| TekstiThis property is a special property in this wiki.
|
<P align="justify"> Settlement of Fi … <P align="justify"> Settlement of Finnish Lapland 1555-1900. The Saami who settled northern Fennoscandia stepped into the pages of historical sources in the early first century of the present era. The earliest historical sources relating to the Saami are, however, random and often based on second-hand accounts. After Tacitus's description in his Germania, which was written in A.D. 98, of a strange tribe of hunters called the Fenni living in the far north, centuries elapsed before documents containing references to the Saami, or Lapps, became common in the Middle Ages. Because of the scarcity of early source material, it is necessary to create our image of the scope and nature of the settlement of the land by the Saami to a great extent on the basis of archaeological evidence. Trying to discern the stages in the settlement of southern Finland by the Saami has been particularly fraught with problems. On the basis of place names and legends it is possible to conclude there was still some Saami settlement of the backwoods areas of what are today the regions of Häme and Satakunta in south-western Finland. References to the Lapps can still be found in the sixteenth-century tax rolls of the province of Savo in eastern Finland. The historical records for the Saami settlement of the northern parts of the country increase towards the end of the Middle Ages as Norway, Russia and Sweden extended their administrative and ecclesiastical control further and further north.</P><P align="justify"> It is possible to follow the Saami settlement more closely from the historical sources from the mid-sixteenth century on, when the Swedish Crown began to tax the inhabitants of the Lapp villages. From this point on, the annual tax rolls drawn up by the bookkeepers of the bailiffs provide records for research, and through these tax rolls it is possible to follow the general development of habitation in the Lapp villages in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. However, from them it is difficult to obtain an overall picture of settlement or to estimate the size of the population as they only contain information relating to taxed adult males. Moreover, those who were unable to pay taxes are missing, particularly from the rolls of the sixteenth century. An estimation of the size of the population is also made more difficult by the fact that we have no reliable information about the average size of a Saami family at that time. Most commonly scholars have used an average figure of 5.5 persons per family. This figure is based on Gunnar Hoppe s calculations from the tax rolls for Ume Lapland and Ångermanland for the year 1603, which exceptionally contain information about all members of the families. Proper population records which permit research into population history began in Swedish Lapland with parish registers in the eighteenth century.</P><P align="justify"> In the mid-sixteenth century, the Swedish Saamis inhabited six administrative units called Lappmarker Laplands , which extended over the northern interiorof present-day Sweden and Finland. In the territory of modern Sweden, they were Ångermanland, Ume, Pite and Lule Laplands, and in Finland Torne and Kemi Laplands. These Laplands were themselves divided into communities called Lapp villages (siidas). In Torne Lapland were the Lapp villages of Siggevaara, Tingevaara, Suonttavaara, Rounala, Peltojärvi (until 1642 part of Kemi Lapland), Kautokeino, Lappojärvi, Aviovaara and Utsjoki, of which the villages of Peltojärvi, Rounala, Suonttavaara and Teno were located in the territory of present-day Finland. The easternmost parts of Kemi Lapland included the Lapp villages of Inari, Sompio, Kemikylä, Kuolajärvi, Kitka, Maanselkä, Sodankylä and Kittilä. Most of the Laplands were divided from the peasant parishes by the so-called Lapland border, which was drawn up in its final form in the early sixteenth century. However this did not constitute the absolute border of Saami settlement. Most of the Saami who lived south of the Lapland border adopted the way of life of the peasant farmers, and according to the estimate of Matti Enbuske, the majority of the farms in the Rovaniemi and Kemijärvi areas were owned by persons of Saami origin.</P><P align="justify"> Finnish Lapland and the forest areas of Swedish Lapland were inhabited by the so-called Forest Saami, who lived by exploiting the cycle of nature in a variety of ways. During this cycle they hunted for animals and birds, fished and gathered from the land. The relative proportions of these sources of livelihood varied according to the natural conditions, and for example the Saami of the Teno, Inari, Maanselkä and Kitkä villages (the latter two of which now form part of the Kuusamo region) got their living to a great extent from fishing. The Forest Saami had few tame reindeer, and they were used mainly as draught animals and as decoys for catching wild reindeer, as well as for meat. A fully nomadic way of life that concentrated on reindeer herding began to expand in the seventeenth century, spreading first to the mountains and fells of Norway and Sweden. Full-scale reindeer husbandry did not reach the northernmost parts of Lapland until the last years of the seventeenth