Sapmi or Samiland

The Sami are the indigenous (native population) people who lives in Finland, Norsway; Russia and Sweden. The word “Sami” comes from Sápmi, which represents the geographical territory of the traditional Sami settlement region as wellas as the Sami people themselves. Sápmi then means both Samiland and the Sami people and is a nation without state or national borders, with a common language, culture and history. The original settled Sami region is extensive and spans an area from the lake Femunden in Norway and Idre in Dalaran in southern Sweden, over to the Arctic Ocean to the North of Finland and the Kola Peninsula in Russia to the east. The Sami culture and the Sami society exhibit a great cultural diversity based on the differences in traditional trades between the different regions. On the Norwegian sea coast there is a sea Sami culture, in the mountain region a nomadic mountain Sami culture and in the forest regions a more settled forest Sami culture. The majority of Sami live within the North Sami language region. North Sami is also the dialect which is spoken and understood by the majority of Sami.