Laponia (historical province)

In 1809, Sweden ceded the eastern part, along with Finland, to the Russian Empire, which in effect created a Swedish Lapland and Finnish Lapland.

Lapland is considered in some nations — notably Croatia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Serbia, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Romania and France — to be the home of Father Christmas (more widely known as Santa Claus).

The current population of Swedish Lapland plus the municipalities Enontekiö (Eanodat), Inari (Ánar), Utsjoki (Ohcejohka), Muonio (Muoná), Kittilä (Gihttel) and Sodankylä (Soad'egilli) in Finnish Lapland constitutes 125,151 individuals.

The largest city is Kiruna (Giron) with 18,154 inhabitants.

[1] Before being split, Laponia was divided into juridical districts which were:

Laponia ( *Lappland* ) in the realm of Sweden . Though drawn exactly on the map, northern borders against Russia and Norway were approximate.