The Sámi are the Indigenous peoples of the vast circumpolar region of northern Fennoscandia and the Kola Peninsula, whose distinct cultures, languages and lifeways have developed in close relation to Arctic and sub-Arctic landscapes; they live across parts of what are today northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and northwest Russia, and are not a single homogeneous group but a constellation of Sámi nations and language communities speaking several Sámi languages (members of the Uralic family) — Northern Sámi being the most widely spoken — along with Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish or Russian to varying degrees. Historically their economies combined reindeer herding (a central livelihood and cultural anchor for many, but not all, Sámi), fishing, hunting, small-scale farming and trade, and those traditional subsistence practices remain culturally important even as many Sámi have urbanized and work in a wide range of modern professions; place, seasonal movement, and intimate ecological knowledge shape social organization, kinship and seasonal rituals. Sámi material culture is distinctive — the brightly patterned gákti (traditional clothing), intricate handicrafts known as duodji made from wood, bone, leather and textile, and silverwork — while the vocal tradition of joik (a form of song that can evoke people, places or emotions) embodies a non-Western aesthetic and spiritual relationship to landscape and memory. Over centuries Sámi societies experienced Christianization, state assimilation policies and pressure on land-use, which led to loss of language and rights in many communities; in recent decades there has been a lively cultural and political revival marked by language revitalization, contemporary art and literature, legal and political mobilization (including the establishment of Sámi representative bodies in several countries), and activism on land rights, resource development and environmental protection. Today Sámi identity is lived in many ways: some communities prioritize reindeer pastoralism and seasonal mobility, others center urban Sámi cultural institutions, and many individuals combine ancestral practices with modern education and careers; across these differences, Sámi people continue to assert their status as Indigenous peoples with distinct worldviews, legal claims to territory and cultural heritage, and a dynamic presence that is both rooted in northern landscapes and engaged with global Indigenous movements.
