Coordinates	35°58′14″N95°18′35″N
group	Sámi
population	80,000–135,000
region1
pop1	60,000–100,000
ref1
region2
pop2	14,600
ref2
region3
pop3	9,350
ref3
region4
pop4	1,991
ref4
languages	Sami languages: Northern Sami, Lule Sami, Pite Sami, Ume Sami, Southern Sami, Inari Sami, Skolt Sami, Kildin Sami, Ter Sami Akkala Sami (extinct), Kemi Sami (extinct) Nation State Languages: Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Russian
religions	Sami shamanism (traditional religion). Lutheranism, Laestadianism, Eastern Orthodoxy
footnotes	}}

The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and 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 approximately the size of Sweden in the Nordic countries. Their traditional languages are the Sami languages and are classified as a branch of the Uralic language family. The Sami languages are endangered.

Traditionally, the Sami have pursued a variety of livelihoods, including coastal fishing, fur trapping and sheep herding. Their best known means of livelihood is semi-nomadic reindeer herding, with which about 10% of the Sami are connected and 2800 actively involved on a full-time basis. For traditional, environmental, cultural and political reasons, reindeer herding is legally reserved only for Sami people in certain regions of the Nordic countries.

Etymologies

The Sámi are often known in other languages by the exonyms "Lap", "Lapp", or "Laplanders", but many Sami regard these as pejorative terms. Variants of the name ''Lapp'' were originally used in Sweden and Finland, and through Swedish adopted by all major European languages: , German, , (''lopari''), , , (''Lápones''), , , , , .

The word “Lapp” is defined in the Lexicon Lapponicum as “Fenn”. The first known historical mention of “Fenni” was by Tacitus, about 98 CE.

The exact meaning of this old term, and the reasons it came into common usage, are unknown; in Scandinavian languages ''lapp'' means a patch of cloth for mending, which may be a description of the clothing, called a gakti, that the Sámi wear. Another possible source is the Finnish word ''lape'', which in this case means 'periphery'. Originally it meant any person living in the wilderness, not only the Sámi people. It is unknown how the word ''Lapp'' came into the Norse language, but it may have been introduced by the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus to distinguish between Fish-Fennians (coastal tribes) and Lap-Fennians (forest tribes), supporting the second etymology. It was popularized and became the standard terminology by the work of Johannes Schefferus, ''Acta Lapponica'' (1673), but was also used earlier by Olaus Magnus in his ''Description of the Northern peoples'' (1555). There is another suggestion that it originally meant ''wilds''. An alternative interpretation made by Damião de Góis in 1540 derives ''Lapland'' from “the dumb and lazy land”, because a land where no vegetables grow is lazy and does not speak.

Across the Nordic areas "''Lapp''" is common in place names, such as in Norway, e.g. ''Lappetjørna'' Hordaland; in Finland, e.g. ''Lappi'' Länsi-Suomen lääni and ''Lapinlahti'' Itä-Suomen lääni; and in Sweden e.g. ''Lapp'' Stockholm County, ''Lappe'' Södermanland and ''Lappabo'' Småland. The noun "''Lapp''" is an indication that the Sami people and the Nordic history is related to a larger ancient history of Europe.

In the North Sámi language, "''lahppon olmmoš''" means a person in redemption.

The term "''Finn''" is occasionally used locally for the Sámi people in Norway, whereas local Finnish speakers are called kvæn. “Finn” seems to have been in much wider use in ancient times, judging from the names ''Fenni'' and ''Phinnoi'' in classical Roman and Greek works.

Sámi refer to themselves as ''Sámit'' (the Sámis) or ''Sápmelaš'' (of Sámi kin), the word Sámi being inflected into various grammatical forms. It has been proposed that Sámi, ''Suomi'' (Finnish for Finland), and ''Häme'' (Finnish for Tavastia) are of the same origin, the source of which might be related to the Baltic word ''*žēmē'' meaning "land". It may also be related to Slavic ''земля (zemlja)'', which also means "land". The Sámi institutions — notably the parliaments, the radio and TV stations, theatres, etc. — all use the term Sámi, including when addressing outsiders in Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, or English. In Norwegian, the Sámi are today referred to by the Norwegianized form "same", where as the word "lapp" would be considered archaic and pejorative.

Terminological issues in Finnish are somewhat different. Finns living in Finnish Lapland generally call themselves ''lappilainen'', whereas the similar word for the Sámi people is ''lappalainen''. This can be confusing for foreign visitors because of the similar lives Finns and Sámi people live today in Lapland. “Lappalainen” is also a common family name in Finland. As in the Scandinavian languages, ''lappalainen'' is often considered archaic or pejorative and ''saamelainen'' is used instead, at least in official contexts.

History

Since prehistoric times, long before the concept of national borders existed, the Sami people of arctic Europe lived and worked in an area that stretches over the regions now known as Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Russian Kola Peninsula. They have inhabited the northern arctic and sub-arctic regions of Fenno-Scandinavia and Russia for at least 5000 years. The Sami are counted among the arctic peoples and are members of circumpolar groups such as the Arctic Council Indigenous Peoples’ Secretariat.

Petroglyphs and archeological findings such as settlements dating from about 10,000 B.C. can be found in the traditional lands of the Sami. The now obsolete term for the archaeological culture of these hunters and gatherers of the late Paleolithic and early Mesolithic is Komsa. A cultural continuity between these stone age people and the Sami can be assumed due to evidence such as the similarities in the decoration patterns of archeological bone objects and Sami decoration patterns, and there is no archeological evidence of this population being replaced by another. Recent archaeological discoveries in Finnish Lapland, was originally seen as the continental version of the culture Komsa about the same age as the earliest finds on the coast of Norway. It is hypothesized that the Komsa followed receding glaciers inland from the arctic coast at the end of the last ice age (between 11,000 and 8000 years. B.C.) as new land opened up for settlement (e.g., modern Finnmark area in the northeast, to the coast of the Kola Peninsula). Since the Sami are the earliest ethnic group in the area, they are consequently considered an indigenous population of the area.

Southern limits of Sami settlement in the past

How far south the Sami extended in the past has been debated among historians and archeologists for many years. The Norwegian historian Yngvar Nielsen, commissioned by the Norwegian government in 1889 to determine this question in order to settle contemporary questions of Sami land rights, concluded that the Sami had lived no further south than Lierne in Nord-Trøndelag county until around 1500, when they started moving south, reaching the area around Lake Femunden in the 18th century. This hypothesis is still accepted among many historians, but has been the subject of scholarly debate in the 21st century. In recent years, several archaeological finds indicate a Sami presence in Southern Norway in the Middle Ages, and Southern Sweden, including finds in Lesja, in Vang in Valdres and in Hol and Ål in Hallingdal. Proponents of the Sami interpretations of these finds assume a mixed populations of Norse and Sami people in the mountainous areas of Southern Norway in the Middle Ages.

Origins of the Norwegian "Sea Sami"

The Bubonic plague

Until the arrival of the bubonic plague of 1349 in northern Norway, the Sami and the Norwegians occupied very separate economic niches. The Sami hunted reindeer and fished for their own livelihood. The Norwegians, concentrated on the outer islands and outer sections of the fjords, were connected to the greater European trade routes; did marginal farming in the Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark counties; and fished for trade products from the south. The two groups co-existed using two different food resources. According to old Nordic texts the ''Sea Sami'' and the ''Mountain Sami'' are two classes of the same people and not two different ethnic groups as had been erroneously believed.

This social economic balance greatly changed with the introduction of the bubonic plague in northern Norway, in December of the year 1349. The Norwegians were closely connected to the greater European trade routes, along which the plague traveled; consequently, they were infected and died at a far higher rate than Sami in the interior. Of all the states in the region, Norway suffered the most from this plague. Depending on the parish, sixty to seventy-six percent of the northern Norwegian farms were abandoned following the plague, while land-rents, another possible measure of the population numbers, dropped down to between 9-28% of pre-plague rents. Although the population of northern Norway is sparse compared to southern Europe, the spread of the disease was just as rapid. The method of movement of the plague-infested flea ''(Xenopsylla cheopsis)'' from the south was in wooden barrels holding wheat, rye, or wool – where the fleas could live, and even reproduce, for several months at a time. The Sami having a non-wheat or -rye diet, eating fish and reindeer meat, living in communities detached from the Norwegians, and being only weakly connected to the European trade routes, fared far better than the Norwegians.

Fishing industry

Fishing has always been the main livelihood for the many Sami living permanently in seaside areas. Archeological research shows that the Sami have lived along the coast, and once lived much further south in the past, and they were also involved in other work than just reindeer herding (e.g., fishing, agriculture, iron work). The fishing along the north Norwegian coast, especially in the Lofoten and Vesterålen islands, is quite productive with a variety of fish, and during medieval times it was a major source of income for both the fisherman and the Norwegian monarchy. With such massive population drops caused by the Black Death, the tax revenues from this industry greatly diminished. Because of the huge economic profits that could be had from these fisheries, the local authorities offered incentives to the Sami – faced with their own population pressures – to settle on the newly vacant farms. This started the economic division between the ‘Sea Sami’ ''(sjøsamene)'' who fished extensively off the coast, and the ‘Mountain Sami’ ''(fjellsamene, innlandssamene)'' who continued to hunt (among other, small-game animals), and later herd, reindeer. Even as late as the early 18th century, there were many Sami who were still settling on these farms left abandoned from the 1350s. After many years of continuous migration, these 'Sea Sami' became far more numerous than the reindeer mountain Sami, who today only make up 10% of all Sami. In contemporary times, there are also ongoing consultations between the Government of Norway and the Sami Parliament and regarding the recognition the right of the coastal Sami to fish in the seas on the basis of historical use and international law. State regulation of sea fisheries underwent drastic change in the late 1980s. The regulation linked quotas to vessels and not to fishers. These newly calculated quotas were distributed free of cost to larger vessels on the basis of the amount of the catch in previous years, resulting in small vessels in Sami districts to a large degree falling outside the new quota system.

Mountain Sami

As the Sea Sami settled along Norway's fjords and inland waterways pursuing a combination of farming, cattle raising, trapping and fishing, the smaller minority of the Mountain Sami continued to hunt wild reindeer. Around 1500, they started to tame these animals into herding groups, becoming the well-known reindeer nomads, often portrayed by outsiders as following the archetypal Sami lifestyle. The Mountain Sami faced the fact that they had to pay taxes to three nation states: Norway, Sweden and Russia as they crossed the borders of each of the respective countries following the annual reindeer migrations, which caused much resentment over the years. Sweden made the Sami work in a slavemine at Nasafjäll causing many Samis to flee from the area, so a large part of the provinces previously used by Pite and Lule Samis is depopulated. Government troops were ordered to prevent the Sami from fleeing.

Post-1800s

For long periods of time, the Sami lifestyle thrived because of its adaptation to the Arctic environment. Indeed, throughout the 18th century, as Norwegians of Northern Norway suffered from low fish prices and consequent depopulation, the Sami cultural element was strengthened, since the Sami were mostly independent of supplies from Southern Norway.

However, during the 19th century, Norwegian authorities put the Sami culture under pressure in order to make the Norwegian language and culture universal. A strong economic development of the north also took place, giving Norwegian culture and language status. On the Swedish and Finnish side, the authorities were much less militant in their efforts though Sami language was forbidden in schools; strong economic development in the north led to a weakening of status and economy for the Sami. In 1913-1920, the Swedish race-segregation politic created a race biological institute that collected research material from living people, graves, and sterilized Sami women. Throughout history, settlers were encouraged to move to the northern regions through incentives such as land- and water-rights, tax-allowances, and military exemptions.

The strongest pressure took place from around 1900 to 1940, when Norway invested considerable money and effort to wipe out Sami culture. Notably, anyone who wanted to buy or lease state lands for agriculture in Finnmark, had to prove knowledge of the Norwegian language, and had to register with a Norwegian name. This also ultimately caused the dislocation of Sami people in the 1920s, which increased the gap between local Sami groups (something still present today) and sometimes bears the character of an internal Sami ethnic conflict. In 1913, the Norwegian parliament passed a bill on "native act land" to allocate the best and most useful lands to the Norwegian settlers. Another factor was the scorched earth policy conducted by the German army resulting in heavy war destruction in northern Finland and northern Norway in 1944–45, destroying all existing houses or kota, and visible traces of Sami culture. After World War II, the pressure was relaxed somewhat, though the legacy was evident into recent times such as the 1970s law limiting the size of any house that Sami people were allowed to build.

The controversy around the construction of the hydro-electric power station in Alta in 1979 brought Sami rights onto the political agenda. In August 1986, the national anthem (Sámi soga lávlla) and flag (Sami flag) of the Sami people were created. In 1989, the first Sami parliament in Norway was elected. In 2005, the Finnmark Act was passed in the Norwegian parliament. This law gives the Sami parliament and the Finnmark Provincial council a joint responsibility of administering the land areas previously considered state property. These areas (96% of the provincial area), which have always been used primarily by the Sami, now belong officially to the people of the province, whether Sami or Norwegian, and not to the Norwegian state.

Contemporary

The Indigenous Sami population is a mostly urbanised demographic, but a substantial number live in villages in the high arctic. The Sami still have cultural consequences of language and culture loss related to Sami generations taken to missionary and/or state-run boarding schools, and the legacy of laws that were created to deny the Sami rights (e.g., to their beliefs, language, land and to the practice of traditional livelihoods). The Sami are experiencing cultural and environmental threats Mining locations even include ancient Sami spaces that are designated as ecologically protected areas such as Vindelfjällen nature reserve. In Russia’s Kola Peninsula, vast areas have already been destroyed by mining and smelting activities, and further development is imminent. This includes oil and natural gas exploration in the Barents Sea. There is a gas pipeline across the Kola Peninsula. Oil spills affect fishing and the construction of roads. Power lines may cut off access to reindeer calving grounds and sacred sites.