century and the eighteenth century. Reindeer herding meant travelling with the herds from the winter pastures in the forest zone to the summer grazing grounds, which were located either on the coast or in the Kjölen Mountains. The expansion did not, however, extend into Kemi Lapland, where the Forest Saami maintained their traditional way of life. The annual abodes of both the Forest Saami and the reindeer-herding Saami were to a great extent fixed, and the picture given by earlier research of aimlessly wandering Lapps can be considered fallacious. However, there was migration within the Lapp villages and even across national frontiers. Particularly in difficult years, the Saami tended to move to the coast of the Arctic Ocean in search of a better livelihood, and when circumstances improved, they returned inland. There was also migration between Russia and the eastern Lapp villages of Kemi Lapland.</P><P align="justify"> The earliest records about the number of taxpayers in Kemi Lapland date from 1555, when 78 taxpayers were registered in the tax rolls. By multiplying this figure by 5.5, the total population of Kemi Lapland can be estimated at 429 persons. In 1553, altogether 385 males were taxed in Pite, Lule and Torne Laplands, which would make a total population of 2100 persons. In the Lapp villages of Rounala and Suonttavaara in Torne Lapland in present-day Finland, there were at that time sixteen taxpayers, i.e. 88 inhabitants. These figures can be regarded as merely indicative of the minimum populations of the Laplands , as the names of absent persons and those not able to pay were often missing from the tax rolls. The end of the century was favourable for the expansion of settlement in the western Laplands ; the number of taxpayers in Torne Lapland had doubled by the beginning of the seventeenth century. The growth was not solely an internal one, but was partly a result ofmigration between the Laplands : some of the new taxpayers registered in the tax rolls of Torne Lapland had moved there from Pite or Lule Lapland. The number of taxpayers in Kemi Lapland also rose until the 1570s, although the rise there was at least partly a result of the fact that the Crown s taxation of the area was still in the process of being established. The war with Russia (1570 1595) at the end of the century made the position of the Saami of Kemi Lapland more difficult.</P><P align="justify"> Taxpayers in the Lapp villages in the area of present-day Finland 1558-1598</P> <TABLE align="center" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <TR> <TD> </TD><TD>1558</TD><TD>1568</TD><TD> 1578</TD><TD> 1588</TD><TD> 1598</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Suonttavaara</TD><TD> 7</TD><TD> 11</TD><TD> 10</TD><TD> 14</TD><TD> 14</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Rounala</TD><TD> 14</TD><TD> 10</TD><TD> 15</TD><TD> 10</TD><TD> 19</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Peltojärvi</TD><TD> 5</TD><TD> 5</TD><TD> 7</TD><TD>6</TD><TD> 6</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Inari</TD><TD> 31</TD><TD> 23</TD><TD> 31</TD><TD> 28</TD><TD> 26</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Sompio</TD><TD> 7</TD><TD> 10</TD><TD> 8</TD><TD> 5</TD><TD> 6</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Kemikylä</TD><TD> -</TD><TD> 5</TD><TD> -</TD><TD> 5</TD><TD> 6</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Kuolajärvi</TD><TD> 15</TD><TD> 15</TD><TD> 18</TD><TD> 17</TD><TD> 21</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Kitka</TD><TD> 6</TD><TD> 14</TD><TD> 8</TD><TD> 5</TD><TD> 14</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Maanselkä</TD><TD> 4</TD><TD> 10</TD><TD> 10</TD><TD> 7</TD><TD> 11</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Sodankylä</TD><TD> 5</TD><TD> 9</TD><TD> 10</TD><TD> 14</TD><TD> 15</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Kittilä</TD><TD> 4</TD><TD> 6</TD><TD> 8</TD><TD> 7</TD><TD> 9</TD></TR></TABLE>
<P align="justify"> Saami settlement in the seventeenth century was much more variable. In 1601 there were 113 taxpayers entered in the rolls for Kemi Lapland, in Torne Lapland there were altogether 187 and in the Rounala, Suonttavaara and Peltojärvi region 41. Over the following years there were no great changes in the numbers of taxpayers. In Kemi Lapland, the numbers had if anything decreased by 1620. Particularly the 1610s are known to have been a difficult time for the inhabitants of the Laplands , and in the tax rolls the proportions of both absent persons and those incapable of paying increased. The causes of the problems included fickle and rainy weather conditions, a dearth of prey for food and furs and a new system of taxation on fishing introduced by the Kingdom of Sweden. Trade in furs with the Crown also declined in the early seventeenth century. Some scholars have interpreted this deterioration as a sign of a final waning of the stock of fur animals in Lapland, which would have permanently affected the subsistence conditions for Saami habitation. However, there is no general agreement over this question, for the Saami also sometimes traded not only with the representatives of the Swedish Crown but also with the peasant farmers, the birtkarlar (peasant traders from the coast of Bothnia), the clergy and with Norwegian and Russian traders.