The Sami (Lapp) people have inhabited the northern portions of Scandinavia, Finland and eastward over the Russian Kola Peninsula since ancient times.Today the Sami are a minority in their region of settlement. Their society consisted of family groups (siida) which lived and utilized natural resources together. Some of these groups lived in permanent settlements; others were nomadic to varying degrees. Those Sami who based their livelihood on fishing in lakes, rivers, seas and fjords settled more permanently than those who lived on hunting or the full scale reindeer breeding, which developed much later. About half a century ago, some Sami communities became entirely nomadic because they followed their reindeer. Today only a small fraction of the Sami -those engaged in reindeer herding- live in siida groups for at least part of the year. The great majority of them now live like other Scandinavians. The Sami language, belongs to the Finno-Ugric family. |