Logging In northern Finland, there has been a longstanding dispute over the destruction of forests, which prevents reindeer from migrating between seasonal feeding grounds and destroys supplies of lichen that grow on the upper branches of older trees. This lichen is their only source of sustenance during winter months when snow is deep. The logging has been under the control of the state-run forest system. Greenpeace, reindeer herders and Sami organisations carried out a historical joint campaign, and in 2010, Sami reindeer herders won some time as a result of these court cases. Industrial logging has now been pushed back from the most important forest areas either forever or partially for the next 20 years, though there are still threats such as mining and construction plans of holiday resorts on the protected shorelines of Inari lake.

Military Activities Government authorities and NATO have bombing practice ranges in Sami areas in northern Norway and Sweden. These regions have served as reindeer calving and summer grounds for thousands of years, and contain many ancient Sami sacred sites. Land Rights The Swedish government has allowed the world's largest onshore wind farm built in Piteå, in the arctic region where the Eastern Kikkejaure village has its winter reindeer pastures. The wind farm will consist of more than 1,000 wind turbines, one 80 mil and an extensive road infrastructure, which means that the feasibility of using the area for winter grazing in practice is impossible. Sweden has received strong international criticism, including by the UN Racial Discrimination Committee and the Human Rights Committee, that Sweden violates Sami landrättigheer, including for not regulating industrial activities in the Sami's traditional lands, and for not giving sambyarr opportunity for genuine participation in decisions affecting them. Examples include: In the 1990s the Swedish government revoked the Sami exclusive right for hunting within their communities and created a new law permitting non-Sami people to fish in lakes previously reserved for the Sami. In 2002, the Sami communities in Härjedalen lost a trial over land rights and thereby no longer have any winter grazing for their reindeer.

Land grazing rights and sea rights continue to be an area of focus with court cases questioning the Sami ancient rights to reindeer pastures, fishing, and hunting rights. Cases question the Sami ancient rights to reindeer pastures. In 2010 Sweden was criticized for its relations with the Sami in the Universal Periodic Review conducted by the Working Group of the Human Rights Council. The question whether the fjeld's territory is owned by the governments or the Sami population is not answered.

Water Rights State regulation of sea fisheries underwent drastic change in the late 1980s. The regulation linked quotas to vessels and not to fishers. These newly calculated quotas were distributed free of cost to larger vessels on the basis of the amount of the catch in previous years, resulting in small vessels in Sami districts to a large degree falling outside the new quota system.

The Sami recently stopped a water prospecting venture that threatened to turn an ancient sacred site and natural spring called Suttesaja into a large-scale water bottling plant for the world market—without notification or consultation with the local Sami people, who make up 70 percent of the population. The Finnish National Board of Antiquities has registered the area as a heritage site of cultural and historical significance, and the stream itself is part of the Deatnu/Tana watershed that is home to Europe’s largest salmon river, an important source of Sami livelihood.

Climate Change and Environment Also, reindeer have major cultural and economic significance for indigenous peoples of the North. The human-ecological systems in the North, like reindeer pastoralism, are sensitive to change, perhaps more than in virtually any other region of the globe, due in part to the variability of the Arctic climate and ecosystem and the characteristic ways of life of indigenous Arctic peoples.

The 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster caused nuclear fallout in the sensitive arctic ecosystems and poisoned fish, meat and berries. Lichens and mosses are one of the main forms of vegetation in the arctic and are highly susceptible to air-borne pollutants and heavy metals. Since many do not have roots, they can absorb nutrients, and toxic compounds, through their leaves. The lichens accumulated airborne radiation and 73,000 reindeer had to be destroyed as "unfit" for human consumption in Sweden alone. The government promised Sami indemnification which was not acted upon by government.

Radioactive wastes and spent nuclear fuel have been stored in the waters off the Kola Peninsula, including locations that are only “two kilometers” from places where Sami live. There are a minimum of five “dumps” where spent nuclear fuel and other radioactive waste are being deposited in the Kola Peninsula, often with little concern to the surround environment or population.

Tourism The tourism industry in Finland has been criticized for turning Sami culture into a marketing tool by promoting opportunities to experience “authentic” Sami ceremonies and lifestyle. At many tourist locales, non-Samis dress in inaccurate replicas of Sami traditional clothing and gift shops sell coarse reproductions of Sami handicraft. One popular “ceremony,” crossing the Arctic Circle, actually has no significance in Sami spirituality. To the Sami, this is an insulting display of cultural exploitation.

Culture

To make up for past suppression, the authorities of Norway, Sweden and Finland now make an effort to build up Sami cultural institutions and promote Sami culture and language.

Duodji (Craft)

Duodji, the Sami handicraft, originates from the time when the Samis were self-supporting nomads, believing therefore that an object should first and foremost serve a purpose rather than being primarily decorative. Men mostly use wood, bone, and antlers to make items such as antler-handled scrimshawed sami knives, drums, and guksi (burl cups). Women used leather and roots to make items such as gákti (clothing), and birch and spruce root woven baskets.

Clothing

Gakti are the traditional clothing worn by the Sámi people. The gákti is worn both in ceremonial contexts and while working, particularly when herding reindeer.

Traditionally the gákti was made from reindeer leather and sinews, but nowadays it is more common to use wool, cotton, or silk. Women’s gákti typically consist of a dress, a fringed shawl that is fastened with 1-3 silver brooches, and boots/shoes made of reindeer fur or leather. Boots can have a pointed or curled toes and often have band-woven ankle wraps. Eastern Sami boots have a rounded toe on reindeer fur boots, lined with felt and with beaded details. There are different gákti for women and men; men's gákti have a shorter "jacket-skirt" than a women's long dress. Traditional Gákti are most commonly in variations of red, blue, green, white, medium-brown tanned leather, or reindeer fur. In winter there is the addition of a reindeer fur coat and leggings, and sometimes a poncho and rope/lasso.

The colours, patterns and the jewellery of the gákti indicate where a person is from, if a person is single or married, and sometimes can even be specific to their family. The collar, sleeves and hem usually have appliqués in the form of geometric shapes. Some regions have ribbonwork, others have tin embroidery, and some Eastern Sami have beading on clothing or collar. Hats vary by gender, season, and region. They can be wool, leather, or fur. They can be embroidered or in the East they are more like a beaded cloth crown with a shawl. Some traditional Shamanic headgear had animal hides, plaits, and feathers, particularly in East Sapmi.

The gákti can be worn with a belt, these are sometimes band-woven belts, finger-woven, or beaded. Leather belts can have scrimshawed antler buttons, silver concho-like buttons, tassles, or brass/copper details such as rings. Belts can also have beaded leather pouches, antler needle cases, accessories for a fire, copper rings, amulets, and often have a carved and/or scrimshawed antler handled knife. Some Eastern Sami also have hooded jumper (малиц) from reindeer skins with wool inside and above the knee boots.

Media and literature

There are short daily news bulletins in Northern Sámi on national TV in Norway, Sweden and Finland. Children's television shows in Sami are also frequently made. There is also a radio station for Northern Sámi, which has some news programs in the other Sámi languages.

A single daily newspaper is published in Northern Sami, ''Ávvir'', along with a few magazines.

There is a Sámi theatre, Beaivvaš, in Kautokeino on the Norwegian side, as well as in Kiruna on the Swedish side. Both tour the entire Sámi area with drama written by Sámi authors or international translations.

A number of novels and poetry collections are published every year in Northern Sámi and sometimes in the other Sámi languages, as well.

Music

A characteristic feature of Sami musical tradition is the singing of ''yoik/joik''. Yoiks are song-chants and are traditionally sung ''a cappella'', usually sung slowly and deep in the throat with apparent emotional content of sorrow or anger. Yoiks can be dedicated to animals and birds in nature, to special people or special occasions, and they can be joyous, sad or melancholic. They often are based on syllablic improvisation. In recent years, musical instruments frequently accompany yoiks. The only traditional Sami instruments that were sometimes used to accompany yoik are the "fadno" flute (made from reed-like Angelica archangelica stems) and hand drums (frame drums, and bowl drums).

Education

Education with Sami as the first language is available in all four countries, and also outside the Sami area.

Sami University College is located in Kautokeino. Sami language is studied in several universities in all countries, most notably the University of Tromsø, which considers Sami a mother tongue, not a foreign language.

Festivals and markets

Numerous Sami festivals throughout the Sápmi area celebrate different aspects of the Sami culture. The best known on the Norwegian side is Riddu Riđđu, though there are others such as Ijahis Idja in Inari. Among the most festive are the Easter festivals taking place in Kautokeino and Karasjok prior to the springtime reindeer migration to the coast. These festivals combine traditional culture with modern phenomena such as snowmobile races.

Reindeer husbandry

Reindeer husbandry has been, and is, an important aspect of Sami culture. During the years of forced assimilation, the areas in which reindeer herding was an important livelihood were among the few where the Sami culture and language survived.

Today, in Norway, reindeer husbandry is legally protected as an exclusive Sami livelihood, such that only persons of Sami descent with a linkage to a reindeer herding family can own, and hence make a living off, reindeer. Presently, about 2,800 people are engaged in reindeer herding in Norway. In Finland, reindeer husbandry is not exclusive, and is practiced to a limited degree also by ethnic Finns. Legally, it is restricted to EU/EEA nationals resident in the area. In the north (Lapland), it plays a major role in the local economy, while its economic impact is lesser in the southern parts of the area (Province of Oulu).

Among the reindeer-herders in the Saami villages the women usually have a higher level of formal education in the area.

Sami policy

Norway

The Sami have been recognized as an indigenous people in Norway (1990 according to ILO convention 169 as described below), and hence according to international law the Sami people in Norway are entitled special protection and rights. The legal foundation of the Sami policy is:

Article 110a of the Norwegian Constitution.

The Sami Act (act of 12 June 1987 No. 56 concerning the Sami Parliament (the Sámediggi) and other legal matters pertaining to the Samis).

The constitutional amendment states: “It is the responsibility of the authorities of the State to create conditions enabling the Sami people to preserve and develop its language, culture and way of life.” This provides a legal and political protection of the Sami language, culture and society. In addition the “amendment implies a legal, political and moral obligation for Norwegian authorities to create an environment conducive to the Samis themselves influencing on the development of the Sami community.” (ibid.).

The Sami Act provides special rights for the Sami people (ibid.):

“...the Samis shall have their own national Sami Parliament elected by and amongst the Samis” (Chapter 1–2).

The Sami people shall decide the area of activity of the Norwegian Sami Parliament.

The Sami and Norwegian languages have equal standing in Norway (section 15; Chapter 3 contains details with regards to the use of the Sami language).

In addition, the Sami have special rights to reindeer husbandry.

The Norwegian Sami parliament also elects 50% of the members to the board of the Finnmark Estate, which controls 95% of the land in the county of Finnmark.

Norway has also accepted international conventions, declarations and agreements applicable to the Sami as a minority and indigenous people including:

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Right (1966). Article 27 protects minorities, and indigenous peoples, against discrimination: “In those states in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities, shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or use their own language.”

ILO Convention No. 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries (1989). The convention states that rights for the indigenous peoples to land and natural resources are recognized as central for their material and cultural survival. In addition indigenous peoples should be entitled to exercise control over, and manage, their own institutions, ways of life and economic development in order to maintain and develop their identities, languages and religions, within the framework of the States in which they live.

The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965).

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).

The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979).

The Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (1995).

The Council of Europe’s Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (1992).

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007).

In 2007 the Norwegian parliament passed the new Reindeer Herding Act acknowledging siida as the basic institution regarding land rights, organization, and daily herding management.

In 1998 Sweden formally apologized for the wrongs committed against the Sami.

Finland

The act establishing the Finnish Sami Parliament (Finnish: Saamelaiskäräjät) was passed on November 9, 1973. Finland recognized the Sami as a ‘people’ in 1995, but they have yet to ratify ILO Convention 169 Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples.

Finland ratified the 1966 U.N. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights though several cases brought before the U.N. Human Rights Committee. Of those, 36 cases involved a determination of the rights of individual Sami in Finland and Sweden. The Committee decisions clarify that Sami are members of a minority within the meaning of Article 27 and that deprivation or erosion of their rights to practice traditional activities which are an essential element of their culture do come within the scope of Article 27. The case of J. Lansman versus Finland concerned a challenge by Sami reindeer herders in northern Finland to plans of the Finnish Central Forestry Board to approve logging and construction of roads in an area used by the Herdsmen as winter pasture and spring calving grounds.

Sami have had some access to Sami language instruction (in some schools) since 1970s, and language rights were established in 1992. There are three Sami languages spoken in Finland: North Sami, Skolt Sami and Inari Sami. Of these languages, Inari Sami, which is spoken by about 350 speakers, is the only one that is used entirely within borders of Finland, mainly in the municipality of Inari.

Finland has denied any aboriginal rights or land rights to the Sami people, in Finland non-Sami can herd reindeer as well.

Russia

Russia has not adopted the ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, C169. The inhabitants of the Kola tundra were forcably relocated to Kolkhoz'es (collective communities) by the state, most Saami are in one kolkhoz'es at Lujávri (Lovozero).

1822 Statute of Administration of Non-Russians in Siberia asserted state ownership over all the land in Siberia and then "granted" possessory rights to the natives. Governance of indigenous groups, and especially collection of taxes from them, necessitated protection of indigenous peoples against exploitation by traders and settlers.

1993 Constitution. Article 69 states, "The Russian Federation guarantees the rights of small indigenous peoples in accordance with the generally accepted principles and standards of international law and international treaties of the Russian Federation." For the first time in Russia, the rights of indigenous minorities were established in the 1993 Constitution.

The Russian Federation ratified the 1966 U.N. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Section 2 explicitly forbids depriving a people of "its own means of subsistence." the Russian parliament (Duma) has adopted partial measures to implement it.

