Saami people, also spelled Sámi, or Sami are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia, but also in the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost and the Nordic countries’ only officially indigenous people. Sami ancestral lands span an area of approximately 388,350 km2 (150,000 sq. mi) which is comparatively about the size of Sweden in the Nordic countries.
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Saami people, also spelled Sámi, or Sami are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia, but also in the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost and the Nordic countries’ only officially indigenous people. Sami ancestral lands span an area of approximately 388,350 km2 (150,000 sq. mi) which is comparatively about the size of Sweden in the Nordic countries. Their traditional languages are the Sami languages. The Sami languages are endangered, and are classified as part of the Finno-Lappic group of the Uralic language family.
Traditionally, the Sami have plied a variety of livelihoods, including coastal fishing, fur trapping, and sheep herding. Their best known means of livelihood is semi-nomadic reindeer herding – which about 10% of the Sami are connected with and 2,800 actively involved with full-time. For traditional, environmental, cultural, and political reasons, reindeer herding is legally reserved only for Sami people in certain regions of the Nordic countries.
