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Sami people

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Sami people Sámi

Sámi flag

Mari Boine • Lars Levi Læstadius • Lisa Thomasson Helga Pedersen • Renée Zellweger • Ole Henrik Magga Total population 163,400 (80,000–135,000) Regions with significant populations  Sápmi

133,400

 Norway

37,890 [1]

 United States

30,000 [2]

 Sweden

14,600 [3]

 Finland

9,350 [4]

 Russia

1,991 [5]

 Ukraine

136 [6] Languages

Sami people

2 Sami languages: Northern Sami, Lule Sami, Pite Sami, Ume Sami, Southern Sami, Inari Sami, Skolt Sami, Kildin Sami, Ter Sami Akkala Sami (extinct), Kemi Sami (extinct), Kainuu Sami (extinct) Nation State Languages: Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Russian Religion Lutheranism, Laestadianism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Sami shamanism Related ethnic groups other Finnic peoples

The Sami people, also spelled Sámi or Saami, are the indigenous people inhabiting the Arctic area of Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are the only indigenous people of Scandinavia recognized and protected under the international conventions of indigenous peoples, and hence the northernmost indigenous people of Europe.[7] Sami ancestral lands span an area of approximately 388,350 km2 (150,000 sq. mi.), which is approximately the size of Sweden, in the Nordic countries. Their traditional languages are the Sami languages and are classified as a branch of the Uralic language family. Traditionally, the Sami 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. Currently about 10% of the Sami are connected to reindeer herding and 2,800 are actively involved in herding on a full-time basis.[8] For traditional, environmental, cultural and political reasons, reindeer herding is legally reserved only for Sami people in certain regions of the Nordic countries.[9]

Etymologies The Sámi are often known in other languages by the exonyms Lap, Lapp, or Laplanders, but many Sami regard these as pejorative terms.[10][11][12] Variants of the name Lapp were originally used in Sweden and Finland and, through Swedish, adopted by all major European languages: English: Lapps, German, Dutch: Lappen, Russian: лопари́ (lopari), Ukrainian: лопарі́ , French: Lapons, Greek: Λάπωνες (Lápōnes), Italian: Lapponi, Polish: Lapończycy, Spanish: Lapón, Portuguese: Lapões, Turkish: Lâpon. The first known historical mention of the Sami, naming them Fenni, was by Tacitus, about 98 CE.[13] Variants of Finn or Fenni were in wide use in ancient times, judging from the names Fenni and Phinnoi in classical Roman and Greek works. Finn (or variants, such as skridfinn, "striding Finn") was the name originally used by Norse speakers (and their proto-Norse speaking ancestors) to refer to the Sami, 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 *finthanan ("to find"),[14] the logic being that the Sami, as hunter-gatherers "found" their food, rather than grew it. It has been suggested, however, that it may originally have been a more general term for "northern hunter gatherers", rather than referring exclusively to the Sami, which may explain why two Swedish runestones from the 11th century apparently refer to what is now southwestern Finland as Finland. Note that in Finnish, Finns (inhabitants of Finland), do not refer to themselves as Finns. As Old Norse gradually developed into the separate Scandinavian languages, Swedes apparently took to using Finn exclusively to refer to inhabitants of Finland, while Sami came to be called Lapps. In Norway, however, Sami 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 Sami people, although the Sami themselves now consider this to be a pejorative term. Finnish immigrants to Northern Norway in the 18th and 19th centuries were referred to as "Kvens" to distinguish them from the Sami "Finns".

Sami people The exact meaning of the term Lapp, and the reasons it came into common usage, are unknown; in modern Scandinavian languages, lapp means "a patch of cloth for mending", which may be a description[citation needed] of the clothing, called a gakti, that the Sámi wore. Another possible source is the Finnish word lape, which in this case means "periphery". 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 12th century Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus, who referred to the two Lappias, although he still referred to the Sami as (Skrid-)Finns.[15][16] In fact, Saxo never explicitly connects the Sami with the "two Laplands". It was popularized and became the standard terminology by the work of Johannes Schefferus, Acta Lapponica (1673), but was also used earlier by Olaus Magnus in his Description of the Northern peoples (1555). There is another suggestion that it originally meant "wilds".[citation needed] In Sweden and Finland, Lapp is common in place names, such as Lappi (Länsi-Suomen lääni) and Lapinlahti (Itä-Suomen lääni) in Finland; and Lapp (Stockholm County), Lappe (Södermanland) and Lappabo (Småland) in Sweden. As already mentioned, Finn is a common element in Norwegian (particularly Northern Norwegian) place names, whereas Lapp is exceedingly rare. In the North Sámi language, láhppon olmmoš means a person who is lost (from the verb láhppot, to get lost). Sámi refer to themselves as Sámit (the Sámis) or Sápmelaš (of Sámi kin), the word Sámi being inflected into various grammatical forms. It has been proposed that Sámi (presumably borrowed from the Proto-Finnic word), Häme (Finnish for Tavastia) (< Proto-Finnic *šämä, the second ä still being found in the archaic derivation Hämäläinen), and perhaps Suomi (Finnish for Finland) (< *sōme-/sōma-, compare suomalainen, supposedly borrowed from a Proto-Germanic source *sōma- from Proto-Baltic *sāma-, in turn borrowed from Proto-Finnic *šämä) are of the same origin and ultimately borrowed from the Baltic word *žēmē, meaning "land".[17] The Baltic word is cognate with Slavic земля (zemlja), which also means "land".[18] The Sámi institutions — notably the parliaments, Homeland of the Sámi people radio and TV stations, theatres, etc. — all use the term Sámi, including when addressing outsiders in Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, or English. In Norwegian, the Sámi are today referred to by the Norwegianized form same, whereas the word lapp would be considered archaic and pejorative. Terminological issues in Finnish are somewhat different. Finns living in Finnish Lapland generally call themselves lappilainen, whereas the similar word for the Sámi people is lappalainen. This can be confusing for foreign visitors because of the similar lives Finns and Sámi people live today in Lapland. Lappalainen is also a common family name in Finland. As in the Scandinavian languages, lappalainen is often considered archaic or pejorative, and saamelainen is used instead, at least in official contexts.