The Russian Federation lists distinct indigenous peoples as having special rights and protections under the Constitution and federal laws and decrees. These rights are linked to the category known since Soviet times as the malochislennykh narodov ("small-- numbered peoples"), a term that is often translated as "indigenous minorities" which include arctic peoples such as the Sami, Nenets, Evenki, and Chukchi.

In April 1999, the Russian Duma passed a law that guarantees socio-economic and cultural development to all indigenous minorities protecting traditional living places and acknowledging some form of limited ownership of territories that have traditionally been used for hunting, herding, fishing, and gathering activities. The law, however, does not anticipate the transfer of title in fee simple to indigenous minorities. The law does not recognize development rights, some proprietary rights including compensation for damage to the property, and limited exclusionary rights. It is not clear, however, whether protection of nature in the traditional places of inhabitation implies a right to exclude conflicting uses that are destructive to nature or whether they have the right to veto development.

The Russian Federation's Land Code reinforces the rights of numerically small peoples ("indigenous minorities") to use places they inhabit and to continue traditional economic activities without being charged rent. Such lands cannot be allocated for unrelated activities (which might include oil, gas, and mineral development or tourism) without the consent of the indigenous peoples. Furthermore, indigenous minorities and ethnic groups are allowed to use environmentally protected lands and lands set aside as nature preserves to engage in their traditional modes of land use.

Regional law, Code of the Murmansk Oblast, calls on the organs of state power of the oblast to facilitate the Native peoples of the Kola North, specifically naming the Sami, "in realization of their rights for preservation and development of their native language, national culture, traditions and customs." The third section of Article 21 states: "In historically established areas of habitation, Sami enjoy the rights for traditional use of nature and [traditional] activities."

Throughout the Russian North, indigenous and local people are being denied rights to fish, hunt, use pastureland, or exercise control over resources upon which they and their ancestors have depended for centuries. The failure to protect indigenous ways, however, stems not from inadequacy of the written law, but rather from the failure to implement existing laws. Unfortunately, violations of the rights of indigenous peoples continue, and oil, gas, and mineral development, and other activities (mining, timber cutting, commercial fishing, and tourism) that bring foreign currency into the Russian economy prevail over the rule of law.

The life ways and economy of indigenous peoples of the Russian North are based upon reindeer herding, fishing, terrestrial and sea mammal hunting, and trapping. Many groups in the Russian Arctic are semi-nomadic moving seasonally to different hunting and fishing camps. These groups depend upon different types of environment at differing times of the year, rather than upon exploiting a single commodity to exhaustion. Throughout northwestern Siberia, oil and gas development has disturbed pastureland and undermined the ability of indigenous peoples to continue hunting, fishing, trapping, and herding activities. Roads constructed in connection with oil and gas exploration and development destroy and degrade pastureland, ancestral burial grounds, and sacred sites, and increase hunting by oil workers on the territory used by indigenous peoples.

In the Sami homeland on the Kola Peninsula in northwestern Russia, regional authorities closed a fifty mile (eighty kilometer) stretch of the Ponoi River (and other rivers) to local fishing and granted exclusive fishing rights to a commercial company offering catch-and-release fishing to sport fishers largely from abroad. This deprived the local Sami (see Article 21 of the Code of the Murmansk Oblast) of food for their families and community and of their traditional economic livelihood. Thus, closing the fishery to locals may have violated the test articulated by the U.N. Human Rights Committee, disregarded the Land Code, other legislative acts, and the 1992 Presidential decree. Sami are not only forbidden to fish in the eighty kilometer stretch leased to the Ponoi River Company but are also required by regional laws to pay for licenses to catch a limited number of fish outside the lease area. Residents of remote communities have neither the power nor the resources to demand enforcement of their rights. Here and elsewhere in the circumpolar north, the failure to apply laws for the protection of indigenous peoples leads to "criminalization" of local indigenous populations who cannot survive without "poaching" resources that should be accessible to them legally.

Although indigenous leaders in Russia have occasionally asserted indigenous rights to land and resources, to date there has been no serious or sustained discussion of indigenous group rights to ownership of land.

Nordic

On 16 November 2005 in Helsinki, a group of experts, led by former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Norway Professor Carsten Smith, submitted a proposal for a ''Nordic Sami Convention'' to the annual joint meeting of the Ministers responsible for Sami affairs in Finland, Norway and Sweden and the Presidents of the three Sami Parliaments from the respective countries. This convention recognizes the Sami as one indigenous people residing across national borders in all three countries. A set of minimum standards is proposed for the rights of developing the Sami language, culture, rights to land and water, livelihoods and society. The convention has not yet been ratified in the Nordic countries.

Sápmi

Sápmi is the name of the cultural region traditionally inhabited by the Sami people. Non-Sami and many regional maps have often called this same region ''Lapland'' as there is considerable regional overlap between the two terms. ''Lapland'' can be either misleading, offensive, or both, depending on the context and where this word is used to the Sami. Among the Sami people Sápmi is strictly used and acceptable.

Sápmi is located in Northern Europe and includes the northern parts of Fennoscandia and spans four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia.

Area

There is no official geographic definition for the boundaries of Sápmi. However, the following counties and provinces are usually included:

Dalarnas Län county in Sweden

Finnmark county in Norway

Jämtlands Län county in Sweden

Lapland Region in Finland

Murmansk oblast in Russia

Nord-Trøndelag county in Norway

Nordland county in Norway

Norrbottens Län county in Sweden

Troms county in Norway

Västerbottens Län county in Sweden

The municipalities of Gällivare, Jokkmokk and Arjeplog in Swedish Lappland were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996 as a “Laponian Area”.

The Sami Domicile Area in Finland consists of the municipalities of Enontekiö, Utsjoki and Inari as well as a part of the municipality of Sodankylä.

Important Sami towns

The following towns and villages have a significant Sami population or host Sami institutions (Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish or Russian name in parenthesis):

Aanaar, Anár, or, Aanar (Inari), is the location of the Finnish Sami Parliament, Sajos Sámi Cultural Centre, SAKK - Saamelaisalueen koulutuskeskus (Sámi Education Institute), Anarâškielâ servi (Inari Sámi Language Association), and the Inari Sami Siida Museum.

Aarborte (Hattfjelldal ) is a southern Sami center with a southern-Sami language school and a Sami culture center.

Arjepluovve (Arjeplog).

Deatnu (Tana) has a significant Sami population.

Divtasvuodna (Tysfjord) is a center for the Lule-Sami population. The Árran Lule-Sami center is located here.

Gáivuotna (Kåfjord, Troms) is an important center for the Sea-Sami culture. Each summer the Riddu Riđđu festival is held in Gáivuotna. The municipality has a Sami language center, and hosts the Ája Sami Center. The opposition against Sami language and culture revitalization in Gáivuotna was infamous in the late 1990s and included Sami language road signs being shot to pieces repeatedly.

Giron (Kiruna), proposed seat of the Swedish Sami Parliament.

Guovdageaidnu (Kautokeino) is the perhaps the cultural capital of the Sami. About 90% of the population speak Sami. Several Sami institutions are located in Kautokeino including: Beaivváš Sámi Theatre, a Sami High School and Reindeer Herding School, the Sami University College, the Nordic Sami Research Institute, Sami language board, the Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous People, and International Centre For Reindeer Husbandry. In addition, several Sami media are located in Kautokeino including the Sami language Áššu newspaper, and the DAT Sami publishing house and record company. Kautokeino also hosts the Sami Easter Festival which includes the Sami Grand Prix 2010 (Sami Musicfestival), and the Reindeer Racing World Cup. The Kautokeino rebellion in 1852 is one of the few Sami rebellions against the Norwegian governments oppression against the Sami.

Iänudâh or Eanodat (Enontekiö).

Jiellevárri or Váhčir (Gällivare)

Johkamohki (Jokkmokk) holds a Sami market held the first weekend every February, and has a Sami school for language and traditional knowledge called Samij Åhpadusguovdásj.

Kárášjohka (Karasjok) is the seat of the Norwegian Sami Parliament. Also other important Sami institutions are located in Kárášjohka, including NRK Sami Radio, the Sami Collections museum, the Sami Art Centre, the Sami Specialist Library, Mid-Finnmark legal office, inner Finnmark Child and Youth Psychiatric Policlinic, the Sami Specialist Medical Centre, and the Sami health research institute. In addition the ''Sápmi'' cultural park is in the township, and the Sami language Min Áigi newspaper is published here.

Leavdnja (Lakselv) in Porsáŋgu (Porsanger) municipality is the location of the Finnmark Estate, and the Ságat Sami newspaper. The Finnmarkseiendommen organization owns and manages about 95% of the land in Finnmark, and 50% of its board members are elected by the Norwegian Sami Parliament.

Lujavvʼr (Lovozero)

Luvlieluspie (Östersund) is the center for the Southern Sami people living in Sweden. It is the site for Gaaltije – centre for South Sami culture – a living source of knowledge for South Sami culture, history and business. Luvlieluspie also hosts the Sami Information Centre and one of the offices to the Sami Parliament in Sweden.

Ohcejohka (Utsjoki).

Snåase (Snåsa) is a center for the Southern Sami language, and the only municipality in Norway where Southern Sami is an official language. The Saemien Sijte southern Sami museum is located in Snåase.

Unjárga (Nesseby) is an important center for the sea-Sami culture. It is also the site for the Várjjat Sámi Museum and the Norwegian Sami Parliament's department of culture and environment. The first Sami to be elected into the Norwegian Parliament, Isak Saba, was born there.

Demographics

In the geographical area composing Sápmi the Sami are a small population. According to some estimated the total Sami population is about 70,000. One problem when attempting to find out how many Sámi there are is that, there are few common criteria of what 'being a Sámi' constitutes. There are several Sámi languages and additional dialects beyond that as well, and there are several areas in Sapmi where few of the Sami speak their native language due to the forced cultural assimilation, but still consider themselves Sami. Other identity markers are kinship (which can be said to, at some level or other, be of high importance for all Sámi), the geographical region of Sápmi where their family came from, and/or protecting or preserving certain aspects of Sami culture.

All the Nordic Sámi Parliaments have included as the "core" criterion for registering as a Sámi the identity in itself – you must declare that you truly consider yourself a Sámi. Objective criteria vary, but are generally related to kinship and/or language.

Still, the cultural assimilation of the Sami people that had occurred in the four countries over the centuries, population estimates are difficult to precisely measure. The population has been estimated to be between 80,000 and 135,000 across the whole Nordic region, including urban areas such as Oslo, Norway, traditionally considered outside Sápmi. The Norwegian state recognizes any Norwegian as Sámi if he or she has one great-grandparent whose home language was Sámi, but there is not, and has never been, any registration of the home language spoken by Norwegian people.

Roughly half of all Sámi live in Norway, but many live in Sweden with smaller groups live in the far north of Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. The Sámi in Russia were forced by the Soviet authorities to relocate to a collective called Lovozero/Lujávri, in the central part of the Kola Peninsula.

Division by geography

Sápmi is traditionally divided into:

Eastern Sápmi (Kola peninsula, eastern Norway and Finland Sami regions)

Northern Sápmi (most of northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland)

Luleå Sápmi (Luleå river valley area)

Southern Sápmi (southern Sweden and Norway Sami area)

It should also be noted that many Sami now live outside Sápmi, in large cities such as Oslo in Norway.

Division by language

Below is a division based on Sami language (the numbers are the estimated number of speakers of each language):

Davvisámegiella (Northern Sami): 15 000

Julevsámegiella (Lule Sami) 1 500

самь кӣлл (Kildin Sami): 650

Nuõrttsää’m (Skolt Sami): 500

Lullisámegiella (Southern Sami): 500

Anarâškielâ (Inari Sami): 300

Ter Sami: 2

Ume Sami: <20

Pite Sami: <20

There are also two extinct Sami languages Kemi Sami and Akkala Sami.

Note that many Sami do not speak any of the Sami languages any more due to historical assimilation policies, so the number of Sami living in each area is much higher.

As with many indigenous languages, all Sami languages are at some degree of endangerment, ranging from what UNESCO defines as "definitely endangered" to "critically endangered" (and even "extinct").

Division by occupation

A division often used Northern Sami is based on occupation and the area of living. This division is also used in many historical texts:

Non-reindeer Sami not living by the sea (in Northern Sami dalon). Non-nomadic Sami. Is now probably the largest group of Sami.

Reindeer Sami (in Northern Sami boazosapmelaš or badjeolmmoš). Previously nomadic Sami living as reindeer herders. Still used about reindeer herders, but most have a permanent residence in the Sami core areas. Some 10% of Sami practice reindeer herding, which is seen as a fundamental part of a Sami culture and in some parts of Nordic countries can only be practiced by Samis.

Sea Sami (in Northern Sami mearasapmelaš). These lived traditionally by combining fishing and small scale farming. Today often used about all Sami from the coast regardless of their occupation.

Historical texts often divide the Sami into: Forest Sami, Mountain Sami, River Sami, and Eastern Sami.

Division by country

According to the Swedish Sami parliament, the Sami population of Norway is 40,000. If all people who speak Sami or have a parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent who speaks or spoke Sami are included, the number reaches 70,000. As of 2005, 12,538 people were registered to vote in the election for the Sami parliament in Norway. The bulk of the Sami live in Finnmark and Northern Troms, but there are also Sami populations in Southern Troms, Nordland and Trøndelag. Due to recent migration it has also been claimed that Oslo is the municipality with the largest Sami population. The Sami are in a majority only in the municipalities of Guovdageaidnu-Kautokeino, Karasjohka-Karasjok, Porsanger, Deatnu - Tana and Unjargga-Nesseby in Finnmark, and Gáivuotna (Kåfjord) in Northern Troms. This area is also known as the Sami core area. Sami and Norwegian are equal as administrative languages in this area.

