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The Saami are northern Scandinavia's indigenous people. When Sápmi, or Saamiland
was colonized many of the old reindeer grazing areas disappeared and with them some of the
history forming the Saami cultural inheritance was also lost. The damages from taxation,
racism, and ruthless exploitation need time to heal. Therefore, it is important from the
Swedish perspective, to remember another history that is not focused on the Vikings or
heroic kings.
A hunting and gathering people become reindeer herders
| 10,000 years ago the forefathers of the Saami hunted moose and game and carved
pictures of these animals in the rocks of northern Norway. A century after the birth of
Christ, the Roman author Tacitus described the people called "fenni" who dressed
in animal skins and slept on the ground. They are also mentioned in texts from the 700s
where they it is described how they hunted game over the snow with curved pieces of wood
strapped to their feet. The hunting of wild reindeer declined during the 1500s however,
and this hunting people adapted their survival strategy to become herders of
semi-domesticated reindeer. Along the coast, many Saami became dedicated fishermen. |
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Colonialism
During this period much of the reindeer grazing land was colonized by settlers and
the state required taxes from the nomadic Saami. In the 1600s, silver ore was discovered
near the Norrbotten area of Nasafjäll. The Saami were pressed into ore transport using
their reindeer as draft animals. Those who refused to cooperate were keel-hauled under the
ice. That was the beginning of the Swedish state's claim to the forests, water power and
mineral resources in the region where the Saami had lived so long before. |
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