The Sami people living in Northern Norway is a separate people, an ethnic minority, with its own culture, language and Parliament, and at the same time they are Norwegian citizens.

But it has not always been a matter of course for the Sami people to practice its own culture and way of life. Over the years there have been, and still are, clashes of interest between the Sami people and the Norwegian state.

The Sami people in Norway has led their traditional way of life for hundreds of years. The oldest writings about the Sami that we know of is in a book from 98 A.D. by the Roman historian Tacitus. In ”De origine et situ Germanorum” he describes what he calls the ”fenni” people. Thus the description of the Sami traditional way of life may be traced back to Tacitus’ writings.

Around 1850, much due to Social Darwinism, attitudes towards the Sami changed, and this had serious effects on the Sami culture. The Norwegian authorities introduced reforms that restricted the use of the Sami language in schools and forbad the sale of land to people that could not speak Norwegian. The Sami culture was oppressed and the people ”Norwegianized”.

After World War II, the aggressive policy towards the Sami changed and was liberalized. The Sami’s rights to develop their own culture was acknowledged in the 1960s, and the Sami language was allowed to be taught in schools. But the incident that really speeded up the liberalization process for the Sami and established the importance of Sami rights, was the controversy around the damming up of the Alta River in Finnmark around 1980.

Environmental organizations and the Sami people demonstrated against the project, and the controversy directed much attention to the Sami fight for their own rights.

As a result the Norwegian authorities established two committees to look at questions regarding Sami culture (Samekulturutvalget) and legal aspects (Samerettsutvalget).

In 1987 the Norwegian Parliament decided that the Sami should have their own Sami law, and in 1988 the Norwegian Parliament ratified the following article in the Norwegian Constitution: ”It is the responsibility of the authorities of the State to create conditions enabling the Sami people to preserve and develop its language, culture and way of life.” In accordance with the Sami law the Sami Parliament (Sametinget) was opened on 9 October 1989.

Today there are about 45,000 Sami living in Norway, largely concentrated in Finnmark. Cultural traditions are very important for the Sami, and a part of their pride. The original form of music, yoik (a monotone chant), is a traditional form of rhythmic sung poems or poetic songs, and is an important part of the ancient Sami religion shamanism.

Legends and oral literature are also numerous in Sami tradition. Other traditional characteristics of the Sami is their language, folk medicine, turf huts, coulourful national dress, knowledge of ecology, reindeer sleds and the making of carved wares.

Reindeer-herding is an essential element in the preservation of the Sami culture. Before the 17th Century the Sami people lived by hunting and fishing, but today the Sami livelihood is based on reindeer herding, fishing, agriculture, trade, small-scale industry, handicrafts and the service industries.

Even though there are only about ten per cent of the Sami people that are reindeer herders today, this is a source of conflict between the Sami and the Norwegian state. The reindeer herders argue that Norwegian rules for the protection of carnivores is a big threat to their livelihood. According to Norwegian law the Sami are not allowed to kill the carnivores that often kill and eat their reindeers. Thus Sami reindeer herders are planning to charge the Norwegian state with breaches of the ILO convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples and the international human rights.

Another problem with Sami reindeer herding is that in later years it has become a capital-intensive industry which has gone through a modernization process. The aim is to produce as much meat as possible and this has resulted in a deterioration of grazing land and environmental disturbances.

The aggressive Norwegian policy towards the Sami people, especially in the interwar years, is a black chapter in Norwegian history. But the Sami is a strong minority, proud of their culture, and have demanded and achieved their rights.

Today the Sami are a part of Norwegian identity, even though they lead a life different from other Norwegians.