Saranian Tribe

The Sami People, Reindeer, and a Shared History My ancestry stems from many countries within Northern Europe, but the largest portion of my lineage descends from Norway. My Norwegian ancestor immigrated to the United States in the early 20th century from central Norway. Thanks to the internet and ancestry search sites, my American family has recently reunited with our Norwegian family and so forth our roots. I was lucky enough to travel to Norway almost ten years ago to visit my new extended family and learn my history. During my two week stay, I learned a great deal about my heritage and the history of Norway. It would not be until years later that I would realize that I had only learned about a small fragment of Norwegian history as …show more content…
Today as many as 80,000 people throughout the world refer to themselves as Sami. Today the Lapland or also referred to Samiland is wanted by mining multinationals as it is abundant with gold and diamond reserves. In Norway, the government has stated that it owns the “crown” lands and would like to open up the land for mining. During the 18th century the Norwegian government allocated land for the Sami people without their permission. The Sami people currently have a parliament, which was established in 1980. The parliament does not have the power to create laws, but rather only to provide advice. None of the decisions made by this body can be instigated without the Norwegian parliaments ruling (Velin, 1997). The Sami people used to be a nomadic people who sustained themselves by fishing, hunting and herding reindeer. The Sami people first migrated north to their current homeland when the ice age ended. They moved north to follow the migrating Reindeer. Today only about 10% of the Sami population still herds reindeer. Less and less Sami people rely on reindeer every year because of the rising costs of living off the land. They follow the ideal of communal ownership (Velin, …show more content…
The reindeer oriented vocabulary of the Sami languages are a result of the reliance of the Sami people on Reindeer herding. Reindeer are more than just a natural resource or food source to the Sami as their belief system is centered on the concept of all aspects of nature being conscious and soul inhabited beings. How is it possible that such a strong and robust culture has been overlooked by its own country and the world up until only the last few decades? It has persisted in a very harsh environment for the past 10,000 years despite many assimilation policies implemented on them by their new colonizing neighbors. Hopefully the Sami people will regain their sovereignty so that they can create their own future, whether it be to return to their traditional ways or cut a new path within their snowy