According to the Swedish Sami parliament, the Sami population of Sweden is about 20,000.

According to the Finnish Population Registry Center and the Finnish Sami parliament, the Sami population living in Finland was 7,371 in 2003. As of 31 December 2006, only 1776 of them had registered to speak one of the Sami languages as the mother tongue.

According to the 2002 census, the Sami population of Russia was 1,991.

Since 1926 the number of identified Sami in Russia has gradually increased:

''census 1926'': 1,720 (this number refers to the total Soviet Union)

''census 1939'': 1,829

''census 1959'': 1,760

''census 1970'': 1,836

''census 1979'': 1,775

''census 1989'': 1,835

''census 2002'': 1,991

Sami Immigration outside of Sapmi

There are an estimated 30,000 people living in North America who are either Sami, or descendants of Sami. Most have settled in areas that are known to have Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish immigrants. Some of these concentrated areas are Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Illinois, California, Washington, Utah and Alaska; and throughout Canada, including the Canadian territories of the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and the territory now known as Nunavut.

Descendants of these Sami immigrants typically know little of their heritage because their ancestors purposely hid their indigenous culture to avoid discrimination from the dominating Scandinavian or Nordic culture. Though some of these Sami are diaspora that moved to North America in order to escape assimilation policies in their home countries, many continued to downplay their Sami culture in an internalization of Colonial viewpoints about indigenous peoples, and in order for them to try to blend into their respective Nordic cultures. There were also several Sami families that were brought to North America with herds of reindeer by the U.S. and Canadian governments as part of the "Reindeer Project" designed teach the Inuit about reindeer herding.

Some of these Sami immigrants, descendants of immigrants, are members of the Sami Siida of North America.

Organization

Sápmi demonstrates a distinct semi-national identity that transcends the borders between Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. There is no movement for complete autonomy.

Sami Parliaments

The ''Sami Parliaments'' (''Sámediggi'' in Northern Sami, ''Sämitigge'' in Inari Sami, '''' in Skolt Sami) founded in Finland (1973), Norway (1989) and Sweden (1993) are the representative bodies for peoples of Sami heritage. Russia has not recognized the Sami as a minority, and as a result recognizes no Sami Parliament. There is no single, unified Sami Parliament that span across the Nordic countries. Rather, each of the aforementioned three countries has set up their own separate legislatures for Sami people, even though the three Sami Parliaments often work together on cross-border issues. In all three countries, they act as an institution of cultural autonomy for the indigenous Sami people. The parliaments have very weak political influence, far from autonomy. They are formally public authorities, ruled by the Scandinavian governments, but have democratically elected parliamentarians, whose mission is to work for Sami People and culture. Candidate election promises often get into conflict with the institutions' submission under their governments. But as authorities, they have some influence over the government.

Norwegian organizations

The main organisations for Sami representation in Norway are the "siidas". They cover northern and central Norway.

Swedish organizations

The main organisations for Sami representation in Sweden are the "siidas". They cover northern and central Sweden.

Finnish organizations

In contrast to Norway and Sweden, in Finland, a "siida" (''paliskunta'' in Finnish) is a reindeer-herding corporation that is not restricted by ethnicity. There are indeed some ethnic Finns who practice reindeer herding, and in principle, all residents of the reindeer herding area (most of Finnish Lapland and parts of Oulu province) who are citizens of EEA countries, i.e. the European Union and Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, are allowed.

Russian organizations

Russian Reindeer Herders Union

In 2010, the Sami Council supported the establishment of a cultural center in Russia for Arctic Peoples. The Center for Northern folk aims to promote artistic and cultural cooperation between the arctic peoples of Russia and Norway / Nordic countries, with particular focus on indigenous peoples and minorities.

Border conflicts

Sápmi, the Sami traditional lands, cross four national borders. Traditional summer and winter pastures sometimes lie of different sides of the borders of the nation-states. In addition to that there is a border drawn for modern day Sápmi. Where there is a border, and some state that the rights (for reindeer herding and in some parts even for fishing and hunting) include not only modern Sápmi but areas that are beyond today's Sápmi that reflect older territories. Today's "borders" originate from the 14th to 16th centuries when land-owning conflicts occurred. The establishment of more stable dwelling places and larger towns originates from the 16th century, and was performed for strategic defence and economic reasons, both by peoples from Sami groups themselves and more southern immigrants.

Owning land within the borders or being a member of a ''siidas'' (Sami corporations) gives rights. A different law enacted in Sweden in the mid-1990s gave the right to anyone to fish and hunt in the region, something that was met with large skepticism and anger amongst the siidas.

Court proceedings have been common throughout history, and the aim from the Samic viewpoint is to reclaim territories used earlier in history. Due to a major defeat in 1996, one siida has introduced a sponsorship "Reindeer Godfather" concept to raise funds for further battles in courts. These "internal conflicts" are usually conflicts between non-Sami land owners and Reindeer owners. Cases question the Sami ancient rights to reindeer pastures. In 2010, Sweden was criticized for its relations with the Sami in the Universal Periodic Review conducted by the Working Group of the Human Rights Council.

The question whether the fjeld's territory is owned by the governments (crown land) or by the Sami population is not answered.

From an indigenous perspective, people "belong to the land"- the land does not belong to people, but this does not mean that hunters, herders, and fishing people do not know where the borders of their territories are located as well as those of their neighbors.

National symbols

Although the Sami have considered themselves to be one people through history, the idea of Sápmi, a Sami nation, first gained acceptance among the Sami in the 1970s, and even later among the majority population. During the 1980s and 1990s a flag was created, a national song was written, and the date of national day was settled.

Flag

The Sami flag was inaugurated during the Sami Conference in Åre, Sweden on 15 August 1986. It was the result of a competition for which many suggestions were entered. The winning design was submitted by the artist Astrid Båhl from Skibotn, Norway.

The motif (shown right) was derived from the shaman's drum and the poem "Paiven parneh" ("Sons of the Sun") by the south Sami Anders Fjellner describing the Sami as sons and daughters of the sun. The flag has the Sami colours, red, green, yellow and blue, and the circle represents the sun (red) and the moon (blue).

Sami National Day

The ''Sami National Day'' falls on February 6 as this date was when the first Sami congress was held in 1917 in Trondheim, Norway. This congress was the first time that Norwegian and Swedish Sami came together across their national borders to work together to find solutions for common problems. The resolution for celebrating on 6 February was passed in 1992, at the 15th Sami congress in Helsinki. Since 1993 Norway, Sweden and Finland have recognized February 6 as Sami National Day.

National song

Sámi soga lávlla ("Song of the Sami People", lit. "Song of the Sami Family") was originally a poem written by Isak Saba that was published in the newspaper Sagai Muittalægje for the first time on 1 April 1906. In August 1986 it became the national anthem of the Sami. Arne Sørli set the poem to music, which was then approved at the 15th Sami Conference in Helsinki in 1992. ''Sámi soga lávlla'' has been translated into all of the Sami languages.

Religion

Widespread Shamanism persisted among the Sami up until the 18th century. Most Sami today belong to the state-run Lutheran churches of Norway, Sweden and Finland. Some Sami in Russia belong to the Russian Orthodox Church, and similarly, some Skolt Sami resettled in Finland are also part of an Eastern Orthodox congregation, with an additional small population in Norway.

Traditional Sami religion

Traditional Sami religion exhibited some diversity due to the wide area that is Sápmi, allowing for the evolution of variations in beliefs and practices between tribes. The Old Beliefs are closely connected to the land, animism, and the supernatural. Sami spirituality is often characterized by pantheism, a strong emphasis on the importance of personal spirituality and its interconnectivity with one's own daily life, and a deep connection between the natural and spiritual 'worlds'. Among other roles, the Sami Shaman, or Noaidi, enabled ritual communication with the supernatural through the use of tools such as drums, chants, and sacred objects. Some practices within the Old Sami religion included natural sacred sites such as mountains, springs, land formations, as well as man-made ones such as petroglyphs and labyrinths.

Sami religion shared some elements with the Norse mythology, possibly from early contacts with trading Vikings (or vice versa). Through a mainly French initiative from Joseph Paul Gaimard as part of his La Recherche Expedition, Lars Levi Læstadius began research on Sami mythology. His work resulted in Fragments of Lappish Mythology since by his own admission they contained only a small percentage of what had existed. The fragments were termed ''Theory of Gods'', ''Theory of Sacrifice'', ''Theory of Prophecy, or short reports about rumorous Sami magic'' and ''Sami sagas''. Generally, he claims to have filtered out the Norse influence and derived common elements between the South, North, and Eastern Sami groups. The mythology has common elements with other traditional indigenous religions as well — such as those in Siberia and North America.

Missionary efforts

The term ''Sami religion'' usually refers to the traditional religion, practiced by most Sámi until approximately the 18th century. Christianity was introduced by Roman Catholic missionaries as early as the 13th century. Increased pressure came after the Protestant Reformation, and rune drums were burned or sent to museums abroad. In this period, many Sami practiced their traditional religion at home, while going to church on Sunday. Since the Sami were considered to possess 'witchcraft' powers, they were often accused of sorcery during the 17th century and were the subjects of witchcraft trials and burnings.

In Norway, a major effort to convert the Sami was made around 1720, when the "Apostle of the Sami" – Thomas von Westen – burned drums and converted people. Out of the estimated thousands of drums prior to this period, only about 70 are known to remain in existence today in scattered museums around Europe. Sacred sites were destroyed such as sieidi (stones in natural or human-built formations), álda and sáivu (sacred hills), springs, caves and other natural formations where offerings were made.

In the far east of the Sami area, the Russian Monk Trifon converted the Sami in the 16th century. Today, the St. George's chapel in Neiden, Norway (1565) testifies to this effort.

Laestadius

The Swedish Sami vicar Lars Levi Læstadius initiated a puritan Lutheran movement among the Sami around 1840. This movement is still very dominant in Sami speaking areas.

Neo-shamanism and Traditional Healing

Today, in addition to Sami who are wishing to return to traditional values, there are also some Sami that claim to be Noaidi (Sami shamans) and offer their services, through newspaper advertisements, in new age-arrangements, or for tourist groups. These shamans are generally not viewed as part of an unbroken Sami religious tradition. They may be compared with neo-paganism.

An altogether more traditional religious idea is represented by the numerous "wise men" and "wise women" found throughout the Sami area. They often attempt to heal the sick through rituals, traditional medicines, and may also combine pre-Christian elements, such as teachings, with readings from the Bible.

Language

There is no single Sami language, but a group of ten distinct Sami languages. Six of these languages have their own written standards. The Sami languages are relatively closely related, but not mutually intelligible; for instance, speakers of Southern Sami cannot understand Northern Sami. Especially earlier these distinct languages were referred to as "dialects", but today this is considered misleading due to the deep differences between the varieties. Most Sami languages are spoken in several countries, because linguistic borders do not correspond to national borders.

All Sami languages are endangered. This is due in part to historic laws prohibiting the use of Sami languages in schools and at home in Sweden and Norway. Sami language, and Sami song-chants, called yoiks, were illegal in Norway from 1773 until 1958. Then access to Sami instruction as part of schooling was not available until 1988. Special residential schools that would assimilate the Sami into the dominant culture were established. These were originally run by missionaries, but later the control of the schools came under the control of the governments. For example, in Russia, Sami children were taken away when aged 1–2 and returned when aged 15–17 with no knowledge of their language and traditional communities. Not all Sami viewed the schools negatively, and not all the schools were brutal. However, being taken from home and prohibited from speaking Sami has resulted in cultural alienation, loss of language, and lowered self-esteem.

The Sami languages belong to the Uralic language family, linguistically related to Finnish, Estonian, and Hungarian. Due to prolonged contact and import of items foreign to Sami culture from neighboring Scandinavians, there are a number of Germanic loanwords in Sami, particularly for "urban" objects. The majority of the Sami now speak the majority languages of the countries they live in, i.e. Swedish, Russian, Finnish and Norwegian. Efforts are being made to further the use of Sami language among Sami and persons of Sami origin. Despite these changes, the legacy of cultural repression still exists. Many older Sami still refuse to speak Sami. In addition, Sami parents still feel alienated from schools, and hence do not participate as much as they could in shaping school curricula and policy.

In Norway the name of the language and the people is often spelled Saami, in Finland the name of the language is spelled Saame and the name of the people Saamelainen.

Genetic studies

Anthropologists have been studying the Sami people for hundreds of years for their assumed physical and cultural differences from the rest of Europeans. Recent genetic studies have indicated that the two most frequent maternal lineages of the Sámi people are the haplogroups V and the U5b, ancient in Europe. By contrast, the most common paternal lineage among the Sami indicates an Asian origin, who may represent a Uralic-speaking people. Other haplogroups suggest additional input from other populations at various times – see main article Population genetics of the Sami.

This tallies with archeological evidence suggesting that several different cultural groups made their way to the core area of Sapmi from 8000–6000 BC, presumably including some of the ancestors of present-day Sami.

History of scientific research carried out on the Sami

The genetic makeup of Sami people has been extensively studied for as long as such research has been in existence, although until recent times the purpose of this research has mostly been ethnocentric at best, at worst racist and defamatory. Ethnographic photography of the Sami began with the invention of the camera in the 19th century. This continued on into the 1920s and 30s, when Sami photographed naked and anatomically measured by scientists, with the help of the local police – sometimes literally at gun point, to collect data that would justify their own racial theories. Thus, there is a degree of distrust by some in the Sami community towards genetic research.

Some examples of racist research are: the Statens Institut for Rasbiologi compulsory sterilization project for Sami women, which continued until 1975; Sami graves being plundered to provide research materials, of which their remains and artifacts from this period from across Sápmi can still be found in various State collections. In the late 19th century, colonial fascination with arctic peoples led to human beings exhibited in "human zoos." Sami people were exhibited with their traditional lavvu tents, weapons, and sleds, beside a group of reindeer at Tierpark Hagenbeck and other zoos across the globe.

