Forest Sami

The forest Sami (Swedish: Skogssamer) were a Sami people who worked in the woods and who, in contrast to the reindeer-herding Sami people (the "fell Sami"), did not move up into the fells during the summer season. Historically, there have been forest Sami in Sweden from northern Ångermanland to the far north. In the early 1600s, the term granlapp was also used to refer to Sami people who paid tax only to Sweden, compared to the semi-nomadic fell Sami who worked in the fells which straddle the Swedish-Norwegian border and therefore had to pay tax to both countries. When Ernst Manker studied the life of the forest Sami in the early 20th century, practically all of their habitations had been abandoned. Only one forest Sami village remained, in Malå in Västerbotten. The area was known as Stenundslandet in Anundsjö.

Background

Historically, there were forest Sami in the northern parts of Ångermanland and further north in Sweden. The two southernmost Sami regions, Åsele and Lyckselse, were not inhabited by fell Sami prior to 1606, but instead only by forest Sami, as was the Kemi lappmark in modern Finland. The forest Sami in Kemi, Åsele and Lycksele became assimilated into Finnish and Swedish society beginning in the 17th century. There are currently still forest Sami cultures present in the woods in Norrbotten and in Malå in Västerbotten.