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Sami people

History Since prehistoric times,[19][] the Sami people of Arctic Europe lived and worked in an area that stretches over the regions now known as Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Russian Kola Peninsula. They have inhabited the northern arctic and sub-arctic regions of Fenno-Scandinavia and Russia for at least 5,000 years.[] The Sami are counted among the Arctic peoples and are members of circumpolar groups such as the Arctic Council Indigenous Peoples' Secretariat.[20] Petroglyphs and archeological findings such as settlements dating from about 10,000 B.C. can be found in the traditional lands of the Sami.[] A Sami family in Norway around 1900 The now-obsolete term for the archaeological culture of these hunters and gatherers of the late Paleolithic and early Mesolithic is Komsa. A cultural continuity between these stone-age people and the Sami can be assumed due to evidence such as the similarities in the decoration patterns of archeological bone objects and Sami decoration patterns, and there is no archeological evidence of this population being replaced by another.[] Recent archaeological discoveries in Finnish Lapland were originally seen as the continental version of the Komsa culture about the same age as the earliest finds on the coast of Norway.[21][22] It is hypothesized that the Komsa followed receding glaciers inland from the Arctic coast at the end of the last ice age (between 11,000 and 8000 years B.C.) as new land opened up for settlement (e.g., modern Finnmark area in the northeast, to the coast of the Kola Peninsula).[23] Since the Sami are the earliest ethnic group in the area, they are consequently considered an indigenous population of the area.[24]

Southern limits of Sami settlement in the past How far south the Sami 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 Sami land rights, concluded that the Sami had lived no farther south than Lierne in Nord-Trøndelag county until around 1500, when they started moving south, reaching the area around Lake Femunden in the 18th century.[25] This hypothesis is still accepted among many historians, but has been the subject of scholarly debate in the 21st A Sami man and child in Finnmark, Norway, century. In recent years, several archaeological finds indicate a Sami circa 1900 presence in southern Norway in the Middle Ages, and southern Sweden,[] including finds in Lesja, in Vang in Valdres and in Hol and Ål in Hallingdal.[] Proponents of the Sami interpretations of these finds assume a mixed population of Norse and Sami people in the mountainous areas of southern Norway in the Middle Ages.[]

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Origins of the Norwegian Sea Sami The bubonic plague Until the arrival of the bubonic plague of 1349 in northern Norway, the Sami and the Norwegians occupied very separate economic niches.[26] The Sami hunted reindeer and fished for their own livelihood. The Norwegians, concentrated on the outer islands and outer sections of the fjords, were connected to the greater European trade routes; did marginal farming in the Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark counties; and fished for trade products from the south.[27] The two groups co-existed using two different food resources.[27] According to old Nordic texts, the Sea Sami and the Mountain Sami are two classes of the same people and not two different ethnic groups as had been erroneously believed.[28]

Sami people, in Norway, 1928

This social economic balance greatly changed with the introduction of the bubonic plague in 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 Sami in the interior. Of all Nordic Sami people, Lavvu circa.1900 the states in the region, Norway suffered the most from this plague.[29] Depending on the parish, sixty to seventy-six percent of the northern Norwegian farms were abandoned following the plague,[30] while land-rents, another possible measure of the population numbers, dropped down to between 9-28% of pre-plague rents.[31] Although the population of northern Norway is sparse compared to southern Europe, the spread of the disease was just as rapid.[32] The method of movement of the plague-infested flea (Xenopsylla cheopsis) from the south was in wooden barrels holding wheat, rye, or wool – where the fleas could live, and even reproduce, for several months at a time.[33] The Sami, having a non-wheat or -rye diet, eating fish and reindeer meat, living in communities detached from the Norwegians, and being only weakly connected to the European trade routes, fared far better than the Norwegians.[34]

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Fishing industry Fishing has always been the main livelihood for the many Sami living permanently in seaside areas.[] Archeological research shows that the Sami have lived along the coast and once lived much further south in the past, and they were also involved in work other than just reindeer herding (e.g., fishing, agriculture, iron work).[] The fishing along the north Norwegian coast, especially in the Lofoten and Vesterålen islands, is quite productive with a variety of fish, and during medieval times, it was a major source of income for both the fisherman and the Norwegian monarchy.[35] With such massive population drops caused by the Black Death, the tax revenues from this industry greatly diminished. Because of the huge economic profits that could be had from these fisheries, the local authorities offered incentives to the Sami – faced with their own population pressures – to settle on the newly vacant farms.[36] This started the economic division between the Sea Sami (sjøsamene), who fished extensively off the coast, and the Mountain Sami (fjellsamene, innlandssamene), who continued to hunt (among other, small-game animals), and later herd, reindeer. Even as late as the early 18th century, there were many Sami who were still settling on these farms left abandoned from the 1350s.[37][38] After many years of continuous migration, these Sea Sami became far more numerous than the reindeer mountain Sami, who today only make up 10% of all Sami. In contemporary times, there are also ongoing consultations between the Government of Norway and the Sami Parliament regarding the right of the coastal Sami to fish in the seas on the basis of historical use and international law.[39] 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 Sami districts falling outside the new quota system to a large degree.[][]