</P><P align="justify"> For almost two decades, between 1621 and 1637, the taxation of the Laplands was leased out to the burghers of the coastal towns, and in consequence no tax rolls for this period have survived. This period seems to have been a particularly favourable one for Kemi Lapland, for even in such a short time the number of taxpayers there rose from 94 to 180. The growth was pronounced in all the villages apart from Kitka and Maanselkä. There was also a considerable increase in the villages of Sonttavaara and Peltojärvi in Torne Lapland. The reasons for the growth in the population of Kemi Lapland are difficult to ascertain as a result of the lack of records during this particular period. However, the period is so short that it could not just have been a matter of natural growth. Probably the rise was partly a result of an improvement in the tax-paying abilities of the Saami as well as of migration into the area. The favourable development of habitation in Kemi Lapland ended with a crisis inthe mid-seventeenth century, which also reduced the number of taxpayers in the other Laplands . Nevertheless, the numbers of taxpayers began to rise again at the end of the century.</P><P align="justify"> Taxpayers in the Lapp villages in the area of present-day Finland 1600-1671</P> <TABLE align="center" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <TR> <TD> </TD><TD>1600 </TD><TD> 1610</TD><TD> 1620</TD><TD> 1642</TD><TD> 1655</TD><TD> 1671</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Suonttavaara</TD><TD> 10</TD><TD> -</TD><TD> 9</TD><TD> 21</TD><TD> 14</TD><TD> 11</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Rounala</TD><TD> 22</TD><TD> -</TD><TD> 22</TD><TD> 25</TD><TD> 30</TD><TD> 18</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Peltojärvi</TD><TD> 5</TD><TD> 5</TD><TD> 8</TD><TD> 14</TD><TD> 5</TD><TD> 8</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Inari</TD><TD> 20</TD><TD> 29</TD><TD> 25</TD><TD> 52</TD><TD> 16</TD><TD> 41</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Sompio</TD><TD> 7</TD><TD> 6</TD><TD> 7</TD><TD> 17</TD><TD> 12</TD><TD> 15</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Kemikylä</TD><TD> 6</TD><TD> 8</TD><TD> 8</TD><TD> 21</TD><TD>6</TD><TD> -</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Kuolajärvi</TD><TD> 21</TD><TD> 16</TD><TD> 11</TD><TD> 28</TD><TD> 7</TD><TD> 21</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Kitka</TD><TD> 14</TD><TD> 12</TD><TD> 5</TD><TD> 9</TD><TD> 12</TD><TD> 8</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Maanselkä</TD><TD> 11</TD><TD> 7</TD><TD> 5</TD><TD> 6</TD><TD> 10</TD><TD> 13</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Sodankylä</TD><TD> 15</TD><TD> 17</TD><TD> 16</TD><TD> 25</TD><TD> 13</TD><TD> 29</TD></TR> <TR> <TD>Kittilä</TD><TD> 11</TD><TD> 11</TD><TD> 8</TD><TD> 22</TD><TD> 11</TD><TD> 14</TD></TR></TABLE> <P align="justify"> </P><P align="justify"> At the end of the century, pioneer settlement by peasant farmers came to Finnish Lapland. This peasant settlement had been actively encouraged by the state ever since the reign of Gustav Vasa, but previously the situation in the areas inhabited by the peasants had not been favourable for the settlement of Lapland by pioneer farmers. Royal placards on settlement were issued in 1673 and 1695, awarding fifteen years of freedom from taxation and from military service to newsettlers of the Laplands . The placards aimed particularly at getting the western Laplands settled by peasants; emigration by the Saami caused by the beginning of mining in this region had drastically reduced the size of the population, and a work force was needed for the mines. The purpose of encouraging the new settlement was also to tighten the administrative and ecclesiastical ties between the areas inhabited by the Saami and the rest of the state. The fundamental idea behind the placards was that both the Saami and the peasant pioneers might because of their different sources of livelihood be able to live side by side in the same regions without either party suffering. The model for the plan was Ume Lapland, where the reindeer-herding Saami and the peasants, who mainly lived by cattle-herding, did not compete for the same natural resources.</P><P align="justify"> Contrary to the plans of the state, the new settlement began fairly slowly, and at the end of the seventeenth century it was concentrated mainly in the south-eastern part of Kemi Lapland. i.e. the present Kuusamo area. There the effect of the pioneer settlement on the Saami was consequently all the greater. The Saami of Kemi Lapland still lived by fishing and hunting, and instead of fixed arable farming, the new settlers who moved into the area not only practised slash-and-burn agriculture but also fished and hunted themselves. Fairly soon there was a conflict of interests between the Saami and the pioneers, especially in the villages of Kitka and Maanselkä, where according to a report by the provincial governor seventy pioneer families had moved by the end of the 1680s. By the end of the century, a Finnish population centre, Kuusamo, had grown up on the lands of the Lapp villages of Kitka and Maanselkä. This development was also partly affected by the difficult famine years of 1696 and 