fishing industry====
[[File:Sjøsamisk Mann Finnmark Norge Ivar Samuelsen 1884 av Bonaparte.jpg|thumb|upright|left|A Sea Sámi man from [[Norway]] by [[Prince Roland Bonaparte]] in 1884]]
[[File:Sea sami man.jpg|thumb|upright|left|A Sea Sámi man from Norway by [[Prince Roland Bonaparte]] in 1884]]
Fishing has always been the main livelihood for the many Sámi living permanently in coastal areas.<ref name="un.org">{{Cite report |url=https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/E.C.19.2010.2EN.pdf |title=Report on indigenous fishing rights in the seas with case studies from Australia and Norway |date=19–30 April 2010 |publisher=[[United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues]] |location=New York |page=15 |access-date=29 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321052131/http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/E.C.19.2010.2EN.pdf |archive-date=21 March 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> 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).<ref name="Broadbent" /> The fishing along 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]].{{sfn|Urbańczyk|1992|pp=29–34}} 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, the local authorities offered incentives to the Sámi—faced with their own population pressures—to settle on the newly vacant farms.{{sfn|Urbańczyk|1992|pp=255–256}} This started the economic division between the Sea Sámi ({{lang|no|sjøsamene}}), who fished extensively off the coast, and the Mountain Sámi ({{lang|no|fjellsamene, innlandssamene}}), who continued to hunt reindeer and small-game animals. They later herded reindeer.

Even as late as the early 18th century, there were many Sámi who were still settling on these farms left abandoned from the 1350s.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Kirkebøker, Kvæfjord Sogn, Godfjord Botten |year=1758 |volume=1–2: 1751–1822 |language=no |trans-title=Church record, Kvæfjord Parish}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Folketelling av Kvæfjord |year=1769 |language=no |trans-title=Kvæfjord Census}}</ref> 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 the right of the coastal Sámi to fish in the seas on the basis of historical use and international law.<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/session_ninth.html |title=Report of UNPFII – Ninth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues |publisher=UNESCO |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101021011444/http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/session_ninth.html |archive-date=21 October 2010 |year=2010}}</ref> 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 the new quota system to a large degree.<ref name="un.org" /><ref name="Johansen 2010">{{Cite AV media |last1=Johansen |first1=Harry |last2=Olsen |first2=Torill |year=2010 |title=Kasta på land (Forced Ashore) |location=Norway |publisher=SIL International}}</ref>

====Mountain Sámi====
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 [[nomad]]s, often portrayed by outsiders as following the traditional Sámi lifestyle. The Mountain Sámi had to pay taxes to three states, [[Kalmar Union|Norway]], [[Early Vasa era|Sweden]] and [[Grand Duchy of Moscow|Russia]], as they crossed each border while following the annual reindeer migrations; this caused much resentment over the years.<ref name="Kuiper 1990s">{{Cite web |last=Kuiper |first=Andrea (Elle) |title=Christianity and the Emerging Nation States |url=http://www.laits.utexas.edu/sami/diehtu/siida/christian/nationstate.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804180756/http://www.laits.utexas.edu/sami/diehtu/siida/christian/nationstate.htm |archive-date=4 August 2020 |access-date=15 September 2017 |website=[[University of Texas]]}}</ref> Between 1635 and 1659, the Swedish crown forced Swedish [[conscription|conscripts]] and Sámi cart drivers to work in the [[Nasa silver mine]], causing many Sámis to emigrate from the area to avoid forced labour. As a result, the population of [[Pite Sámi|Pite]]- and [[Lule Sámi|Lule]]-speaking Sámi decreased greatly.<ref name="Kuiper 1990s" />

===Post-1800s===
{{More citations needed section|date=August 2011}}
[[File:Sami family Finland 1936.jpg|thumb|Sámi family from Finland in 1936]]
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 the Sámi were mostly independent of supplies from Southern Norway.