A Sea Sami man from Norway by Prince Roland Bonaparte in 1884

Mountain Sami As the Sea Sami settled along Norway's fjords and inland waterways pursuing a combination of farming, cattle raising, trapping and fishing, the smaller minority of the Mountain Sami 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 the archetypal Sami lifestyle. The Mountain Sami faced the fact that they had to pay taxes to three nation-states, A Sea Sami man from Norway by Prince Roland Norway, Sweden and Russia, as they crossed the borders of each of the Bonaparte in 1884 respective countries following the annual reindeer migrations, which caused much resentment over the years.[] Sweden made the Sami work in a slavemine at Nasafjäll, causing many Samis to flee from the area, so a large part of the provinces previously used by Pite and Lule Samis is depopulated. Government troops were ordered to prevent the Sami from fleeing.[]

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Post-1800s For long periods of time, the Sami 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 Sami cultural element was strengthened, since the Sami were mostly independent of supplies from Southern Norway. Traditional raised Sami storehouse, displayed at Skansen, Stockholm. A similar structure, the izbushka, is mentioned in Russian children stories as a house with chicken feet

However, during the 19th century, Norwegian authorities put the Sami culture under pressure in order to make the Norwegian language and culture universal. A strong economic development of the north also took place, giving Norwegian culture and language status. On the Swedish and Finnish side, the authorities were much less militant in their efforts, though Sami language was forbidden in schools; strong economic development in the north led to a weakening of status and economy for the Sami. In 1913-1920, the Swedish race-segregation politic created a race biological institute that collected research material from living people, graves, and sterilized Sami women. Throughout history, settlers were encouraged to move to the northern regions through incentives such as land and water rights, tax allowances, and military exemptions.[40] The strongest pressure took place from around 1900 to 1940, when Norway invested considerable money and effort to wipe out Sami culture. Notably, anyone who wanted to buy or lease state lands for agriculture in Finnmark had to prove knowledge of the Norwegian A Pite Sami from Beiarn language and had to register with a Norwegian name. This ultimately caused the dislocation of Sami people in the 1920s, which increased the gap between local Sami groups (something still present today) and sometimes bears the character of an internal Sami ethnic conflict. In 1913, the Norwegian parliament passed a bill on "native act land" to allocate the best and most useful lands to the 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 Sami culture. After World War II, the pressure was relaxed somewhat, though the legacy was evident into recent times, such as the 1970s law limiting the size of any house that Sami people were allowed to build. [citation needed] The controversy around the construction of the hydro-electric power station in Alta in 1979 brought Sami rights onto the political agenda. In August 1986, the national anthem ("Sámi soga lávlla") and flag (Sami flag) of the Sami people were created. In 1989, the first Sami parliament in Norway was elected. In 2005, the Finnmark Act was passed in the Norwegian parliament. This law gives the Sami 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 Sami, now belong officially to the people of the

Sami people province, whether Sami or Norwegian, and not to the Norwegian state. Contemporary The indigenous Sami population is a mostly urbanised demographic, but a substantial number live in villages in the high arctic. The Sami are still coping with the cultural consequences of language and culture loss related to generations of Sami children taken to missionary and/or state-run boarding schools and the legacy of laws that were created to deny the Sami rights (e.g., to their beliefs, language, land and to the practice of traditional livelihoods). The Sami are experiencing cultural and environmental threats,[] including oil exploration, mining, dam building, logging, climate change, military bombing ranges, tourism and commercial development. Natural-resource prospecting Sapmi is rich in precious metals, oil, and natural gas. Mining activities in Arctic Sapmi cause controversy when they are in grazing and calving areas. Mining projects are rejected by the Sami Parliament in the Finnmark area. The Sami Parliament demands that resources and mineral exploration should benefit mainly the local Sami communities and population, as the proposed mines are in Sami lands and will affect their ability to maintain their traditional livelihood.[41] Mining Vindelfjällen locations even include ancient Sami spaces that are designated as ecologically protected areas, such as Vindelfjällen nature reserve.[42] 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. There is a gas pipeline that stretches across the Kola Peninsula. Oil spills affect fishing and the construction of roads. Power lines may cut off access to reindeer calving grounds and sacred sites.[43] Logging 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.[44] Greenpeace, reindeer herders, and Sami organisations carried out a historical joint campaign, and in 2010, Sami 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.[45] Military activities Government authorities and NATO have built bombing-practice ranges in Sami areas in northern Norway and Sweden. These regions have served as reindeer calving and summer grounds for thousands of years, and contain many ancient Sami sacred sites.[46][47]

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9 Land rights

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, one 80 mil 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 Suorvajaure near Piteå Discrimination Committee and the Human Rights Committee, that Sweden violates Sami landrättigheter (land rights), including by not regulating industry. In Norway some Lappish politicians (for example - Aili Keskitalo) suggest giving the Sami Parliament a special veto right on planned mining projects.[48] 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 Sami districts falling outside the new quota system to a large degree. The Sami 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 Sami 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 Sami livelihood.[49] In Norway, the government plans for the construction of a hydroelectric power plant in the Alta river in Finnmark, northern Norway led to a political controversy, rallying of the Sami popular movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s. As a result, the opposistion in the Alta controversy brought attention not only to environmental issues but also to the issue of Sami rights. Climate change and environment 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.[50] 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 Sami man from Norway 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 destroyed as "unfit" for human consumption in Sweden alone. The government promised Sami indemnification, which 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 Sami live. There are a minimum of five "dumps" where spent

