Sámi history
The traditional Sámi lifestyle, dominated by hunting, fishing and trading, was preserved until the Late Middle Ages, when the modern structures of the Nordic countries were established.
During the late 20th century, conflicts broke out over the use of natural resources, the reaction to which created a reawakening and defense of Sámi culture in recent years.
Of the eleven different historically attested Sámi languages (traditionally known as "dialects"), only nine have survived to the present day but with most in danger of disappearing too.
However, the first Nordic sources date from the introductions of runes and include specifically the Account of the Viking Othere to King Alfred of England.
[1] A few Stone Age cultures in the area had been speculated, especially in the 18th and early 19th centuries, to be associated with the ancestors of the Sámi, though this has been dismissed by modern scholars and extensive DNA testing.
Lamnidis et al. 2018 discovered the earliest recorded introgression of Nganasan related Siberian ancestry and Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup N1c into northeastern Europe.
[6] Sarkissian et al. 2013 reporting on a larger array of individuals from Bolshoy Oleny Island showed the prevalence of the mtDNA haplogroup U5a1 and other subclades of U and C typical to the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers of the time, but also atypical D, T and Z.
According to the comparative linguist Ante Aikio, the Sami proto-language developed in South Finland or in Karelia around 2000–2500 years ago, spreading then to northern Fennoscandia.
In favour of Nielsen's view, it is pointed out that no Sámi settlement to the south of Lierne in medieval times has left any traces in written sources.
[16] In recent years, the number of archaeological finds that are interpreted as indicating a Sámi presence in Southern Norway in the Middle Ages has increased.
Around 1500, due to excessive hunting, again provoked by the Sámi needing to pay taxes to Norway, Sweden and Russia, the number of reindeer started to decrease.
However, there is some folklore called stalo or 'tales', about non-trading relations with a cruel warrior people, interpreted by Læstadius to be histories of Vikings interactions.
The nature of the Norse-Sami relationship along the North-Norwegian coast in the Iron Age is still hotly debated, but possibly the Sámi were quite happy to ally themselves with the Norse chieftains, as they could provide protection against Finno-Ugric enemies from the area around the White Sea.
Sámi religion found its most complete expression in Shamanism, evident in their worship of the seite, an unusually shaped rock or tree stump that was assumed to be the home of a deity.
They started augmenting their diet and income by fishing, either sea or freshwater, hunting other game and keeping cows, sheep and goats.
Since the 16th century, Samis have always paid taxes in monetary currency, and some historians have proposed that large scale husbandry is not older than from this period.
It was written due to "ill-natured" foreign propaganda (in particular from Germany) claiming that Sweden had won victories on the battlefield by means of Sámi magic.
However, an adapted and abridged version was quickly published in the Netherlands and Germany, where chapters on their difficult living conditions, topography, and the environment had been replaced by made-up stories of magic, sorcery, drums and heathenry.
[19] During the enforced Christianization of the Sámi people, yoiking, drumming and sacrifices were now abandoned and seen as (juridical terms) "magic" or "sorcery", something that was probably aimed at removing opposition against the crown.
[21] The boundary agreement between Sweden and Norway (Stromstad Treaty of 1751) had an annex, frequently called Lapp Codicil of 1751, Lappkodicillen or "Sami Magna Carta".
On the Swedish and Finnish side, the authorities were much less militant in their efforts; however, strong economic development in the north led to a weakening of status and economy for the Sámi.
Just as every portion of the European continent, the circumpolar lands of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Soviet Union were not spared the wrath of World War II.
[22][23] In Russia, the age-old ways of life of the Sámi were brutally interrupted by the collectivization of the reindeer husbandry and agriculture in general.
Despite the urging of Winston Churchill, British support for the Norwegians was appallingly slow, an action that was responsible for making him prime minister.
Despite a blockade by the British Royal Navy, the German Wehrmacht were able to hide in the mountains by forcing local Sámi to serve as guides.
These resistance fighters included many Sámi who had formerly served as part of the Norwegian Ski Brigade and were instrumental in destroying a secret German nuclear base in Telemark in 1944.
However, many other Norwegian Sámi were forced into labor by the SS to mine iron ore and build a railway from Narvik to Finland through Finnmark.
The proposed construction of the hydro power dam in the 1960s and 1970s contained controversial propositions such as putting a village (Máze) and a cemetery under water.
In the 17th century, the Governor General of Finland Per Brahe fostered the population growth of Kainuu by giving a ten-year tax exemption to settlers.
The Scandinavian historical sources from the Middle Ages praise the archery skills of the Sámi as well as their strong bows which a Norwegian “could not string”.