Notable people of Sami descent

Explorers and adventurers

Samuel Balto (1861–1921), Arctic explorer – one of the first people to cross Greenland on skis (together with Nansen) – and gold miner.

Lars Monsen (1963–present) adventurer, explorer, journalist and author.

Literature

Anders Fjellner (1795–1876), Protestant priest and poet. Wrote down the mythological joik that inspired the Sámi flag.

Ailo Gaup (1944–present), an author and neo-shaman who participated in founding the Beaivváš Sámi Theatre.

Isak Mikal Saba (1875–1925) politician and writer. Was the first Sami parliamentarian (Norwegian Labour Party) and wrote the Sami national anthem.

Johan Turi (1854–1936), wrote the first novel in Sámi.

Nils-Aslak Valkeapää (1943–2001), musician, poet and artist.

Gladys Koski Holmes (1932–2005) Sami siida of NA. Artist, writer, poet. "An accomplished artist, with an MA and many awards and exhibits to her credit, Gladys treasured her Sami heritage and was an active participant in the Siida. Gladys' poetry also won awards and she published a children's book. Gladys was [Sami siida of North America's] ambassador when she accompanied a Siida art show at the nana festival in Tromsø.

Music

Vajas, popular musical group

Ánde Somby Sami musician and law professor

Adjagas, musical group.

Mari Boine (1956–present) musician.

Ingor Ánte Áilo Gaup (1960–present), actor, composer, and folk musician.

Sofia Jannok (1982–present), performer, musician and radio host.

Joni Mitchell (1943–present) musician and painter.

Wimme Saari (1959–present) musician.

Lisa Cecilia Thomasson-Bosiö or ''Lapp-Lisa'' (1878–1932), singer.

Nils-Aslak Valkeapää (1943–2001), musician, poet and artist.

Niko Valkeapää (1968–present) musician and songwriter.

Mikkâl Morottaja (1984–present) rap musician

Jonne Järvelä (1974–present) musician and song-writer.

Sami People working in Film and theatre

Beaivváš Sámi Theatre

Mikkel Gaup, actor.

Nils Gaup (1955–present) film director. Well known films include ''Ofelas'' (Pathfinder), which was nominated for the an Academy Award and the 2008 film "Kautokeino-Opprøret" based on the Kautokeino Rebellion.

Anni-Kristiina Juuso (1979–present), actress.

Renée Zellweger (1969–present), actress.

Politics and society

Margareta (ca 1369–ca 1425), missionary.

Lars Levi Laestadius (1800–61), religious reformist, bothanist and ethnologist.

Ole Henrik Magga (1947–present), politician. The first President of the Norwegian Sámi Parliament (NSR) and first Chairman of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Helga Pedersen (1973–present) politician. The first Sami member of Government (Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, Norwegian Labour Party).

Elsa Laula Renberg (1877–1931), politician who among other things organized the first international Sami conference.

Isak Mikal Saba (1875–1925), politician and writer. Was the first Sami parliamentarian (Norwegian Labour Party) and wrote the Sami national anthem.

Janne Seurujärvi (1975–present), politician. The first Sami member of Parliament of Finland.

Visual arts

Hans Ragnar Mathisen, artist. Joni Mitchell (1943–present) musician and painter.

Nils-Aslak Valkeapää (1943–2001), musician, poet and artist.

Sports

Ailo Gaup (1980–present), a motorcross sportsman who invented the "underflip".

Morten Gamst Pedersen (1981–present), Football player (currently playing for Blackburn Rovers).

Börje Salming (1951–present), legendary NHL defenseman, member of Hockey Hall of Fame, voted to the IIHF all-century team.

Anja Pärson (1981–present) and Jens Byggmark (1985–present), alpine skiers.

The Sápmi national football team.

Other

Graan, the single noble family of Sámi descent (Swedish nobility).

See also

Inari Sami people

Indigenous peoples by geographic regions

Sami Culture

Fourth World

Knud Leem

Northern indigenous peoples of Russia

Sami cuisine

Sami Films

Ofelaš (Pathfinder), 1988 film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. Filmed in Norway featuring Sami actors speaking in Sami language.

The Kautokeino Rebellion (2008) is a feature film that concerns the ethnic-religious Sami revolt in Guovdageaidnu of 1852.

The Cuckoo Bird (Kukushka), (2002) film set during the war with a Sami woman as one of the main characters

Give Us Our Skeletons a 1999 documentary about the scientific racism and racial classification movement carried out on the Sami.

Wolf (2008), an examination of how the traditions of the Sami villagers in northern Sweden is confronted with modern day society.

Last Yoik in Saami Forests?, (2007) Made for the United Nations, a documentary about land rights disputes in Finnish Lapland

Herdswoman (2008) a documentary about land rights disputes in reindeer grazing areas.

Suddenly Sami (2009) The film maker finds out that her mother has been hiding her arctic indigenous Sámi heritage from her.

The Sami. A Mushkeg Media documentary about the state of aboriginal languages

Sami books

''Fragments of Lappish Mythology'', a recently rediscovered book by Lars Levi Læstadius that was lost from 1845 to 1997 about the traditional religions of the Sami.

The ''Germania'' by Tacitus (Fenni)

Sami Government and Policy

Dislocation of Sami people

Norwegianization The discontinued government program to forcibly assimilate the Sami into Norwegian culture.

Sami Genetics

Population genetics of the Sami

References

External links

Saami Council

Category:Ethnic groups in Europe Category:Ethnic groups in Finland Category:Ethnic groups in Sweden Category:Ethnic groups in Norway Category:Ethnic groups in Russia Category:Indigenous peoples of Europe Category:Norwegian people by ethnicity Category:Scandinavia Category:Pastoralists Category:White Sea Category:Aboriginal peoples in the Arctic

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Coordinates	35°58′14″N95°18′35″N
Group	Indigenous peoples of the Americas
Pop	approximately 48 million
Regions	''(not including Mestizo or Zambo population)''
Region1
Pop1	13.8 million
Ref1
Region2
Pop2	10.1 million
Ref2
Region3
Pop3	6 million
Ref3
Region4
Pop4	5.4 million
Ref4
Region5
Pop5	3.4 million
Region6
Pop6	2.5 million
Ref6
Region7
Pop7	1.4 million
Ref7
Region8
Pop8	1.2 million
Ref8
Region9
Pop9	700,000
Ref9
Region10
Pop10	692,000
Ref10
Region11
Pop11	600,000
Ref11
Region12
Pop12	524,000
Ref12
Region13
Pop13	443,847
Ref13
Region14
Pop14	204,000
Ref14
Region15
Pop15	95,235
Ref15
Region16
Pop16	~70,000
Ref16
Languages	Indigenous languages of the Americas
Religions	Inuit religionNative American mythology Native American religionChristianity
Related	}}

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identifed with those peoples. The indigenous peoples of the Americas also include Iñupiat, Cup'ik/Yup'ik, Alutiiq, Aleut, Inuit, Aboriginals, and Native Americans, also known in Canada as First Nations, (by Christopher Columbus' geographic mistake) Indians, Red Indians, American Indians, or Amerindians. Indigenous peoples are also known by their specific tribal and cultural ancestry and citizenship.

According to the New World migration model, a migration of humans from Eurasia to the Americas took place via Beringia, a land bridge which connected the two continents across what is now the Bering Strait. The most recent point at which this migration could have taken place is ca. 12,000 years ago, with the earliest period remaining a matter of some unresolved contention. These early Paleo-Indians soon spread throughout the Americas, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally distinct nations and tribes. According to the oral histories of many of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, they have been living there since their genesis, described by a wide range of traditional creation accounts.

Application of the term "Indian" originated with Christopher Columbus, who thought that he had arrived in the East Indies, while seeking Asia. Later the name was still used as the Americas at the time were often called West Indies. This has served to imagine a kind of racial or cultural unity for the aboriginal peoples of the Americas. Once created, the unified "Indian" was codified in law, religion, and politics. The unitary idea of "Indians" was not originally shared by indigenous peoples, but many over the last two centuries have embraced the identity.

While some indigenous peoples of the Americas were historically hunter-gatherers, many practiced aquaculture and agriculture. The impact of their agricultural endowment to the world is a testament to their time and work in reshaping and cultivating the flora indigenous to the Americas. Some societies depended heavily on agriculture while others practiced a mix of farming, hunting, and gathering. In some regions the indigenous peoples created monumental architecture, large-scale organized cities, chiefdoms, states, and empires.

Many parts of the Americas are still populated by indigenous Americans; some countries have sizable populations, especially Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, and Ecuador. At least a thousand different indigenous languages are spoken in the Americas. Some, such as Quechua languages, Aymara, Guaraní, Mayan languages, and Nahuatl, count their speakers in millions. Many also maintain aspects of indigenous cultural practices to varying degrees, including religion, social organization and subsistence practices. Some indigenous peoples still live in relative isolation from Western society, and a few are still counted as uncontacted peoples.

History

Migration into the continents

The specifics of Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas, including the exact dates and routes traveled, are subject to ongoing research and discussion. The traditional Western theory has been that these early migrants moved into the Beringia land bridge between eastern Siberia and present-day Alaska around 40,000—16,500 years ago, when sea levels were significantly lowered due to the Quaternary glaciation. These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct Pleistocene megafauna along ''ice-free corridors'' that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets. Another route proposed is that, either on foot or using primitive boats, they migrated down the Pacific Northwest coast to South America. Evidence of the latter would since have been covered by a sea level rise of hundreds of meters following the last ice age.

The time range of 40,000—16,500 years ago is a hot source of debate and will be for years to come. The few agreements achieved to date are the origin from Central Asia, with widespread habitation of the Americas during the end of the last glacial period, or more specifically what is known as the late glacial maximum, around 16,000 — 13,000 years before present.

Stone tools, particularly projectile points and scrapers, are the primary evidence of the earliest human activity in the Americas. Crafted lithic flaked tools are used by archaeologists and anthropologists to classify cultural periods. Scientific evidence links indigenous Americans to Asian peoples, specifically eastern Siberian populations. Indigenous peoples of the Americas have been linked to North Asian populations by linguistic factors, the distribution of blood types, and in genetic composition as reflected by molecular data, such as DNA.

Pre-Columbian era

The Pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European and African influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic to European colonization during the Early Modern period.

While technically referring to the era before Christopher Columbus's voyages of 1492 to 1504, in practice the term usually includes the history of American indigenous cultures until they were either conquered or significantly influenced by Europeans, even if this happened decades or even centuries after Columbus' initial landing. Pre-Columbian is used especially often in the context of the great indigenous civilizations of the Americas, such as those of Mesoamerica (the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacano, the Zapotec, the Mixtec, the Aztec, and the Maya) and the Andes (Inca, Moche, Chibcha, Cañaris).

Many pre-Columbian civilizations established characteristics and hallmarks which included permanent or urban settlements, agriculture, civic and monumental architecture, and complex societal hierarchies. Some of these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first permanent European and African arrivals (ca. late 15th–early 16th centuries), and are known only through oral history and archaeological investigations. Others were contemporary with this period, and are also known from historical accounts of the time. A few, such as the Maya, Olmec, Mixtec, and Nahua peoples, had their own written records. However, the European colonists of the time viewed such texts as heretical, and much was destroyed in Christian pyres. Only a few hidden documents remain today, leaving contemporary historians with glimpses of ancient culture and knowledge.

According to both indigenous American and European accounts and documents, American civilizations at the time of European encounter possessed many impressive accomplishments. For instance, the Aztecs built one of the most impressive cities in the world, Tenochtitlan, the ancient site of Mexico City, with an estimated population of 200,000. American civilizations also displayed impressive accomplishments in astronomy and mathematics. Inuit, Alaskan Native, and American Indian creation myths tell of a variety of originations of their respective peoples. Some were "always there" or were created by gods or animals, some migrated from a specified compass point, and others came from "across the ocean".

So far, the only verifiable site of "pre-Columbian" European settlement anywhere in the Western Hemisphere is L'Anse aux Meadows, located near the very northern tip of the Canadian island of Newfoundland. It was settled by the Norse around the end of the 10th century AD.

European colonization

The European colonization of the Americas forever changed the lives, bloodlines and cultures of the peoples of the continent. The population history of American indigenous peoples postulates that infectious disease exposure, displacement, and warfare diminished populations, with the first the most significant cause. The first indigenous group encountered by Columbus were the 250,000 Taínos of Hispaniola who were the dominant culture in the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas. In thirty years, about 70% of the Taínos died. They had no immunity to European diseases, so outbreaks of measles and smallpox ravaged their population. The increased ignorance towards the practice of punishing the Taínos for revolting themselves from forced labour, despite the measures brought by the encomienda which included religious education and protection from warring tribes, eventually helped conceived the last great Taíno rebellion.

Mistreated, the Taínos began to adopt suicidal behaviors, with women aborting or killing their infants, men jumping from the cliffs or ingesting ''manioc'', a violent poison. Eventually, a Taíno Cacique named Enriquillo managed to hold out in the mountain range of Bahoruco for thirteen years conducting serious damage to the Spanish, Carib-held plantations and their Indian auxiliaries. After hearing of the seriousness of the revolt, Emperor Charles V sent captain Francisco Barrionuevo to negotiate a peace treaty with the ever increasing number of rebels. Two months later, with the consulting of the Audencia of Santo Domingo, Enriquillo was offered any part of the island to live in peace.