Sami people nuclear fuel and other radioactive waste are being deposited in the Kola Peninsula, often with little concern for the surrounding environment or population.[51] Tourism The tourism industry in Finland has been criticized for turning Sami culture into a marketing tool by promoting opportunities to experience "authentic" Sami ceremonies and lifestyle. At many tourist locales, non-Samis dress in inaccurate replicas of Sami traditional clothing, and gift shops sell crude reproductions of Sami handicraft. One popular "ceremony", crossing the Arctic Circle, actually has no significance in Sami spirituality. To the Sami, this is an insulting display of cultural exploitation.[52] Sami discrimination The Sami have been the subject of discrimination by the great powers nearly throughout their existence. They have never been a single community in a single region of Lapland, which until recently was considered only as a cultural region. Norway has been greatly criticized by international community for the politics of the norwegianisation and discrimination towards the aboriginal population of the country.[53] Recent research shows that the Sami are discriminated against in many contexts, especially, it is worrying that Sami children and adolescents exposed to various forms of bullying because of their Sami identity. On 8 April 2011 UN Racial Discrimination Committee recommendations were handed over Norway and addressed many issues, including the educational situation for students needing bilingual education in Sami. Committee wills was concerned that no language was taken as a basis for discrimination in the Norwegian anti-discrimination laws, and recommended wording of Racial Discrimination Convention art 1 contained in the Act. In the recommendations it emerged a number of points concerning the Sami population in Norway including the incorporation racial Convention through the Human Rights Act, improving the availability and quality of interpreter services and equality with civil Ombudsman's recommendations for action. A new present status report must have been ready by the end of 2012.[54] In Sweden the Sami often feel that the schools do not contribute to strengthening the Sami children’s identity and that children who are subjected to harassment and discrimination are not given the protection that they need and to which they are entitled. Sami children, young people and parents have also said that harassment connected to their ethnic background is part of their day-to-day life. It is manifested through taunts and other types of abuse. The Sami feel that the local authorities do not take the Sami right to mother tongue teaching seriously, even to the point of openly opposing it. It is evident that a child’s possibilities for receiving mother tongue teaching are in many cases dependent on the parents’ involvement and knowledge of Sami linguistic rights.

Culture To make up for past suppression, the authorities of Norway, Sweden and Finland now make an effort to build up Sami cultural institutions and promote Sami culture and language.

Duodji (craft)

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Duodji, the Sami handicraft, originates from the time when the Samis were self-supporting nomads, believing therefore that an object should first and foremost serve a purpose rather than being primarily decorative. Men mostly use wood, bone, and antlers to make items such as antler-handled scrimshawed sami knives, drums, and guksi (burl cups). Women used leather and roots to make items such as gákti (clothing), and birch- and spruce-root woven baskets.

Clothing

Sami knives

Gakti are the traditional clothing worn by the Sámi people. The gákti is worn both in ceremonial contexts and while working, particularly when herding reindeer. Traditionally, the gákti was made from reindeer leather and sinews, but nowadays, it is more common to use wool, cotton, or silk. Women's gákti typically consist of a dress, a fringed shawl that is fastened with 1-3 silver brooches, and boots/shoes made of reindeer fur or leather. Boots can have pointed or curled toes and often have band-woven ankle wraps. Eastern Sami boots have a rounded toe on reindeer-fur boots, lined with felt and with beaded details. There are different gákti for women and men; men's gákti have a shorter "jacket-skirt" than a women's long dress. Traditional gákti are most commonly in variations of red, blue, green, white, medium-brown tanned leather, or reindeer fur. In winter, there is the addition of a reindeer fur coat and leggings, and sometimes a poncho (luhkka) and rope/lasso.

Beaded belt, knife, and antler needlecase

The colours, patterns and the jewellery of the gákti indicate where a person is from, if a person is single or married, and sometimes can even be specific to their family. The collar, sleeves and hem usually have appliqués in the form of geometric shapes. Some regions have ribbonwork, others have tin embroidery, and some Eastern Sami have beading on clothing or collar. Hats vary by gender, season, and region. They can be wool, leather, or fur. They can be embroidered, or in the East, they are more like a beaded cloth crown with a shawl. Some traditional shamanic headgear had animal hides, plaits, and feathers, particularly in East Sapmi. The gákti can be worn with a belt; these are sometimes band-woven Sami woman from Sweden belts, woven, or beaded. Leather belts can have scrimshawed antler buttons, silver concho-like buttons, tassles, or brass/copper details such as rings. Belts can also have beaded leather pouches, antler needle cases, accessories for a fire, copper rings, amulets, and often a carved and/or scrimshawed antler handled knife. Some Eastern Sami also have a hooded jumper (малиц) from reindeer skins with wool inside and above the knee boots.

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Sami hats

Sami mittens

Media and literature • There are short daily news bulletins in Northern Sámi on national TV in Norway, Sweden and Finland. Children's television shows in Sami are also frequently made. There is also a radio station for Northern Sámi, which has some news programs in the other Sámi languages. • A single daily newspaper is published in Northern Sami, Ávvir,[55] along with a few magazines. • There is a Sámi theatre, Beaivvaš, in Kautokeino on the Norwegian side, as well as in Kiruna on the Swedish side. Both tour the entire Sámi area with drama written by Sámi authors or international translations.