1697, which afflicted the whole of Finland and also took a heavy toll among the Saami of the eastern Lapp villages of Kemi Lapland. </P><P align="justify"> Elsewhere in Kemi Lapland, the initial phase of pioneer settlement was more peaceful. In Kittilä the first new settlers had arrived even before the settlement placards were issued. The Saami of the village quickly began to practise the livelihoods and ways of the pioneers, which probably facilitated their adaptation to the situation. By the end of the century, the first new settlers had also arrived in the areas of Sompio, Kemikylä, Sodankylä and Enontekiö. According to an estimate by Pentti Virrankoski, the population of Finnish Lapland at the end of the seventeenth century was 2100 2200 persons, of whom 600 700 were Finnish settlers. The following century was a time of continuing new settlement and population growth in Kemi Lapland. In the southern and central parts of the region, this development led to the break-up of the Lapp village system in the second half of the eighteenth century. After the eighteenth century, the tax bailiffs no longer distinguished the payers of the Lapp tax from others, apartfrom those in theLapp village of Inari, and the Saami were assessed as taxpayers on the same basis as the settlers. In 1761 there were 159 payers of the Lapp tax, but it is unclear how many of them still really practised the traditional livelihoods of the Forest Saami. By the beginning of the following century, the areas of Saami habitation had become Inari, Utsjoki and Enontekiö (the Lapp villages of Rounala, Peltojärvi and Suonttavaara).</P><P align="justify"> The first Finnish inhabitant of Inari arrived in 1758, but pioneer settlement there only really began in the nineteenth century, and then many of those who established farms were Saamis. The tax rolls for Inari in 1761 list 61 taxpayers, which means an estimated population of about 330 persons. According to the information for 1810, the area was inhabited by altogether 412 Saamis and twenty Finns. In Utsjoki, too, the new settlement only got under way in the nineteenth century.Half-way through the eighteenth century, there were 25 Saamihouseholds in Utsjoki and atthe beginning of the nineteenth 29. According to the records for 1756, there were 102 Saami households in Enontekiö, but by 1780 the number had fallen to 85. The fall in the number of households after the mid-eighteenth century was mainly a consequence of problems afflicting reindeer husbandry, which caused a large wave of emigration to Norway. By 1803 the number of households had risen again to 103. At that time there were 412 settler households in the region.</P><P align="justify"> The nineteenth century saw a continuous population growth in Finnish Lapland, and despite the advance of new settlement, the Saami population of the northernmost parts of Finland also grew. Apart from the reindeer herders, the Saami had taken up small-scale farming and cattle-rearing. In Inari, in particular, fishing continued to be an important source of livelihood for the Saami. The expansion of the reindeer-herding Saami into Finnish Lapland was caused by the border closures in the mid-nineteenth century (→ Frontiers:history), as a result of which reindeer-herding Saamis from Utsjoki, for example, moved to the northern parts of Inari and Sodankylä. Undoubtedly the rise in the Saami population in the nineteenth century was enabled by the development of reindeer husbandry in the Saami regions of Finnish Lapland. The number of Saamis in Inari more than doubled from about 400 persons at the beginning of the century to around 850. The Finnish settler population of Inari at that time rose even faster: from 20 in 1810 to over 600 by the end of the century. In Utsjoki, the number of Saamis increased from about 250 at the beginning of the century to about 470 by its end. By the final years of the nineteenth century, about 57 settler farms had been established there. In Enontekiö, the Saami population ceased to grow in the nineteenth century, and in fact dropped. At the beginning of the century, 130 Saamis are estimated to have lived in the area, but by the end their number had fallen to 95. In the following century,only in Utsjoki did the Saami any longer constitute a majority of the population. In Swedish Lapland, the effect of the settlement placards was considerably less than in Finland, and pioneer settlement there only really began in the eighteenth century. From the Saamis point of view, the development meant that in the eighteenth century the Saamis of the forest regions had already merged with the farming peasant population. The reindeer-herding Saami came to assume a special position in the eyes of the state of Sweden, and in the nineteenth century only they were any longer considered by the authorities to be true Saamis. At the same time, fishing and hunting rights in the lands of the Lapp villages were reserved for the reindeer-herding Saami alone. Despite the special position of the reindeer herders, the expansion of mining and the metal industry in particular saw large numbers of non-Saami workers moving to Lapland. As a result of this development, the number of new settlers in Swedish Lapland exceeded thatof the Saamis in the mid-nineteenth century.</P>s in the mid-nineteenth century.</P> +
|