The Laws of Burgos, 1512-1513 were the first codified set of laws governing the behavior of Spanish settlers in America, particularly with regards to native Indians. They forbade the maltreatment of natives, and endorsed their conversion to Catholicism. The Spanish crown found it difficult to enforce these laws in a distant colony. Reasons for the decline of the Native American populations are variously theorized to be from epidemic diseases, conflicts with Europeans, and conflicts among warring tribes. Scholars now believe that, among the various contributing factors, epidemic disease was the overwhelming cause of the population decline of the American natives. After first contacts with Europeans and Africans, some believe that the death of 90 to 95% of the native population of the New World was caused by Old World diseases. Half the native population of Hispaniola in 1518 was killed by smallpox. Within a few years smallpox killed between 60% and 90% of the Inca population, with other waves of European disease weakening them further. Smallpox was only the first epidemic. Typhus (probably) in 1546, influenza and smallpox together in 1558, smallpox again in 1589, diphtheria in 1614, measles in 1618—all ravaged the remains of Inca culture. Smallpox had killed millions of native inhabitants of Mexico. Unintentionally introduced at Veracruz with the arrival of Pánfilo de Narváez on April 23, 1520, smallpox ravaged Mexico in the 1520s, possibly killing over 150,000 in Tenochtitlan alone (the heartland of the Aztec Empire), and aided in the victory of Hernán Cortés over the Aztec empire at Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City) in 1521.

Over the centuries, the Europeans had developed high degrees of immunity to these diseases, while the indigenous Americans had no such immunity. Europeans had been ravaged in their own turn by such diseases as bubonic plague and Asian flu that moved west from Asia to Europe. In addition, when they went to some territories, such as Africa and Asia, they were more vulnerable to malaria. The repeated outbreaks of influenza, measles and smallpox probably resulted in a decline of between one-half and two-thirds of the Aboriginal population of eastern North America during the first 100 years of European contact. In 1617–1619, smallpox reportedly killed 90% of the Massachusetts Bay Colony Native American residents. In 1633, in Plymouth, the Native Americans there were exposed to smallpox because of contact with Europeans. As it had done elsewhere, the virus wiped out entire population groups of Native Americans. It reached Lake Ontario in 1636, and the lands of the Iroquois by 1679. During the 1770s, smallpox killed at least 30% of the West Coast Native Americans. Smallpox epidemics in 1780–1782 and 1837–1838 brought devastation and drastic population depletion among the Plains Indians. In 1832, the federal government of the United States established a smallpox vaccination program for Native Americans (''The Indian Vaccination Act of 1832'').

In Brazil, the indigenous population has declined from a pre-Columbian high of an estimated three million to some 300,000 in 1997.

Later explorations of the Caribbean led to the discovery of the Arawak peoples of the Lesser Antilles. The culture was destroyed by 1650. Only 500 had survived by the year 1550, though the bloodlines continued through the modern populace. In Amazonia, indigenous societies weathered centuries of colonization.

The Spaniards and other Europeans brought horses to the Americas. Some of these animals escaped and began to breed and increase their numbers in the wild. The re-introduction of the horse had a profound impact on Native American culture in the Great Plains of North America and of Patagonia in South America. By domesticating horses, some tribes had great success: they expanded their territories, exchanged many goods with neighboring tribes, and more easily captured game, especially bison.

Agriculture

Over the course of thousands of years, American indigenous peoples domesticated, bred and cultivated a large array of plant species. These species now constitute 50–60% of all crops in cultivation worldwide. In certain cases, the indigenous peoples developed entirely new species and strains through artificial selection, as was the case in the domestication and breeding of maize from wild ''teosinte'' grasses in the valleys of southern Mexico. Numerous such agricultural products retain native names in the English and Spanish lexicons.

The South American highlands were a center of early agriculture. Genetic testing of the wide variety of cultivars and wild species suggest that the potato has a single origin in the area of southern Peru, from a species in the ''Solanum brevicaule'' complex. Over 99% of all modern cultivated potatoes worldwide are descendants of a subspecies indigenous to south-central Chile, ''Solanum tuberosum ssp. tuberosum'', where it was cultivated as long as 10,000 years ago. According to George Raudzens, "It is clear that in pre-Columbian times some groups struggled to survive and often suffered food shortages and famines, while others enjoyed a varied and substantial diet." The persistent drought around 850 AD coincided with the collapse of Classic Maya civilization, and the famine of One Rabbit (A.D. 1454) was a major catastrophe in Mexico.

Natives of North American began practicing farming approximately 4,000 years ago, late in the Archaic period of North American cultures. Technology had advanced to the point that pottery was becoming common, and the small-scale felling of trees became feasible. Concurrently, the Archaic Indians began using fire in a widespread manner. Intentional burning of vegetation was used to mimic the effects of natural fires that tended to clear forest understories. It made travel easier and facilitated the growth of herbs and berry-producing plants, which were important for both food and medicines.

In the Mississippi River valley, Europeans noted Native Americans' managed groves of nut and fruit trees as orchards, not far from villages and towns, in addition to their gardens and agricultural fields. Wildlife competition could be reduced by understory burning. Further away, prescribed burning would have been used in forest and prairie areas.

Many crops first domesticated by indigenous Americans are now produced and/or used globally. Chief among these is maize or "corn", arguably the most important crop in the world. Other significant crops include cassava, chia, squash (pumpkins, zucchini, marrow, acorn squash, butternut squash), the pinto bean, ''Phaseolus'' beans including most common beans, tepary beans and lima beans, tomato, potatoes, avocados, peanuts, cocoa beans (used to make chocolate), vanilla, strawberries, pineapples, Peppers (species and varieties of ''Capsicum'', including bell peppers, jalapeños, paprika and chili peppers) sunflower seeds, rubber, brazilwood, chicle, tobacco, coca, manioc and some species of cotton.

Studies of contemporary indigenous environmental management, including agro-forestry practices among Itza Maya in Guatemala and hunting and fishing among the Menominee of Wisconsin, suggest that longstanding "sacred values" may represent a summary of sustainable millennial traditions.

Culture

Cultural practices in the Americas seem to have been mostly shared within geographical zones where otherwise unrelated peoples might adopt similar technologies and social organizations. An example of such a cultural area could be Mesoamerica, where millennia of coexistence and shared development between the peoples of the region produced a fairly homogeneous culture with complex agricultural and social patterns. Another well-known example could be the North American plains area, where until the 19th century, several different peoples shared traits of nomadic hunter-gatherers primarily based on buffalo hunting.

Writing systems

An independent origin and development of writing is counted among the many achievements and innovations of pre-Columbian American cultures. The Mesoamerican region produced a number of indigenous writing systems from the 1st millennium BCE onwards. What may be the earliest-known example in the Americas of an extensive text thought to be writing is by the Cascajal Block. The Olmec hieroglyphs tablet has been indirectly dated from ceramic shards found in the same context to approximately 900 BCE, around the time that Olmec occupation of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán began to wane.

The Maya writing system (often called ''hieroglyphs'' from a superficial resemblance to the Ancient Egyptian writing) was a combination of phonetic symbols and logograms. It is most often classified as a logographic or (more properly) a logosyllabic writing system, in which syllabic signs play a significant role. It is the only pre-Columbian writing system known to completely represent the spoken language of its community. In total, the script has more than one thousand different glyphs, although a few are variations of the same sign or meaning, and many appear only rarely or are confined to particular localities. At any one time, no more than around five hundred glyphs were in use, some two hundred of which (including variations) had a phonetic or syllabic interpretation.

Aztec codices (singular ''codex'') are books written by pre-Columbian and colonial-era Aztecs. These codices provide some of the best primary sources for Aztec culture. The pre-Columbian codices differ from European codices in that they are largely pictorial; they were not meant to symbolize spoken or written narratives. The colonial era codices not only contain Aztec pictograms, but also Classical Nahuatl (in the Latin alphabet), Spanish, and occasionally Latin.

The Wiigwaasabak, birch bark scrolls on which the Ojibwa (Anishinaabe) people wrote complex geometrical patterns and shapes, can also be considered a form of writing, as can Mi'kmaq hieroglyphics.

Aboriginal syllabic writing, or simply syllabics, is a family of abugidas used to write a number of Aboriginal Canadian languages of the Algonquian, Inuit, and (formerly) Athabaskan language families.

Music and art

Native American music in North America is almost entirely monophonic, but there are notable exceptions. Traditional Native American music often centers around drumming. Rattles, clappersticks, and rasps were also popular percussive instruments. Flutes were made of rivercane, cedar, and other woods. The tuning of these flutes is not precise and depends on the length of the wood used and the hand span of the intended player, but the finger holes are most often around a whole step apart and, at least in Northern California, a flute was not used if it turned out to have an interval close to a half step. The Apache fiddle is a single stringed instrument.

Music from indigenous peoples of Central Mexico and Central America often was pentatonic. Before the arrival of the Spaniards and other Europeans it was inseparable from religious festivities and included a large variety of percussion and wind instruments such as drums, flutes, sea snail shells (used as a kind of trumpet) and "rain" tubes. No remnants of pre-Columbian stringed instruments were found until archaeologists discovered a jar in Guatemala, attributed to the Maya of the Late Classic Era (600–900 CE), which depicts a stringed musical instrument which has since been reproduced. This instrument is astonishing in at least two respects. First, it is the very few string instruments known in the Americas prior to the introduction of European musical instruments. Second, when played, it produces a sound virtually identical to a jaguar's growl.

Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas composes a major category in the world art collection. Contributions include pottery, paintings, jewellery, weavings, sculptures, basketry, carvings and beadwork. Due to the many artists posing as Native Americans, the United States passed the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, requiring artists prove that they are enrolled in a state or federally recognized tribe.

Demography of contemporary populations

The following table provides estimates of the per-country populations of Amerindian people, and also those with partial Amerindian ancestry, expressed as a percentage of the overall country population of each country that is comprised by Amerindians, and of people of partial Amerindian descent. The total percentage obtained by adding both of these categories is also given.

''Note:'' these categories are inconsistently defined and measured differently from country to country. Some are based on the results of population wide genetic surveys, while others are based on self identification or observational estimation.

+ Indigenous populations of the Americas''as estimated percentage of total country's population''
Country	Amerindian	Ref.	Part Amerindian	Ref.	Combined total	Ref.
North America
Canada	1.8%		3.6%		5.4%
Mexico	9.8%		60%		69.8%
United States	0.9%		0.6%		1.5%
Central America
Belize	16.7%		33.8%		50.5%
Costa Rica	1%		15%		16%
El Salvador	1%		90%		91%
Guatemala	40.8%		%		%
Honduras	7%		90%		97%
Nicaragua	5%		69%		74%
Panama	6%		84%		90%
Caribbean
Antigua and Barbuda	%		%		%
Barbados	%		%		%
The Bahamas	%		%		%
Cuba	%		%		%
Dominica	2.9%		%		%
Dominican Republic	%		%		%
Grenada	~0%		~0%		~0%
Haiti	~0%		~0%		~0%
Jamaica	%		%		%
Puerto Rico	0.4%		84%		84%
Saint Kitts and Nevis	%		%		%
Saint Lucia	%		%		%
	2%		%		%
Trinidad and Tobago	0.8%		88%		80%
South America
Argentina	1.0%		2%		3%
Bolivia	55%		30%		85%
Brazil	0.4%		%		%
Chile	4.6%		%		%
Colombia	1%		58%		59%
Ecuador	25%		65%		90%
French Guiana	%		%		%
Guyana	9.1%		%		%
Paraguay	1.7%		95%		96.7%
Peru	45%		37%		82%
Suriname	2%		%		%
Uruguay	0%		8%		8%
Venezuela	%		%		%

History and status by country

Argentina

Argentina's indigenous population in 2005 was about 600,329 (1.6% of total population); this figure includes 457,363 people who self-identified as belonging to an indigenous ethnic group, and the remaining 142,966 who recognized themselves as first-generation descendants of an Amerindian people. The ten most populous indigenous peoples are the Mapuche (113,680 people), the Kolla (70,505), the Toba (69,452), the Guaraní (68,454), the Wichi (40,036), the Diaguita-Calchaquí (31,753), the Mocoví (15,837), the Huarpe (14,633), the Comechingón (10,863) and the Tehuelche (10,590). Minor but important peoples are the Quechua (6,739), the Charrúa (4,511), the Pilagá (4,465), the Chané (4,376), and the Chorote (2,613). The Selknam (Ona) people are now virtually extinct in its pure form. The languages of the Diaguita, Tehuelche, and Selknam nations are now extinct or virtually extinct: the Cacán language (spoken by Diaguitas) in the 18th century, the Selknam language in the 20th century; whereas one Tehuelche language (Southern Tehuelche) is still spoken by a small handful of elderly people.

Belize

Mestizos (European with indigenous peoples) number about 34 percent of the population; unmixed Maya make up another 10.6 percent (Ketchi, Mopan, and Yucatec). The Garifuna, who came to Belize in the 19th century, originating from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, with a mixed African, Carib, and Arawak ancestry make up another 6% of the population.

Bolivia

In Bolivia, a 62% majority of residents over the age of 15 self-identify as belonging to an indigenous people, while another 3.7% grew up with an indigenous mother tongue yet do not self-identify as indigenous. Including both of these categories, and children under 15, some 66.4% of Bolivia's population was registered as indigenous in the 2001 Census. The largest indigenous ethnic groups are: Quechua, about 2.5 million people; Aymara, 2.0 million; Chiquitano, 181 thousand; Guaraní, 126 thousand; and Mojeño, 69 thousand. Some 124 thousand pertain to smaller indigenous groups. The Constitution of Bolivia, enacted in 2009, recognizes 36 cultures, each with their own language, as part of a plurinational state. Others, including CONAMAQ (the National Council of Ayllus and Markas of Qollasuyu) draw ethnic boundaries within the Quechua- and Aymara-speaking population, resulting in a total of fifty indigenous peoples native to Bolivia.