During the 19th century, the pressure of [[Christianization of Scandinavia|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 the north also ensued, giving Norwegian culture and language higher status.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

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 the northern regions through incentives such as land and water rights, tax allowances, and military exemptions.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Woodard |first=Káre (Kimmi) |title=The Sami vs. Outsiders |url=http://www.laits.utexas.edu/sami/dieda/hist/sami-west.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111205604/https://www.laits.utexas.edu/sami/dieda/hist/sami-west.htm |archive-date=11 November 2020 |access-date=15 September 2017 |website=[[University of Texas]]}}</ref>

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 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Rocks Will Echo Our Sorrow |url=https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-rocks-will-echo-our-sorrow |access-date=2 September 2023 |website=[[University of Minnesota Press]]}}</ref> This has been the topic of a recent work of journalism by Sámi author [[Elin Anna Labba]], translated into English in 2023 under the title [[The Gentlemen Put Us Here|''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 [[Lapland War|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]], 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.{{Citation needed|date=October 2011}}

The [[Alta controversy|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 the Sámi people were created. In 1989, the first Sámi parliament in Norway was elected. In 2005, the [[Finnmark Act]] was passed in the [[Storting|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 the people of the province, whether Sámi or Norwegian, and not to the Norwegian state.

===Contemporary issues===
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 or state-run boarding schools and 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.<ref name="Korpijaakko-Mikkel March 22, 2009">{{Cite news |last=Korpijaakko-Mikkel |first=Sara |date=22 March 2009 |title=Siida and traditional Sámi reindeer herding knowledge |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-202252650.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501035825/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-202252650.html |archive-date=1 May 2011 |publisher=Northern Review}}</ref>
[[File:Syterskalet.jpg|thumb|Vindelfjällen]]

====Natural resource extraction====
Sápmi is rich in precious metals, oil, and natural gas.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rowe |first=Mark |title=Dossier: mining the Arctic – Geographical Magazine |url=https://geographical.co.uk/nature/polar/item/4113-dossier-mining-the-arctic |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128054123/https://geographical.co.uk/nature/polar/item/4113-dossier-mining-the-arctic |archive-date=28 January 2022 |access-date=20 April 2022 |website=geographical.co.uk |language=en-gb}}</ref> Mining activities and prospecting to extract these resources from 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]].<ref>{{Cite web |year=2010 |title=Blackstone to Mine Reindeer Pastures, Sweden |url=http://icr.arcticportal.org/index.php?option=com_hwdvideoshare&task=viewvideo&Itemid=34&video_id=73&lang=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430172407/http://icr.arcticportal.org/index.php?option=com_hwdvideoshare&task=viewvideo&Itemid=34&video_id=73&lang=en |archive-date=30 April 2011 |access-date=1 November 2010 |website=International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry |publisher=EALAT}}</ref> 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 the proposed mines are in Sámi lands and will affect their ability to maintain their traditional livelihood.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Goll |first=Sven |date=23 April 2010 |title=Mining prospects in arctic Norway also causing controversy |url=http://www.newsinenglish.no/2010/04/23/prospects-bright-for-arctic-mining/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100819085254/http://www.newsinenglish.no/2010/04/23/prospects-bright-for-arctic-mining/ |archive-date=19 August 2010 |access-date=1 November 2010 |website=Views and News from Norway |publisher=[[NRK]]}}</ref> In [[Kallak mine|Kallak]] (Sámi: ''Gállok'') a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous activists protested against the UK-based mining company [[Beowulf Mining|Beowulf]] which operated a drilling program in lands used for grazing reindeer during the winter.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ahni Schertow |first=John |date=5 August 2013 |title=Sweden: Ongoing Road Blockade Against Mining in Saami Territory |url=http://intercontinentalcry.org/sweden-ongoing-road-blockade-against-mining-in-saami-territory-19953/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130820191624/http://intercontinentalcry.org/sweden-ongoing-road-blockade-against-mining-in-saami-territory-19953/ |archive-date=20 August 2013 |access-date=25 July 2014 |website=Intercontinental Cry}}</ref> 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 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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Karlsson |first=Kenneth |date=25 May 2014 |title=Finnish colonization: Irish invasion |url=http://savethebaltic.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/finnish-colonization-irish-invasion/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812222225/http://savethebaltic.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/finnish-colonization-irish-invasion/ |archive-date=12 August 2014 |access-date=25 July 2014 |website=Save the Baltic Salmon}}</ref>

