Reindeer in Russia

Reindeer in Russia include tundra and forest reindeer and are subspecies of Rangifer tarandus. Tundra reindeer include the Novaya Zemlya (R.t.pearsoni) and Lapland (R.t. tarandus) subspecies and the Siberian tundra reindeer (R.t. sibiricus).

The subspecies of reindeer, the Novaya Zemlya (R.t.pearsoni). on the islands of the Novaya Zemlya, were herded by the Nenets. Novaya Zemlya is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean in the North of Russia and the extreme Northeast of Europe, the easternmost point of Europe lying at Cape Flissingsky on the Northern island. The indigenous population (from 1872 to the 1950s when it was resettled to the mainland) consisted of about 50–300  Nenetses who subsisted mainly on reindeer herding, fishing, trapping, polar bear hunting and seal hunting.

A subspecies of reindeer, Lapland (R.t. tarandus), a semi-domesticated reindeer are widespread in Lapland.Reindeer herds visit the grasslands of the Kola Peninsula in summer.

By the end of the 1st millennium CE, the Kola Peninsula was settled only by the Sami people. who were engaged mostly in reindeer herding and fishing. The Sami people, traditionally known in English as Laplanders are one people living in four countries. There are about 2000 Sami in Russia. They are an indigenous Finno-Ugric people inhabiting the Arctic area of Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of the Kola Peninsula of Russia, far northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. Their best-known means of livelihood was semi-nomadic reindeer herding. The Sami are the only indigenous people of Scandinavia recognized and protected under the international conventions of indigenous peoples, and are hence the northernmost indigenous people of Europe. By the end of the 19th century, the indigenous Sami population had been mostly forced north by the Russians and the Komi and Nenets people who migrated here to escape a reindeer disease epidemics in their home lands. The Sami peoples were subject to forced collectivization, with more than half of their reindeer herds collectivized in 1928–1930. The collectivization efforts in the 1930s lead to the concentration of the reindeer herds in kolkhozes (collective farms), which, in turn, were further consolidated into a few large-scale state farms in the late 1950s–early 1970s. In addition, the traditional Sami herding practices were phased out in favor of the more economically profitable Komi approach, which emphasized permanent settlements over free herding. Since the Sami culture is strongly tied to the herding practices, this resulted in the Sami people gradually losing their language and traditional herding knowledge. Most Sami were forced to settle in the village of Lovozero; those resisting the collectivization were subject to forced labor or death. Various forms of repression against the Sami continued until Stalin's death in 1953. In the 1990s, 40% of the Sami lived in urbanized areas, although some herd reindeer across much of the region.

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