Large numbers of Bolivian highland peasants retained indigenous language, culture, customs, and communal organization throughout the Spanish conquest and the post-independence period. They mobilized to resist various attempts at the dissolution of communal landholdings, and used legal recognition of "empowered caciques" to further communal organization. Indigenous revolts took place frequently until 1953. While the National Revolutionary Movement government begun in 1952 discouraged self-identification as indigenous (reclassifying rural people as ''campesinos'', or peasants), renewed ethnic and class militancy re-emerged in the Katarista movement beginning in the 1970s. Lowland indigenous peoples, mostly in the east, entered national politics through the 1990 March for Territory and Dignity organized by the CIDOB confederation. That march successfully pressured the national government to sign ILO Convention 169 and to begin a still-ongoing process of recognizing and titling indigenous territories. The 1994 Law of Popular Participation granted "grassroots territorial organizations" recognized by the state certain rights to govern local areas.

Radio and some television in Quechua and Aymara is produced. The constitutional reform in 1997 for the first time recognized Bolivia as a multilingual, pluri-ethnic society and introduced education reform. In 2005, for the first time in the country's history, an indigenous descendant Aymara, Evo Morales, was elected as President.

Morales began work on his “indigenous autonomy” policy which he launched in the eastern lowlands department on 3 August 2009, making Bolivia the first country in the history of South America to declare the right of indigenous people to govern themselves. The issue has divided the country.

Brazil

The Amerindians make up 0.4% of Brazil's population, or about 700,000 people. Indigenous peoples are found in the entire territory of Brazil, although the majority of them live in Indian reservations in the North and Centre-Western part of the country. On 18 January 2007, FUNAI reported that it had confirmed the presence of 67 different uncontacted tribes in Brazil, up from 40 in 2005. With this addition Brazil has now overtaken the island of New Guinea as the country having the largest number of uncontacted tribes.

Canada

Aboriginal peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Métis; the descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo" are falling into disuse. Hundreds of Aboriginal nations evolved trade, spiritual and social hierarchies. The Métis culture of mixed blood originated in the mid-17th century when First Nation and native Inuit married European settlers. The Inuit had more limited interaction with European settlers during that early period. Various laws, treaties, and legislation have been enacted between European immigrants and First Nations across Canada. Aboriginal Right to Self-Government provides opportunity to manage historical, cultural, political, health care and economic control aspects within first people's communities.

Although not without conflict, European/Canadian early interactions with First Nations and Inuit populations were relatively peaceful, compared to the experience of native peoples in the United States. Combined with relatively late economic development in many regions, this peaceful history has allowed Canadian Indigenous peoples to have a relatively strong influence on the national culture while preserving their own identity. National Aboriginal Day recognises the cultures and contributions of Aboriginal peoples of Canada. There are currently over 600 recognized First Nations governments or bands encompassing 1,172,790 ²⁰⁰⁶ people spread across Canada with distinctive Aboriginal cultures, languages, art, and music.

Chile

According to the 2002 Census, 4.6% of the Chilean population, including the Rapanui of Easter Island, was indigenous, although most show varying degrees of miscegenation. Many are descendants of the Mapuche, and live in Santiago, Araucanía and the lake district. The Mapuche successfully fought off defeat in the first 300–350 years of Spanish rule during the Arauco War. Relations with the new Chilean Republic were good until the Chilean state decided to occupy their lands. During the Occupation of Araucanía the Mapuche surrendered to the country's army in the 1880s. Their land was opened to settlement by Chileans and Europeans. Conflict over Mapuche land rights continued until present days.

Other groups include the Aimara who live mainly in Arica-Parinacota and Tarapacá Region and has the mayority of their alikes living in Bolivia and Peru and the Alacalufe survivors who now reside mainly in Puerto Edén.

Colombia

A small minority today within Colombia's overwhelmingly Mestizo and Afro-Colombian population, Colombia's indigenous peoples nonetheless encompass at least 85 distinct cultures and more than 1,378,884 people. A variety of collective rights for indigenous peoples are recognized in the 1991 Constitution.

One of these is the Muisca culture, a subset of the larger Chibcha ethnic group, famous for their use of gold, which led to the legend of El Dorado. At the time of the Spanish conquest, the Chibchas were the largest native civilization between the Incas and the Aztecs.

Costa Rica

There are over 60,000 inhabitants of Native American origins, representing 1.5% of the population. Most of them live in secluded reservations, distributed among eight ethnic groups: Quitirrisí (In the Central Valley), Matambú or Chorotega (Guanacaste), Maleku (Northern Alajuela), Bribri (Southern Atlantic), Cabécar (Cordillera de Talamanca), Guaymí (Southern Costa Rica, along the Panamá border), Boruca (Southern Costa Rica) and Térraba (Southern Costa Rica).

These native groups are characterized for their work in wood, like masks, drums and other artistic figures, as well as fabrics made of cotton.

Their subsistence is based on agriculture, having corn, beans and plantains as the main crops.

Ecuador

Ecuador was the site of many indigenous cultures, and civilizations of different proportions. An early sedentary culture, known as the Valdivia culture, developed in the coastal region, while the Caras and the Quitus unified to form an elaborate civilization that ended at the birth of the Capital Quito. The Cañaris near Cuenca were the most advanced, and most feared by the Inca, due to their fierce resistance to the Incan expansion. Their architecture remains were later destroyed by Spaniards and the Incas.

Approximately 96.4% of Ecuador's Indigenous population are Highland Quichuas living in the valleys of the Sierra region. Primarily consisting of the descendents of Incans, they are Kichwa speakers and include the Caranqui, the Otavaleños, the Cayambi, the Quitu-Caras, the Panzaleo, the Chimbuelo, the Salasacan, the Tugua, the Puruhá, the Cañari, and the Saraguro. Linguistic evidence suggests that the Salascan and the Saraguro may have been the descendants of Bolivian ethnic groups transplanted to Ecuador as ''mitimaes''.

Coastal groups, including the Awá, Chachi, and the Tsáchila, make up 0.24% percent of the indigenous population, while the remaining 3.35 percent live in the Oriente and consist of the Oriente Kichwa (the Canelo and the Quijos), the Shuar, the Huaorani, the Siona-Secoya, the Cofán, and the Achuar.

In 1986, indigenous people formed the first "truly" national political organization. The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) has been the primary political institution of the Indigenous since then and is now the second largest political party in the nation. It has been influential in national politics, contributing to the ouster of presidents Abdalá Bucaram in 1997 and Jamil Mahuad in 2000.

El Salvador

Much of El Salvador was home to the Pipil, Lenca, and a number of Maya. The Pipil lived in western El Salvador, spoke Nahuat, and had many settlements there. The Pipil had no treasure but held land that had rich and fertile soil, good for farming. This both disappointed and garnered attention from the Spaniards who were shocked not to find gold or jewels in El Salvador like they did in other lands like Guatemala or Mexico, but later learned of the fertile land El Salvador had to offer and attempted to conquer it. At first the Pipil had repelled Spanish Attacks but after many other attacks they had stopped fighting and many were used for labor by Spaniards. Today many Pipil and Indigenous populations live in small towns of El Salvador like Izalco, Panchimalco, Sacacoyo, and Nahuizalco.

Guatemala

Many of the indigenous peoples of Guatemala are of Maya heritage. Other groups are Xinca people and Garifuna.

Pure Maya account for some 40 percent of the population; although around 40 percent of the population speaks an indigenous language, those tongues (of which there are more than 20) enjoy no official status. Guatemala's majority population holds a percentage of 59.4% in White or Mestizo (of mixed White and Amerindian ancestry) people. The area of Livingston, Guatemala is highly influenced by the Caribbean and its population includes a combination of Mestizos and Garifuna people.

Honduras

About 5 percent of the population are of full-blooded Amerindian descent, but upwards to 80 percent more or the majority of Hondurans are mestizo or part-Amerindian with Caucasian, and about 10 percent are of Amerindian and/or African descent. The main concentration of Amerindians in Honduras are in the rural westernmost areas facing Guatemala and to the Caribbean Sea coastline, as well on the Nicaraguan border. The majority of indigenous people are Lencas, Miskitos to the east, Mayans, Pech, Sumos, and Tolupan.

Mexico

The territory of modern-day Mexico was home to numerous indigenous civilizations prior to the arrival of the Spanish ''conquistadores'': The Olmecs, who flourished from between 1200 BCE to about 400 BCE in the coastal regions of the Gulf of Mexico; the Zapotecs and the Mixtecs, who held sway in the mountains of Oaxaca and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec; the Maya in the Yucatán (and into neighbouring areas of contemporary Central America); the Purepecha or Tarascan in present day Michoacán and surrounding areas, and the Aztecs, who, from their central capital at Tenochtitlan, dominated much of the centre and south of the country (and the non-Aztec inhabitants of those areas) when Hernán Cortés first landed at Veracruz.

In contrast to what was the general rule in the rest of North America, the history of the colony of New Spain was one of racial intermingling (''mestizaje''). ''Mestizos'' quickly came to account for a majority of the colony's population; however, significant numbers and communities of ''indígenas'' (as the native peoples are now known) survive to the present day. The CDI identifies 62 indigenous groups in Mexico, each with a unique language.

In the states of Chiapas and Oaxaca and in the interior of the Yucatán peninsula the majority of the population is indigenous. Large indigenous minorities, including Aztecs, P'urhépechas, and Mixtecs are also present in the central regions of Mexico. In Northern Mexico indigenous people are a small minority.

The "General Law of Linguistic Rights of the Indigenous Peoples" grants all indigenous languages spoken in Mexico, regardless of the number of speakers, the same validity as Spanish in all territories in which they are spoken, and indigenous peoples are entitled to request some public services and documents in their native languages. Along with Spanish, the law has granted them — more than 60 languages — the status of "national languages". The law includes all Amerindian languages regardless of origin; that is, it includes the Amerindian languages of ethnic groups non-native to the territory. As such the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples recognizes the language of the Kickapoo, who immigrated from the United States, and recognizes the languages of the Guatemalan Amerindian refugees. The Mexican government has promoted and established bilingual primary and secondary education in some indigenous rural communities. Nonetheless, of the indigenous peoples in Mexico, only about 67% of them (or 5.4% of the country's population) speak an Amerindian language and about a sixth do not speak Spanish (1.2% of the country's population).

The indigenous peoples in Mexico have the right of free determination under the second article of the constitution. According to this article the indigenous peoples are granted:

the right to decide the internal forms of social, economic, political and cultural organization;

the right to apply their own normative systems of regulation as long as human rights and gender equality are respected;

the right to preserve and enrich their languages and cultures;

the right to elect representatives before the municipal council in which their territories are located;

amongst other rights.

Nicaragua

The Miskito are a native people in Central America. Their territory extended from Cape Camarón, Honduras, to Rio Grande, Nicaragua along the Mosquito Coast. There is a native Miskito language, but large groups speak Miskito Coastal Creole, Spanish, Rama and other languages. The Creole English came about through frequent contact with the British who colonized the area. Many are Christians.

Traditional Miskito society was highly structured with a defined political structure. There was a king, but he did not have total power. Instead, the power was split between himself, a governor, a general, and by the 1750s, an admiral. Historical information on kings is often obscured by the fact that many of the kings were semi-mythical.

=== Peru === Indigenous population in Peru make up around 30% Native Peruvian traditions and customs have shaped the way Peruvians live and see themselves today. Cultural citizenship—or what Renato Rosaldo has called, "the right to be different and to belong, in a democratic, participatory sense" (1996:243)—is not yet very well developed in Peru. This is perhaps no more apparent than in the country's Amazonian regions where indigenous societies continue to struggle against state-sponsored economic abuses, cultural discrimination, and pervasive violence.

United States

Indigenous peoples in what is now the contiguous United States are commonly called "American Indians", or just "Indians" domestically, but are also often referred to as "Native Americans". In Alaska, indigenous peoples, which include Native Americans, Yupik and Inupiat Eskimos, and Aleuts, are referred to collectively as Alaska Natives.

Native Americans and Alaska Natives make up 2 percent of the population, with more than 6 million people identifying themselves as such, although only 1.8 million are recognized as registered tribal members. Tribes have established their own rules for membership, some of which are increasingly exclusive. More people have unrecognized Native American ancestry together with other ethnic groups. A minority of U.S. Native Americans live in land units called Indian reservations. Some southwestern U.S. tribes, such as the Yaqui and Apache, have registered tribal communities in Northern Mexico. Similarly, some northern bands of Blackfoot reside in southern Alberta, Canada, in addition to within US borders. thumb|150px|An Inuit woman A number of Kumeyaay communities may be found in the Mexican State of Baja California.

Venezuela

Most Venezuelans have some indigenous heritage, but the indigenous population make up only around 2% of the total population. They speak around 29 different languages and many more dialects, but some of the ethnic groups are very small and their languages are in danger of becoming extinct in the next decades. The most important indigenous groups are the Ye'kuana, the Wayuu, the Pemon and the Warao. The most advanced native people to have lived in present-day Venezuela is thought to have been the Timoto-cuicas, who mainly lived in the Venezuelan Andes. In total it is estimated that there were between 350 thousand and 500 thousand inhabitants, the most densely populated area being the Andean region (Timoto-cuicas), thanks to the advanced agricultural techniques used.

The 1999 constitution of Venezuela gives them special rights, although the vast majority of them still live in very critical conditions of poverty. The largest groups receive some basic primary education in their languages.

Other parts of the Americas

Indigenous peoples make up the majority of the population in Bolivia and Peru, and are a significant element in most other former Spanish colonies. Exceptions to this include Costa Rica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Dominican Republic, and Uruguay. At least four of the native American languages (Quechua in Peru and Bolivia; Aymara also in Peru, Bolivia and Chile, Guaraní in Paraguay, and Greenlandic in Greenland) are recognized as official languages languages (or Aymara in Chile, by regional basis).

