Sápmi
Sápmi | |
|---|---|
| Anthem: Sámi soga lávlla | |
Location of Sápmi: dark red line showing the Southern limit of the areas traditionally inhabited by the Sámi | |
| Regional | Sámi languages, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Meänkieli, Kven and Russian |
| Demonym(s) | Sámi |
| Integrated parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia respectively, but with varying degrees of autonomy for the Sami | |
| Time zone | UTC+1 to +3 (CET, EET, FET) |
Sápmi is the cultural region traditionally inhabited by the Sámi people. Sápmi includes the northern parts of Fennoscandia, stretching over four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. Most of Sápmi lies north of the Arctic Circle, bounded by the Barents Sea, Norwegian Sea, and White Sea. In south, Sápmi extends to the counties of Trøndelag in Norway and Jämtland in Sweden.
Most of the Sámi population is concentrated in a few traditional areas in the northernmost part of Sápmi, such as Kautokeino and Karasjok. Inari is considered one of the centres of Sámi culture. In past, the Sámi settlement reached much farther to south, possibly to present-day Oslo in west and the lakes Ladoga and Onega in east.
Sápmi has never been a sovereign political entity. Since 1970s–1990s, the Sámi have a limited self-governance in the Nordic states, represented by the Sámi Parliaments. The interstate cooperation is organized by the umbrella organization Sámi Council.
Historically, the Scandinavian peoples referred to the Sámi using the exonyms Finns and Lapps, terms now considered outdated or pejorative. In Scandinavian languages, historical names for the region include Finnmǫrk, Lappmarken and Lappland, and in English, Sápmi has traditionally been called Lapland (/ˈlæplænd/). Today, variations of these names persist in smaller cultural, geographic and administrative designations within each country, such as Finnmark County in Norway, Lapland Province in Sweden and Lapland Region in Finland, all of which overlap with Sápmi. The Russian part of the Sápmi is covered by Murmansk Oblast.