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 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.<ref>{{Cite web |year=2010 |title=Shtokman Natural Gas Project, Barents Sea, Russia |url=http://www.hydrocarbons-technology.com/projects/shtokman_gas_project/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110105013537/http://www.hydrocarbons-technology.com/projects/shtokman_gas_project/ |archive-date=5 January 2011 |access-date=1 November 2010 |website=Hydrocarbons Technology |publisher=Verdict Media}}</ref>{{failed verification|reason=source outlines the project but doesn't mention any of these threats|date=April 2021}}

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 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.<ref>{{Cite web |year=2007 |title=Last Yoik of Saami Forests? |url=http://www.der.org/films/last-yoik.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100717023437/http://www.der.org/films/last-yoik.html |archive-date=17 July 2010 |access-date=31 October 2010 |website=[[Documentary Educational Resources]]}}</ref> [[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 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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ove Varsi |first=Magne |year=2010 |title=Campaign for Northern Forests by Indigenous Sami Ended Successfully in Finland |url=http://www.galdu.org/web/index.php?odas=4995&giella1=eng |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511113644/http://www.galdu.org/web/index.php?odas=4995&giella1=eng |archive-date=11 May 2011 |publisher=Gáldu: Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples}}</ref>

====Land rights====
[[File:Suorvajaure in stora sjofallet park.jpg|thumb|[[Suorvajaure]] near [[Piteå]]]]
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 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'' ([[Indigenous land rights|land rights]]), including by not regulating industry. In Norway some Sámi politicians (for example—Aili Keskitalo) suggest giving the Sámi Parliament a special veto right on planned mining projects.<ref name="barents">{{Cite web |date=8 November 2012 |title=Sami parliament wants veto on mineral issues |url=https://barentsobserver.com/en/politics/sami-parliament-wants-veto-mineral-issues-08-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191113112142/https://barentsobserver.com/en/politics/sami-parliament-wants-veto-mineral-issues-08-11 |archive-date=13 November 2019 |access-date=17 May 2021 |website=[[Barents Observer]]}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Nellemann |first1=Christian |last2=Vistnes |first2=Ingunn |date=October 2003 |title=New bombing ranges and their impact on Saami traditions |url=https://gridarendal-website-live.s3.amazonaws.com/production/documents/:s_document/254/original/poltimesp1.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200822011717/https://gridarendal-website-live.s3.amazonaws.com/production/documents/:s_document/254/original/poltimesp1.pdf |archive-date=22 August 2020 |access-date=22 August 2020 |publisher=The Environment Times/Polar Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media |year=2008 |title=Aigi (Time) |publisher=[[Riho Västrik]]/Vesilind Studios, Uldis Cekulis/Vides Filmu Studija}}</ref>

