Society-LAPPS

The Lapps are an ethnolinguistic group inhabiting an area that extends
from the Kola Peninsula in northwestern Russia over the northernmost
part of Finland to the Arctic coast of Norway, and through Scandinavia
southward to the district of Roros in Norway and the northwestern
corner of the province of Dalarna in Sweden. Altogether, this area
is 120 to 180 miles wide and 930 miles long.

The term Lapp is derived from the Finnish word, lappi, and was adopted
by the Swedes in the thirteenth century. Although this term has been
used internationally for 700 years, the people to whom it refers have
never accepted this appellation, regarding it to be degrading. They
call themselves samek (sg. sambe), and they are officially recognized
in Norway as samer (sg. same). This latter term is gradually becoming
more common in the literature.

The Lappish language belongs to the Finno-Ugric subgroup of the Uralic
language family, but there is no agreement as to its position in this
family. It seems, however, to be closely related to Finnish. Because
the Lapps are spread out over a wide geographical area, they have
developed several dialects, which differ from each other to such an
extent that communication between Lapps of different districts is
often precluded. The three major dialect groups are the Eastern, the
Northern, and the Southern, the largest of which is the Northern.

It is difficult to give exact population figures because of the continuous
assimilation of the Lapps. Language is the criterion used to determine
Lapp population figures: if a person speaks Lappish, then that person
is considered to be a Lapp. The total Lapp population in Norway, Sweden,
Finland, and Russia was estimated to be about 34,000 in 1945 (Indiana
1955: 13). Of these, 20,000 lived in Norway, 10,000 in Sweden, 2,500
in Finland, and 1,800 on the Kola Peninsula in Russia. More recent
population figures are not available. Except in Russia, where the
Lapp population has been decreasing, the number of Lapps has been
increasing during the last 200 years.

The Lapps may be divided into five regional and cultural types. These
are: Coast Lapps, Forest Lapps, Mountain Lapps, River Lapps, and Skolt
and Kola Lapps. These types are differentiated primarily on the basis
of their subsistence economies, as described below.

The economy of the Coast Lapps is based mainly on coastal marine fishing.
They follow a seasonal migratory pattern, spending the winter near
fjords and migrating in the spring and fall to rivers, where fish
are plentiful. Coast Lapps are found mainly in the Norwegian provinces
of Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark.

Forest Lapps have an economy based on hunting and trapping with some
fishing in rivers and lakes. They are partly nomadic, migrating according
to the seasons. They are found in heavily forested areas, especially
in Norbotten Province of Sweden and in other low-lying forest lands
of northern Sweden and Finland.

Mountain Lapps are the classic nomadic reindeer herders. Their area
centers around the middle of the Scandinavian peninsula, in the central
and northern parts of Norway and Sweden. Finland has very few Mountain
Lapps.

The River Lapps (also known as the Fisher Lapps) are settled Lapps
in the inland districts of Finnmark (Norway) and northern Finland.
Farming and cattle breeding are the main bases of the economy, supplemented
by forestry, fishing, and reindeer breeding.

Skolt and Kola Lapps live in the most easterly part of Lappland, in
Norway, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula. They have been affected by
Russian and Samoyed culture, especially Russian Orthodox Church missionaries.
The economy is based on a mixture of forest and sea products. They
are partly nomadic, living near various fishing places during the
summer, but clustering together in large winter villages (cf. O'Leary
and Steffens 1975: ix-x).

It can be seen, contrary to the popular stereotyped idea of Lapps
as nomadic reindeer herders, that the Lapp population is actually
composed of several economically diverse subcultures.

Families of the same occupation who live near each other join together
to form a a community, called a siida. Each siida has its own pastureland
and fishing waters, and the center of the community in some Lapp groups
is the winter village or marketplace where the church is built. Prior
to the eighteenth century, the community resources were divided among
the individual families; now, a member is free to choose pastureland
within the community for his reindeer. The siida assumes mutual responsibility
in some matters (e.g., the payment for damages done by the rindeer
of a siida to the fields of the settled Lapps).

The Skolt Lapps have best preserved the siida in its original form.
In a Skolt siida, each family is allotted a certain section of the
community area. Once each year, common problems are discussed in a
meeting, and community officials are chosen. In the past, they also
chose at this meeting the spokesman for the important Kola meeting
in which all the families of the district were represented. In every
community meeting, each family has a spokesman. An elder in the community
deals with all matters concerning the siida as a whole (e.g., the
migrations and trials for various crimes). The siida of the rindeer
nomads is composed of from two to six families. The leader of the
siida is the man who has the biggest herd of reindeer and the most
experience. The siida may be intact only during the winter, and it
is possible to change from one siida to a another.

The Lapps also form fishing and hunting companies. In hunting big
game, such as bear, the Lapps cooperate extensively. Poorer members
of fishing companies are able to provide a living for themselves by
using the fishing equipment of the more wealthy members in exchange
for part of their catch.

There is no clear-cut social class system among the Lapps, but the
differentiations that do exist have an economic base. The wealthier
reindeer herders place themselves socially above those Lapps who earn
their living by fishing; the latter believe themselves to be above
the Skolts, who are considered to be primitive.

In the four countries they inhabit, the Lapps are an insignificant
minority and the subject of prejudice -- especially in Norway, which
has the largest and poorest Lapp population.

An extensive analytical bibliography of the Lapps may be found in
O'Leary and Steffens (1975). The literature on the Lapps is very difficult
to control, because of its sheer quantity and the diversity of languages
involved. Nevertheless, summaries on Lapp culture may be found in
Indiana (1955), Collinder (1949), Scheffer (1704), Paine (1957), and
Vorreen (1962).

Culture summary by Heather Fellows



Collinder, Bjorn.
 The Lapps.
 Princeton, Princeton University Press for the American Scandinavian Foundation, 1949.
 12, 252 p. illus., maps.
 Indiana.
 University.
 Graduate Program in Uralic and Asian Studies.
 The Lapps.
 By Eeva K. Minn.
 New Haven, Printed by Human Relations Area Files, 1955.
 8, 137 p. maps.
 O'Leary, Timothy J. Lapps ethnographic bibliography.
 2 vols.
 Compiled by Timothy J. O'Leary and Joan Steffens.
 New Haven, Human Relations Area Files, 1975.
 Paine, Robert.
 Coast Lapp society, I: a study of neighbourhood in Revsbotn Fjord.
 Tromso, Norway, 1957.
 18, 341 p. maps, tables.
 Scheffer, John.
 The history of Lapland: containing a geographical description, and a natural history of that country;
 with an account of the inhabitants, their original, religion, customs, habits, marriages, conjurations, employments, etc.
 London, Printed for Tho.
 Newborough, at the Golden-Ball in St.
 Paul's-Church-Yard: and R. Parker under the Royal-Exchange, 1704.
 5, 416, 20 p. Vorren, Ornulv.
 Lapp life and customs: a survey.
 By Ormulv Vorren and Ernst Manker.
 Translated from the Norwegian by Kathleen McFarlane.
 London, Oxford University Press, 1962.
 11, 183 p. illus., map.


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