Native American name controversy

The Native American name controversy is an ongoing dispute over the acceptable ways to refer to the indigenous peoples of the Americas and to broad subsets thereof, such as those living in a specific country or sharing certain cultural attributes. Once-common terms like "Indian" remain in use, despite the introduction of terms such as "Native American" and "Amerindian" during the latter half of the 20th century.

Rise of indigenous movements

In recent years, there has been a rise of indigenous movements in the Americas (mainly South America). These are rights-driven groups that organize themselves in order to achieve some sort of self-determination and the preservation of their culture for their peoples. Organizations like the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon River Basin and the Indian Council of South America are examples of movements that are breaking the barrier of borders in order to obtain rights for Amazonian indigenous populations everywhere. Similar movements for indigenous rights can also be seen in Canada and the United States, with movements like the International Indian Treaty Council and the accession of native Indian group into the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization.

There has also been a recognition of indigenous movements on an international scale, with the United Nations adopting the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, despite dissent from the stronger countries of the Americas.

Moves towards the rights of the indigenous in Leftist countries of Latin America, led to a surge in activity in historically the most right-wing state in South America. In Colombia, various indigenous groups protested the denial of their rights. People organized a march in Cali in October 2008 to demand the government live up to promises to protect indigenous lands, defend the indigenous against violence, and reconsider the free trade pact with the United States.

Legal prerogative

With the rise to power of Leftist governments in Venezuela, Ecuador, Paraguay, and especially Bolivia where Evo Morales was the first indigenous descendant elected president of Bolivia, the indigenous movement gained a strong foothold. Representatives from indigenous and rural organizations from major South American countries, including Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile and Brazil, started a forum in support of Morales' legal process of change. The meeting condemned plans by the European "foreign" power elite to destabilize the country. The forum also expressed solidarity with the Morales and his economic and social changes in the interest of historically marginalized majorities. Furthermore, in a cathartic blow to the US-backed elite, it questioned US interference through diplomats and NGO's. The forum was suspicious of plots against Bolivia and other countries, including Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, Paraguay and Nicaragua.

The forum rejected the supposed violent method used by regional civic leaders from the called "Crescent departments" in Bolivia to impose their autonomous statutes, applauded the decision to expel the US ambassador to Bolivia, and reafirmed the sovereignty and independence of the presidency. Amongst others, representatives of CONAIE, the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia, the Chilean Council of All Lands, and the Brazilian Landless Movement participated in the forum.

Genetics

Genetic history of indigenous peoples of the Americas primarily focus on Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups and Human mitochondrial DNA haplogroups. "Y-DNA" is passed solely along the patrilineal line, from father to son, while "mtDNA" is passed down the matrilineal line, from mother to offspring of both sexes. Neither recombines, and thus Y-DNA and mtDNA change only by chance mutation at each generation with no intermixture between parents' genetic material. Autosomal "atDNA" markers are also used, but differ from mtDNA or Y-DNA in that they overlap significantly. AtDNA is generally used to measure the average continent-of-ancestry genetic admixture in the entire human genome and related isolated populations.

The genetic pattern indicates Indigenous Amerindians experienced two very distinctive genetic episodes; first with the initial-peopling of the Americas, and secondly with European colonization of the Americas. The former is the determinant factor for the number of gene lineages, zygosity mutations and founding haplotypes present in today's Indigenous Amerindian populations.

Human settlement of the New World occurred in stages from the Bering sea coast line, with an initial 15, 000 to 20,000-year layover on Beringia for the small founding population. The micro-satellite diversity and distributions of the Y lineage specific to South America indicates that certain Amerindian populations have been isolated since the initial colonization of the region. The Na-Dené, Inuit and Indigenous Alaskan populations exhibit haplogroup Q (Y-DNA) mutations, however are distinct from other indigenous Amerindians with various mtDNA and atDNA mutations. This suggests that the earliest migrants into the northern extremes of North America and Greenland derived from later migrant populations.

See also

Classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas

Alaska Natives

History of the west coast of North America

Hyphenated American

Indigenous languages of the Americas

Indigenous Movements in the Americas

Indigenous rights

List of American Inuit

List of Greenlandic Inuit

List of indigenous artists of the Americas

List of indigenous people of the Americas

List of traditional territories of the indigenous peoples of North America

List of writers from peoples indigenous to the Americas

Mongoloid race

Native American art

Native American Languages Act of 1990

Native American religion

Native Hawaiians

Pacific Islander

Population history of American indigenous peoples

Uncontacted peoples

Zambo

References

Books

External links

The Peopling of the American Continents, ''Early California History''

North America, ''Indigenous Peoples Issues and Resources''

South America, ''Indigenous Peoples Issues and Resources''

Indigenous Peoples in Brazil. Instituto Socioambiental (ISA)

America's Stone Age explorers, ''PBS Nova''

A history of Native people of Canada - The Canadian Museum of Civilization''

Category:Ethnic groups in the Americas Category:Ethnic groups in Latin America Category:Ethnic groups in North America Category:Historical definitions of race Category:Latin American caste system

ar:أمريكيون أصليون az:Hindilər be:Індзейцы be-x-old:Індзейцы bar:Indiana bs:Domorodački narodi Amerike bg:Индианци ca:Pobles indígenes d'Amèrica cs:Indiáni da:Oprindelige amerikanere pdc:Insching de:Indianer nv:Bitsįʼ yishtłizhii et:Indiaanlased el:Ιθαγενείς πληθυσμοί της Αμερικής es:Amerindio eo:Indianoj eu:Amerindiar fa:سرخ‌پوست fr:Amérindiens fy:Yndianen gl:Amerindio ko:아메리카 토착민 hi:इंडियन (अमेरिका के आदिवासी) hr:Indijanci id:Suku Indian ia:Indiano american is:Frumbyggjar Ameríku it:Nativi americani he:אינדיאנים jv:Suku Indian kn:ಅಮೇರಿಕ ಖಂಡಗಳ ಸ್ಥಳೀಯ ಜನ kk:Үндістер ku:Amerîkiyên resen la:Indi Americani lv:Amerikas pamatiedzīvotāji lt:Indėnai hu:Indiánok mk:Американски староседелци mg:Tera-tan' Amerika mr:मूळचे अमेरिकन mzn:سرخپوست ms:Amerindian nah:Mācēhualtlācatl nl:Indianen ja:アメリカ州の先住民族 no:Indianere nn:Amerikanske urfolk pnb:لال ہندی pap:Nativonan di Amérika pl:Indianie pt:Povos ameríndios ro:Amerindieni ru:Индейцы stq:Indioaner simple:Native American sk:Indiáni sl:Ameriški staroselci szl:Indjanery so:Maraykanka assalkoodii sr:Američki starosedeoci fi:Intiaanit sv:Indianer ta:அமெரிக்க முதற்குடிமக்கள் th:ชนพื้นเมืองในทวีปอเมริกา tr:Amerikan yerlileri tk:Indeýler uk:Індіанці ur:سرخ ہندی vi:Người bản địa châu Mỹ zh-yue:美洲土著 bat-smg:Indienā zh:美洲原住民

Coordinates	35°58′14″N95°18′35″N
name	Sofia Jannok
background	solo_singer
birth name	Sofia Jannok
birth date	September 15, 1982
Instrument	vocals Yoiking drums
genre	Samiyoiking
occupation	SingerSongwriterPerformer
website	Official Site }}

Sofia Jannok (born 15 September 1982) is a Swedish Sami singer from Gällivare, Sweden. She mainly sings in Sami and does yoiking.

Discography

''White/Čeaskat'' (2007)

''By the Embers/Áššogáttis'' (2009)

Other CD's with Sofia

Ima ipmašat, children's CD, DAT 2007

Buoremus ájgge, children's CD, Mandy Senger & Sara Aira Fjällström 2007

Čalmmit, CD-single, DAT 2000 (as part of the group Sofia och Anna)

TV-musik ur dokumentärserien Samerna, Scandinavian Songs 2000

Soundtrack Great North, TVA International inc. 2000

Dál juovlla čuovggaid cahkkehit, Sami Christmas CD 2000

Sámi Grand Prix 2001, Rieban 2001

Sámi Grand Prix 2003, Rieban 2003

Liekkas clubmix, PR-single, Publishment 2004

References

External links

Official website

Category:Sami musicians Category:Sami people Category:Swedish female singers Category:Swedish singer-songwriters Category:Swedish folk singers Category:Living people Category:1982 births

ca:Sofia Jannok de:Sofia Jannok es:Sofia Jannok fr:Sofia Jannok it:Sofia Jannok no:Sofia Jannok se:Sofia Jannok fi:Sofia Jannok sv:Sofia Jannok

Coordinates	35°58′14″N95°18′35″N
name	Nils-Aslak Valkeapää
birth date	March 03, 1943
birth place	Enontekiö
death date	November 26, 2001
death place	Espoo
ethnicity
occupation	Elementary school teacher, Sami writer, musician, artist and film director. }}

Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, known as ''Áillohaš'' in the Northern Sami language (23 March 1943 - 26 November 2001) was a Finnish Sami writer, musician and artist. He was born in Enontekiö in Lapland province, Finland. He lived most of his life in Käsivarsi, close to the border of Sweden, and also in Skibotn in Norway. Valkeapää was born to a family of traditional reindeer herders, but was trained as a school teacher. His most well known international debut was when he performed at the opening ceremony of the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway.

Works

The traditional Sami singing of the joik was important in his music, as well as in his painting and in written works. He was first recognised as an artist for his joik during the 1960s, with his first recording ''Jojkuja'' from 1968, which contained modernised joik. Valkeapeää wrote the music to the motion picture ''Ofelaš'', internationally known as ''The Pathfinder'' in 1987, which was directed by Nils Gaup.

As a writer, he mainly wrote in Sami with his work translated into other languages and eventually published eight collections of poems. One of his best known is ''Beaivi áhčážan'' which has been translated to English, titled ''The Sun, My Father''.

Nils-Aslak Valkeapää died on his way home from Japan during a stay in Helsinki at the age of 58. The possible cause of death was from complications from a 1996 automobile accident.

Posthumous publication of Nils-Aslak Valkeapää's work includes two poems included on his godson Niko Valkeapää's eponymous début album. An article published by the Music Information Center Norway stated, "In his trademark, understated style, Niko composes melodies that weave their way into and out of his godfather’s words. Nils Aslak Valkeapää was one of the foremost exponents of Sami art and culture through his long and distinguished career as a poet, composer and artist. Says Niko on his godfather’s influence: 'I can’t deny that Nils Aslak was a role model for me – he was a figure that I would look up to. He has been a source of inspiration and I have included two of his poems on my album to pay homage to him.”

Written works

Poems

Eanni, eannázan (2001) ISBN 8290625405

Girddán, seivvodan (1999) ISBN 8290625340

''The Sun, My Father'' (1997) ISBN 8290625324

In the shadow of midnight sun. Contemporary Sámi prose and poetry (1997) ISBN 8273743098

Jus gaccebiehtár bohkosivccii (1996)

Nu guhkkin dat mii lahka: så fjernt det naere (1994) ISBN 8290625200

''Trekways of the Wind'' (1994) Univ of Arizona Press, ISBN 8290625219

''Aurinko, isäni'' (1992) Ulkomainen Kirjallisuus, ISBN 9788290625158

Fadir min, solin (1992)

Solen, min far (1990)

Vindens veier (1990)

Beaivi áhcázan (1988)

Vidderna inom mig (1987)

Ich bin des windigen Berges Kind (1985)

Ruoktu váimmus (1985) (combination of earlier poem collections)

Ádjaga silbasuonat (1981)

Kevään yöt niin valoisat (1980)

Lávllo vizár biellocizás (1976)

Gida ijat cuov’gadat (1974)

References

Category:1943 births Category:2001 deaths Category:People from Enontekiö Category:Writers from Finnish Lapland Category:Finnish artists Category:Finnish musicians Category:Finnish poets Category:Finnish writers Category:Sami-language writers Category:Sami musicians Category:Recipients of the Order of the White Star, 5th Class Category:Finnish expatriates in Norway

ar:نيلس أسلك فالكيابا ca:Nils-Aslak Valkeapää de:Nils-Aslak Valkeapää et:Nils-Aslak Valkeapää es:Nils-Aslak Valkeapää eu:Nils-Aslak Valkeapää fr:Nils-Aslak Valkeapää it:Nils-Aslak Valkeapää li:Nils-Aslak Valkeapää hu:Nils-Aslak Valkeapää ja:ニルス＝アスラク・ヴァルケアパー no:Nils-Aslak Valkeapää nn:Nils-Aslak Valkeapää se:Nils-Aslak Valkeapää fi:Nils-Aslak Valkeapää sv:Nils-Aslak Valkeapää

Sverre Kjelsberg (born October 18, 1946) in Tromsø) is a Norwegian singer, musician (guitar, bass), composer and lyricist. He was a member of the band The Pussycats from 1964. He and Mattis Hætta represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 1980 with the entry ''Sámiid Ædnan'', which was composed by Kjelsberg and Ragnar Olsen.

Albums

''Etter mørketia'' (MAI, 1979)

''Kära Syster'' with Tage Löf, Swedish pianist (MAI, 1980). This album included the song ''Sámiid Ædnan''.

''Låla!'' (MAI, 1980) yoik with Mattis Hætta

''Sverre'' (Hot Line, 1982).

''Den glade pessimisten'' (OK , 1987), with Ragnar Olsen

''Drømmen e fri'' (Nord-Norsk Plateselskap, 1994)

''Større kraft enn krutt'' (2005). Samleplate.

References

Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:People from Tromsø Category:Norwegian male singers Category:Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1980 Category:Melodi Grand Prix winners

es:Sverre Kjelsberg no:Sverre Kjelsberg pt:Sverre Kjelsberg sv:Sverre Kjelsberg