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TThe best known minority in Norway are the Lapplanders or Sàmi people. The Lapps are are the undigenous Proto-Finno-Saami (Uralic) people migrating west from the east and south-east into what is now Scandanavia (about 6,000 BC). Nearly two-thirds of the Lapps live in Norway. Smaller numbers live in northern Sweden, Finland, and Russia (Kola Peninsula)--an area above the Arctic Circle often referred to as Lapland. While the Laplanders have their own language and distinctive culture, Lapland is not a nation. They are a gentle people, in sharp contrast to the Germanic Tribes that drove them north. The rights of the Lapps are enshrined in the Norwegian Constitution and law. Historical studis of the Lapps were until recently limited to cultural and linguistic studies. Modern DNA studies have provided important insights challenging earlier assumtions. Reseachers now believe that two most frequent maternal linages of the Sámi people are the first Homo sapien inhabitants of neolithic Europe. They also seem to be descendants of common ancestors with Catalonians and the Basque people, other early inhabitants of Europe (Iberian Peninsula). In modern terms they are most closely related to the Finns. The most common paternal linage among the Sámi are Proto-Finno-Ugric migrants from the south and southwest (Volga-Ural region). The Lapps are commonly associated with reindeer herding. Only a small minority are, however, actually involved with this livlihood. More Lapps are involved with fishing, trapping animals, sheep herding, and other pursuits.
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