Sameland

**Sápmi**

Sápmi in Europe
National anthem	Sámi soga lávlla (Song of the Sami people).
National day	6 February (Sami National Day).
Languages	Sami languages, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Meänkieli, Kven, Russian
Area	Approx. 400,000 km² (150,000 sq mi)
Population	About 2,000,000 total ~900,000 Russians* ~850,000 Norwegians* ~630,000 Swedes* Estimated 80,000–100,000 or more Sami ~30,000–125,000 Tornedalians ~10,000–60,000 Kvens ~13,000 Finns* * = Includes minorities.
Independence	None¹
Time zone	UTC +1 to +3
¹ Integrated parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia respectively, but with varying degrees of autonomy for the Sami population.

* = Includes minorities.

Sápmi (Northern Sami: [ˈsapmi]), in English commonly known as Lapland (/ˈlæplənd/), is the cultural region traditionally inhabited by the Sami people, traditionally known in English as Lapps. Sápmi is located in Northern Europe and includes the northern parts of Fennoscandia. The region stretches over four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. On the north it is bounded by the Barents Sea, on the west by the Norwegian Sea and on the east by the White Sea.

Despite being the namesake of the region, the Sami people are estimated to only make up around 5% of its total population. No political organization advocates secession, although several groups desire more territorial autonomy and/or more self-determination for the region's indigenous population.

Sápmi (and corresponding terms in other Sami languages) refers to both the Sami land and the Sami people. In fact, the word "Sámi" is only the accusative-genitive form of the noun "Sápmi"—making the name's (Sámi olbmot) meaning "people of Sápmi." The origin of the word is speculated to be related to the Baltic word *žēmē that simply means "land". Also "Häme", the Finnish name for Tavastia, a historical province of Finland, is thought to have the same origin, and the same word is at least speculated to be the origin of "Suomi", the Finnish name for Finland.

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Wikipedia