In October 2024, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ruled Finland had violated Sámi Indigenous people's rights to their land and culture.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=United Nations Economic and Social Council Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights |date=9 December 2024 |title=Views adopted by the Committee under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, concerning communications No. 251/2022 and No. 289/2022 |url=https://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=ApsAcs1HR02w%2FCJrOgxC6DXkJGAlSOG%2BcNS%2FmiOhBH89dt7KfaIyM9iyeIS4HadXDRV%2FmG22HUT7XUdT7xDfqAlG0jF15FnRMhb6iTv22YI%3D |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250317031015/https://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=ApsAcs1HR02w%2FCJrOgxC6DXkJGAlSOG%2BcNS%2FmiOhBH89dt7KfaIyM9iyeIS4HadXDRV%2FmG22HUT7XUdT7xDfqAlG0jF15FnRMhb6iTv22YI%3D |archive-date=17 March 2025 |access-date=17 March 2025}}</ref> The decision responded to a petition filed by 17 members of the Sámi community regarding encroachment on their traditional territories for prospective mining activities.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Dehaibi |first=Laura |date=2025-03-10 |title=What a landmark ruling for the Sámi people in Finland means for the protection of Indigenous rights globally |url=https://theconversation.com/what-a-landmark-ruling-for-the-sami-people-in-finland-means-for-the-protection-of-indigenous-rights-globally-249567 |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}}</ref> The UNCESCR relied on the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in recognizing "Indigenous Peoples' right to land as an indispensable part of their right to take part in cultural life."<ref name=":5" /> The committee concluded Finland failed to properly consult the Sámi community, and directed the country to provide complainants with reparations as well as modify legislation regarding environmental, social, and cultural impact assessments.<ref>{{Cite web |last=United Nations Human Rights - Office of the High Commissioner |date=10 October 2024 |title=Finland must respect the rights of Sámi Indigenous people to traditional lands: UN Committees find |url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/10/finland-must-respect-rights-sami-indigenous-people-traditional-lands-un |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241111222540/https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/10/finland-must-respect-rights-sami-indigenous-people-traditional-lands-un |archive-date=11 November 2024 |access-date=17 March 2025}}</ref> The decision was significant, as it marked the first time European Indigenous peoples were able to defend their land rights without relying on conventional property definitions, instead using concepts like cultural rights and living standards.<ref name=":6" />

====Water rights====
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 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 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kuokkanen |first1=Rauna |last2=Bulmer |first2=Marja K. |year=2006 |chapter=Suttesaja: from a sacred Sámi site and natural spring to a water bottling plant? The effects of colonization in Northern Europe. |title=Echoes from the Poisoned Well: Global Memories of Environmental Justice |publisher=[[Lexington Books]]}}</ref>

In Norway, government plans for the construction of a hydroelectric power plant in the Alta river in Finnmark in northern Norway led to 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.

====Climate change and the environment====
[[File:Nordkappsami.jpg|thumb|Sámi man from Norway]]
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 the globe, due in part to the variability of the Arctic climate and ecosystem and the characteristic ways of life of Indigenous Arctic peoples.<ref>{{Cite web |year=2010 |title=About EALÁT |url=https://icr.arcticportal.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=245&Itemid=86&lang=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230420110616/https://icr.arcticportal.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=245&Itemid=86&lang=en |archive-date=20 April 2023 |access-date=7 February 2023 |website=International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry |publisher=EALÁT}}</ref>

The 1986 [[Chernobyl disaster|Chernobyl nuclear disaster]] caused [[nuclear fallout]] in the sensitive Arctic ecosystems and poisoned fish, meat<ref name="Skuerud">{{Cite journal |last1=Skuterud |first1=Lavrans |last2=Gaare |first2=Eldar |last3=Eikelmann |first3=Inger |last4=Hove |first4=Knut |last5=Steinnes |first5=Eilive |date=2005 |title=Chernobyl Radioactivity Persists in Reindeer |journal=[[Journal of Environmental Radioactivity]] |volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=231–52 |doi=10.1016/j.jenvrad.2005.04.008 |pmid=15939511}}</ref> 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 but has not followed through on this promise.

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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rykov |first=Sergey |date=21 April 2010 |script-title=ru:Мы живем на ядерной помойке: Почему вымирают коренные народы Севера |title=My zhivem na yadernoy pomoyke: Pochemu vymirayut korennyye narody Severa |trans-title=We live in a nuclear dumpster: Why the indigenous people of the North are dying out |url=http://www.stoletie.ru/obschestvo/my_zhivem_na_jadernoj_pomojke_2010-04-21.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511101133/http://www.stoletie.ru/obschestvo/my_zhivem_na_jadernoj_pomojke_2010-04-21.htm |archive-date=11 May 2011 |access-date=1 November 2010 |website=Stoletie |language=ru}}</ref>

====Tourism====
The tourism industry in Finland has been criticized for turning Sámi culture into 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.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Protests against the exploitation of Sámi culture |url=http://boreale.konto.itv.se/rovaniemi.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127093258/http://boreale.konto.itv.se/rovaniemi.htm |archive-date=27 January 2021 |access-date=31 December 2020 |publisher=Suoma Sami Nuorat}}</ref>