Muitalus sámiid birra by Johan Turi

• A number of novels and poetry collections are published every year in Northern Sámi, and sometimes in the other Sámi languages as well. The largest Sami Publishing house is Davvi Girji.

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Marry Áilonieida Somby, Sami author from Deatnu

Music

Sofia Jannok, a Sami vocalist and musician from Gällivare (Sweden)

A characteristic feature of Sami musical tradition is the singing of yoik/joik. Yoiks are song-chants and are traditionally sung a cappella, usually sung slowly and deep in the throat with apparent emotional content of sorrow or anger. Yoiks can be dedicated to animals and birds in nature, special people or special occasions, and they can be joyous, sad or melancholic. They often are based on syllablic improvisation. In recent years, musical instruments frequently accompany yoiks. The only traditional Sami instruments that were sometimes used to accompany yoik are the "fadno" flute (made from reed-like Angelica archangelica stems) and hand drums (frame drums and bowl drums).

Education • Education with Sami as the first language is available in all four countries, and also outside the Sami area. • Sami University College is located in Kautokeino. Sami language is studied in several universities in all countries, most notably the University of Tromsø, which considers Sami a mother tongue, not a foreign language.

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Festivals and markets • Numerous Sami festivals throughout the Sápmi area celebrate different aspects of the Sami culture. The best-known on the Norwegian side is Riddu Riđđu, though there are others, such as Ijahis Idja in Inari. Among the most festive are the Easter festivals taking place in Kautokeino and Karasjok prior to the springtime reindeer migration to the coast. These festivals combine traditional culture with modern phenomena such as snowmobile races.

Visual Arts In addition to Duodji (Sami handicraft), there is a developing area of contemporary Sami visual art. Galleries such as Sámi Dáiddaguovddáš (Sami Center for Contemporary Art)[] are being established. Sara Marielle Gaup at Riddu Riđđu

Dance For many years there was a misconception that the Sámi were the only Indigenous people without a dance tradition in the world.[56] A shamanistic arctic people without dance, does not make sense and is more likely to be a supression of dance tradition due to its relationship to pre-Christian Shamanic traditions. Sami dance companies have emerged such as Kompani Nomad.[] A book about the ‘lost’ Sami dance tradition called "Jakten på den försvunna samiska dansen” was recently published by Umeå University's Centre for Sami Research (CeSam)[57]. In the eastern areas of Sápmi the dance tradition has been more continuous and is continued by groups such as Johtti Kompani.[]

Reindeer husbandry Reindeer husbandry has been, and is, an important aspect of Sami culture. During the years of forced assimilation, the areas in which reindeer herding was an important livelihood were among the few where the Sami culture and language survived. Today, in Norway and Sweden, reindeer husbandry is legally protected as an exclusive Sami livelihood, such that only persons of Sami descent with a linkage to a reindeer herding family can own, and hence make a living off, reindeer. Presently, about 2,800 people are engaged Reindeer herding in reindeer herding in Norway.[8] In Finland, reindeer husbandry is not exclusive and is practiced to a limited degree also by ethnic Finns. Legally, it is restricted to EU/EEA nationals resident in the area. In the north (Lapland), it plays a major role in the local economy, while its economic impact is lesser in the southern parts of the area (Province of Oulu). Among the reindeer herders in the Saami villages, the women usually have a higher level of formal education in the area.[58]

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Sami policy Norway The Sami have been recognized as an indigenous people in Norway (1990 according to ILO convention 169 as described below), and hence, according to international law, the Sami people in Norway are entitled special protection and rights. The legal foundation of the Sami policy is:[59] • Article 110a of the Norwegian Constitution. • The Sami Act (act of 12 June 1987 No. 56 concerning the Sami Parliament (the Sámediggi) and other legal matters pertaining to the Samis).

Sami Parliament of Norway

The constitutional amendment states: "It is the responsibility of the authorities of the State to create conditions enabling the Sami people to preserve and develop its language, culture and way of life." This provides a legal and political protection of the Sami language, culture and society. In addition the "amendment implies a legal, political and moral obligation for Norwegian authorities to create an environment conducive to the Samis themselves influencing on the development of the Sami community" (ibid.). The Sami Act provides special rights for the Sami people (ibid.): • "...the Samis shall have their own national Sami Parliament elected by and amongst the Samis" (Chapter 1–2). • The Sami people shall decide the area of activity of the Norwegian Sami Parliament. • The Sami and Norwegian languages have equal standing in Norway (section 15; Chapter 3 contains details with regards to the use of the Sami language). In addition, the Sami have special rights to reindeer husbandry. The Norwegian Sami Parliament also elects 50% of the members to the board of the Finnmark Estate, which controls 95% of the land in the county of Finnmark. Norway has also accepted international conventions, declarations and agreements applicable to the Sami as a minority and indigenous people including:[60] • The International Covenant on Civil and Political Right (1966). Mountain landscape in Kvalsund near Article 27 protects minorities, and indigenous peoples, against Hammerfest discrimination: "In those states in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities, shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or use their own language." • ILO Convention No. 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries (1989). The convention states that rights for the indigenous peoples to land and natural resources are recognized as central for their material and cultural survival. In addition, indigenous peoples should be entitled to exercise control over, and manage, their own institutions, ways of life and economic development in order to maintain and develop their identities, languages and religions, within the framework of the states in which they live. • The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965). • The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). • The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979). • The Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (1995). • The Council of Europe's Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (1992).

