Expedition to Lapland

Linnaeus departed from Uppsala and travelled clockwise around the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia over the course of six months, making major inland incursions from Umeå, Luleå and Tornio.

Olof Rudbeck the Younger, one of Linnaeus' former professors at Uppsala University, had made an expedition to Lapland in 1695, but the detailed results of his exploration were lost in a fire seven years afterwards.

[3][4] Linnaeus began his expedition from Uppsala in May; he travelled on foot and horse, bringing with him his journal, botanical and ornithological manuscripts and sheets of paper for pressing plants.

[9] (See e.g. Tablut) After returning to Umeå, he travelled further north along the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, via Skellefteå and Old Piteå, passing Old Luleå where he received a Sami woman's cap on the way.

[10] From Luleå he again traveled inland, following the Lule River via Jokkmokk on the Arctic Circle and Kvikkjokk (then Hyttan), into the Scandinavian Mountains, crossing the border into Norway, arriving in Sørfold on the coast and making a trip to nearby Rörstadt.

Linnaeus in the traditional dress of the Sami people of Lapland, [ note 1 ] holding the Twinflower that became his personal emblem.
Contemporary map by Johann Homann (printed c. 1730) depicting the Scandinavian region of Europe; Lapland is the pale yellow area in the upper-middle. [ note 2 ]
Waypoints [ 1 ] for Linnaeus' Lapland expedition. [ note 3 ]