An Indigenous People in Europe
As one of the world’s many, but Europe’s only, indigenous peoples, our culture, our way of life, and our languages are distinct from those of society at large
The “Saemieh”, or the Sami, are a people without national borders. We, the Sami, lived here long before today’s geo-political borders were drawn. We built our livelihoods here. Our communities have long spanned across geopolitical borders, even into modern day. The Sami have always been a people with their own cultural identity, while living side by side together with their neighbors from other groups and cultures.
“Saepmie”, the land of the Sami, spans over four different countries, with today’s geographical borders. As a result, Samis can have different nationalities, depending on where they live: Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, or Russian. However, our sense of belonging to the same people is strong. We often have close family ties and friendships spanning across different countries and borders.
Diversity within the Sami culture
As in many other cultures, there is diversity even within the Sami culture. These include the various Sami languages and dialects, as well as different lifestyles and livelihoods. Like all other peoples, we have traditionally lived predominantly off what the land provided. Many of our livelihoods are the same as those of neighboring peoples, while others, such as reindeer husbandry, have typically been Sami industries. Even though most Sami work in a variety of different professions today, reindeer husbandry is generally the first to come to mind. Even historically, many Sami worked in other fields or had other sources of income alongside reindeer husbandry. Some did not work with reindeer at all.