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• The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007).[61] In 2007, the Norwegian Parliament passed the new Reindeer Herding Act acknowledging siida as the basic institution regarding land rights, organization, and daily herding management.[]

Sweden The Sametingslag was established as the Swedish Sami Parliament as of 1 January 1993. Sweden recognised the existence of the "Sami nation" in 1989, but the ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, C169 has not been adopted. All indigenous rights are currently banned. The Compulsory School Ordinance states that Sami pupils are entitled to be taught in their native language; however, a municipality is only obliged to arrange mother-tongue teaching in Sami if a suitable teacher is available and the pupil has a basic knowledge of Sami.[]

Sami Parliament in Sweden

In 2010, after 14 years of negotiation, Laponiatjuottjudus, an association with Sami majority control, will govern the UNESCO World Heritage Site Laponia. The reindeer-herding law will apply in the area as well.[62] In 1998, Sweden formally apologized for the wrongs committed against the Sami.

Finland

Land near Ylläs

The act establishing the Finnish Sami Parliament (Finnish: Saamelaiskäräjät) was passed on November 9, 1973. Finland recognized the Sami as a "people" in 1995, but they have yet to ratify ILO Convention 169 Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples.

Finland ratified the 1966 U.N. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights though several cases brought before the U.N. Human Rights Committee. Of those, 36 cases involved a determination of the rights of individual Sami in Finland and Sweden. The committee decisions clarify that Sami are members of a minority within the meaning of Article 27 and that deprivation or erosion of their rights to practice traditional activities that are an essential element of their culture do come within the scope of Article 27.[63] The case of J. Lansman versus Finland concerned a challenge by Sami reindeer herders in northern Finland to plans of the Finnish Central Forestry Board to approve logging and construction of roads in an area used by the herdsmen as winter pasture and spring calving grounds.[] Sami have had some access to Sami language instruction (in some schools) since 1970s, and language rights were established in 1992. There are three Sami languages spoken in Finland: North Sami, Skolt Sami and Inari Sami. Of these languages, Inari Sami, which is spoken by about 350 speakers, is the only one that is used entirely within borders of Finland, mainly in the municipality of Inari.

Finnish Lapland. The three northernmost municipalities Utsjoki, Inari and Enontekiö and part of Sodankylä is officially considered the Sami area.

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Finland has denied any aboriginal rights or land rights to the Sami people;[64] in Finland, non-Sami can herd reindeer as well. Sami people have had very little representation in Finnish national politics. In fact Janne Seurujärvi a Finnish Centre Party representative was the first Sami ever to be elected to the Finnish Parliament.[65]

Russia Russia has not adopted the ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, C169. The inhabitants of the Kola tundra were forcibly relocated to kolkhoz'es (collective communities) by the state;[66] most Saami are in one kolkhoz at Lujávri (Lovozero). The 1822 Statute of Administration of Non-Russians in Siberia asserted state ownership over all the land in Siberia and then "granted" possessory rights to the natives.[][67] Governance of indigenous groups, and especially collection of taxes from them, necessitated protection of indigenous peoples against exploitation by traders and settlers.[] The 1993 Constitution, Article 69 states, "The Russian Federation guarantees the rights of small indigenous peoples in accordance with the generally accepted principles and standards of international law and international treaties of the Russian Federation."[][68] For the first time in Russia, the rights of indigenous minorities were established in the 1993 Constitution.[]

Kildin Sami Map. СААМИ is "Sami" in Cyrillics

The Russian Federation ratified the 1966 U.N. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;[] Section 2 explicitly forbids depriving a people of "its own means of subsistence."[] The Russian parliament (Duma) has adopted partial measures to implement it.[] The Russian Federation lists distinct indigenous peoples as having National Culture Center in Lovozero special rights and protections under the Constitution and federal laws and decrees.[][69] These rights are linked to the category known since Soviet times as the malochislennye narody ("small-numbered peoples"), a term that is often translated as "indigenous minorities", which include Arctic peoples such as the Sami, Nenets, Evenki, and Chukchi.[] In April 1999, the Russian Duma passed a law that guarantees socio-economic and cultural development to all indigenous minorities, protecting traditional living places and acknowledging some form of limited ownership of territories that have traditionally been used for hunting, herding, fishing, and gathering activities. The law, however, does not anticipate the transfer of title in fee simply to indigenous minorities. The law does not recognize development rights, some proprietary rights including compensation for damage to the property, and limited exclusionary rights. It is not clear, however, whether protection of nature in the traditional places of inhabitation implies a right to exclude conflicting uses that are destructive to nature or whether they have the right to veto development.[] The Russian Federation's Land Code reinforces the rights of numerically small peoples ("indigenous minorities") to use places they inhabit and to continue traditional economic activities without being charged rent.[][70] Such lands cannot be allocated for unrelated activities (which might include oil, gas, and mineral development or tourism) without the consent of the indigenous peoples. Furthermore, indigenous minorities and ethnic groups are allowed to use environmentally protected lands and lands set aside as nature preserves to engage in their traditional modes of land use.[]

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Regional law, Code of the Murmansk Oblast, calls on the organs of state power of the oblast to facilitate the native peoples of the Kola North, specifically naming the Sami, "in realization of their rights for preservation and development of their native language, national culture, traditions and customs." The third section of Article 21 states: "In historically established areas of habitation, Sami enjoy the rights for traditional use of nature and [traditional] activities."[]

