Sami People

A great deal has been written about the history of the Native American people of North America and particularly about their experiences since the arrival of white settlers. However, there is another people whose history mirrors the experience of many Native American tribes but who have become almost completely forgotten: the Sami, Europe's only indigenous people.

The Sami have inhabited the snow-covered wastes of northern Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Russia for thousands of years, nurturing a vibrant culture and folklore as well as a unique language. For many generations, they were known to the world as Lapps, and their homeland as Lapland, though they themselves refer to these lands as Sapmi. This is the story of a unique indigenous people and their continuing struggle for survival, recognition, and the right to pursue their traditional ways of life. This is the forgotten story of the Sami people.