Kola Bay

Throughout the Russian North, indigenous and local people are being denied rights to fish, hunt, use pastureland, or exercise control over resources upon which they and their ancestors have depended for centuries. The failure to protect indigenous ways, however, stems not from inadequacy of the written law, but rather from the failure to implement existing laws. Unfortunately, violations of the rights of indigenous peoples continue, and oil, gas, and mineral development and other activities (mining, timber cutting, commercial fishing, and tourism) that bring foreign currency into the Russian economy prevail over the rule of law.[]

The life ways and economy of indigenous peoples of the Russian North are based upon reindeer herding, fishing, terrestrial and sea mammal hunting, and trapping. Many groups in the Russian Arctic are semi-nomadic, moving seasonally to different hunting and fishing camps. These groups depend upon different types of environment at differing times of the year, rather than upon exploiting a single commodity to exhaustion.[][71] Throughout northwestern Siberia, oil and gas development has disturbed pastureland and undermined the Chibini massif, Kola Peninsula ability of indigenous peoples to continue hunting, fishing, trapping, and herding activities. Roads constructed in connection with oil and gas exploration and development destroy and degrade pastureland,[72] ancestral burial grounds, and sacred sites and increase hunting by oil workers on the territory used by indigenous peoples.[73] In the Sami homeland on the Kola Peninsula in northwestern Russia, regional authorities closed a fifty-mile (eighty-kilometer) stretch of the Ponoi River (and other rivers) to local fishing and granted exclusive fishing rights to a commercial company offering catch-and-release fishing to sport fishers largely from abroad.[74] This deprived the local Sami (see Article 21 of the Code of the Murmansk Oblast) of food for their families and community and of their traditional economic livelihood. Thus, closing the fishery to locals may have violated the test articulated by the U.N. Human Rights Committee and disregarded Krasnoshchelye village on the Ponoi River the Land Code, other legislative acts, and the 1992 Presidential decree. Sami are not only forbidden to fish in the eighty-kilometer stretch leased to the Ponoi River Company but are also required by regional laws to pay for licenses to catch a limited number of fish outside the lease area. Residents of remote communities have neither the power nor the resources to demand enforcement of their rights. Here and elsewhere in the circumpolar north, the failure to apply laws for the protection of indigenous peoples leads to "criminalization" of local indigenous populations who cannot survive without "poaching" resources that should be accessible to them legally.[] Although indigenous leaders in Russia have occasionally asserted indigenous rights to land and resources, to date there has been no serious or sustained discussion of indigenous group rights to ownership of land.[]

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Nordic On 16 November 2005 in Helsinki, a group of experts, led by former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Norway Professor Carsten Smith, submitted a proposal for a Nordic Sami Convention to the annual joint meeting of the ministers responsible for Sami affairs in Finland, Norway and Sweden and the presidents of the three Sami Parliaments from the respective countries. This convention recognizes the Sami as one indigenous people residing across national borders in all three countries. A set of minimum standards is proposed for the rights of developing the Sami language and culture and rights to land and water, livelihoods and society.[75] The convention has not yet been ratified in the Nordic countries.[76]

Sápmi Sápmi is the name of the cultural region traditionally inhabited by the Sami people. Non-Sami and many regional maps have often called this same region Lapland as there is considerable regional overlap between the two terms. Lapland can be either misleading, offensive, or both, depending on the context and where this word is used, to the Sami. Among the Sami people, Sápmi is strictly used and acceptable. Sápmi is located in Northern Europe, includes the northern parts of Fennoscandia and spans four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia.

Area There is no official geographic definition for the boundaries of Sápmi. However, the following counties and provinces are usually included: • Dalarnas Län county in Sweden • Finnmark county in Norway • Jämtlands Län county in Sweden • Lapland Region in Finland • Murmansk oblast in Russia • Nord-Trøndelag county in Norway • Nordland county in Norway

Laponian area in Sápmi, UNESCO World Heritage Site

• Norrbottens Län county in Sweden • Troms county in Norway • Västerbottens Län county in Sweden The municipalities of Gällivare, Jokkmokk and Arjeplog in Swedish Lappland were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996 as a "Laponian Area". The Sami Domicile Area in Finland consists of the municipalities of Enontekiö, Utsjoki and Inari as well as a part of the municipality of Sodankylä.

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Important Sami towns The following towns and villages have a significant Sami population or host Sami institutions (Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish or Russian name in parentheses): • Aanaar, Anár, or Aanar (Inari), is the location of the Finnish Sami Parliament, Sajos Sámi Cultural Centre, SAKK - Saamelaisalueen koulutuskeskus (Sámi Education Institute), Anarâškielâ servi (Inari Sámi Language Association), and the Inari Sami Siida Museum. • Aarborte (Hattfjelldal) is a southern Sami center with a Southern Sami-language school and a Sami culture center. • Arjepluovve (Arjeplog).

Kanevka, Ponoy River, Russia's Lovozersky District

• Deatnu (Tana) has a significant Sami population. • Divtasvuodna (Tysfjord) is a center for the Lule-Sami population. The Árran Lule-Sami center is located here. • Gáivuotna (Kåfjord, Troms) is an important center for the Sea-Sami culture. Each summer the Riddu Riđđu festival is held in Gáivuotna. The municipality has a Sami-language center and hosts the Ája Sami Center. The opposition against Sami language and culture revitalization in Gáivuotna was infamous in the late 1990s and included Sami-language road signs being shot to pieces repeatedly.[77] • Giron (Kiruna), proposed seat of the Swedish Sami Parliament.

Arjeplog

• Guovdageaidnu (Kautokeino) is perhaps the cultural capital of the Sami. About 90% of the population speaks Sami. Several Sami institutions are located in Kautokeino including: Beaivváš Sámi Theatre, a Sami high school and reindeer-herding School, the Sami University College, the Nordic Sami Research Institute, the Sami Language Board, the Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous People, and the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry. In addition, several Sami media are located in Kautokeino including the Sami-language Áššu newspaper, and the DAT Sami publishing house and record company. Kautokeino also hosts the Sami Easter Festival, which includes the Sami Grand Prix 2010 (Sami Musicfestival) and the Reindeer Racing World Cup. The Kautokeino rebellion in 1852 is one of the few Sami rebellions against the Norwegian government's oppression against the Sami. • Iänudâh, or Eanodat (Enontekiö). • Jiellevárri, or Váhčir (Gällivare)

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• Jåhkåmåhkke (Jokkmokk) holds a Sami market on the first weekend of every February and has a Sami school for language and traditional knowledge called Samij Åhpadusguovdásj [78]. • Kárášjohka (Karasjok) is the seat of the Norwegian Sami Parliament. Other important Sami institutions are located in Kárášjohka, including NRK Sami Radio, the Sami Collections museum, the Sami Art Centre, the Sami Specialist Library, the Mid-Finnmark legal office, the Inner Finnmark Child and Youth Psychiatric Policlinic, the Sami Specialist Medical Centre, and the Sami Health Research Institute.[79] In addition, the Sápmi cultural park is in the township, and the Sami-language Min Áigi newspaper is published here. • Leavdnja (Lakselv) in Porsáŋgu (Porsanger) municipality is the location of the Finnmark Estate and the Ságat Sami newspaper. The Finnmarkseiendommen organization owns and manages about 95% of the land in Finnmark, and 50% of its board members are elected by the Norwegian Sami Parliament.

Ájtte Museum of the Sami people, Jokkmokk

• Lujavvʼr (Lovozero) • Luvlieluspie (Östersund) is the center for the Southern Sami people living in Sweden. It is the site for Gaaltije – centre for South Sami culture – a living source of knowledge for South Sami culture, history and business. Luvlieluspie also hosts the Sami Information Centre and one of the offices to the Sami Parliament in Sweden. • Ohcejohka (Utsjoki). • Snåase (Snåsa) is a center for the Southern Sami language and the only municipality in Norway where Southern Sami is an official language. The Saemien Sijte Southern Sami museum is located in Snåase.

Log cabin in Utsjoki

• Unjárga (Nesseby) is an important center for the Sea Sami culture. It is also the site for the Várjjat Sámi Museum and the Norwegian Sami Parliament's department of culture and environment. The first Sami to be elected into the Norwegian Parliament, Isak Saba, was born there. • Árviesjávrrie (Arvidsjaur). New settlers from the south of Sweden didn't arrive until the second half of the 18th century. Because of that, Sami tradition and culture has been well preserved. Sami people living in the south of Norrbotten, Sweden, use the city for Reindeer herding during the summer. During winter they move the Reindeers to the coast, to Piteå.

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Demographics In the geographical area of Sápmi, the Sami are a small population. According to some, the estimated total Sami population is about 70,000.[80] One problem when attempting to count the population of the Sámi is that there are few common criteria of what "being a Sámi" constitutes. In addition, there are several Sámi languages and additional dialects, and there are several areas in Sapmi where few of the Sami speak their native language due to the forced cultural assimilation, but still consider themselves Sami. Other identity markers are kinship (which can be said to, at some level or other, be of high importance for all Sámi), the geographical region of Sápmi where their family came from, and/or protecting or preserving certain aspects of Sami culture.[81] All the Nordic Sámi Parliaments have included as the "core" criterion for registering as a Sámi the identity in itself – one must declare that one truly consider oneself a Sámi. Objective criteria vary, but are generally related to kinship and/or language.

Sami family at spring celebration

Still, due to the cultural assimilation of the Sami people that had occurred in the four countries over the centuries, population estimates are difficult to measure precisely.[82] The population has been estimated to be between 80,000 and 135,000[83][84] across the whole Nordic region, including urban areas such as Oslo, Norway, traditionally considered outside Sápmi. The Norwegian state recognizes any Norwegian as Sámi if he or she has one great-grandparent whose home language was Sámi, but there is not, and has never been, any registration of the home language spoken by Norwegian people. Roughly half of all Sámi live in Norway, but many live in Sweden, with smaller groups living in the far north of Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. The Sámi in Russia were forced by the Soviet authorities to relocate to a collective called Lovozero/Lujávri, in the central part of the Kola Peninsula.

Division by geography Sápmi is traditionally divided into: • • • •

Eastern Sapmi (Kola peninsula, eastern Norway and Finland Sami regions) Northern Sápmi (most of northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland) Luleå Sápmi (Luleå River valley area) Southern Sápmi (southern Sweden and Norway Sami area)

It should also be noted that many Sami now live outside Sápmi, in large cities such as Oslo in Norway.

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Division by language Below is a division based on Sami language (the numbers are the estimated number of speakers of each language):[] • Davvisámegiella (Northern Sami): 15,000 • Julevsámegiella (Lule Sami): 1,500 • самь кӣлл (Sam' kīll, Kildin Sami): 650 • Nuõrttsää’m (Skolt Sami): 500 • Lullisámegiella (Southern Sami): 500 • Anarâškielâ (Inari Sami): 300 • Ter Sami: 2 • Ume Sami: