The Sami lands, 1 January 1200

The Sami (Norse Finnar, Swedish and Finnish lappar and lappalaiset) live across the whole north: on the fjords and fells of Hålogaland and Finnmark, in the Lapland fells and forests of the Torne, Lule, Pite and Ume rivers, in the Kemi and Inari country, and still far south in the forests of the Finnish interior, where they share the wilderness with Finnish and Karelian hunters (en.wikipedia History of the Sami: they 'inhabited all of Finland and Eastern Karelia for a long time').

They have no lords and no king. Each siida, a group of families, holds its own hunting, fishing and grazing grounds and moves between seasonal sites; up to about 1500 they live mainly by fishing, trapping and hunting the wild reindeer, driving herds into pits and fences, with small numbers of tame reindeer used as decoys and for carrying; large-scale reindeer herding is later. Furs are their wealth and the reason outsiders come: Norwegians from the west, Karelians from the east and south-east, and traders from the Bothnian coast.

The Norwegian kings and the Hålogaland chieftains have taken tribute (the finnskatt) from the Sami of the coast and the fells since before Ohthere's day (about 890; his account in the Old English Orosius, as generally cited), in skins, feathers, whale bone (perhaps walrus ivory) and ropes of whale and seal hide; in 1200 this is King Sverre's right, gathered by his men in Hålogaland (now sheet). Further east and south no tribute-taker is named for 1200: the Karelians, Novgorod's partners, trade with and take tribute from the eastern Sami (the Norway-Novgorod agreements of 1251 and 1326, which regulate the overlapping tribute of the far north, are later); the Swedish birkarls appear only in 1328 (en.wikipedia Birkarls). The Sami keep their own religion: the noaidi (shaman) with his drum, and sacred stones and places (sieidi); Historia Norwegie describes a Sami shamanic seance.

Who rules

Name: none named
Title: no ruler: the siida (hunting and fishing communities) and their elders
Confidence: high

No Sami leader is named in any source for 1200.

The realm that morning

On 1 January 1200 the Sami lands have no lord. Outsiders take tribute (Norway in the west, the Karelians in the east) but rule no ground. In Swedish and Finnish Lapland no tribute-taker is named.

Threats

rival tribute-takers (Norwegians and Karelians) squeezing the same siida
Finnish and Karelian hunters and settlers pressing into the southern forests (a long, slow process)
Karelian raids (recorded later, as in 1271 on Hålogaland)

Seat note

There is no capital. The marker stands at Lake Inari, at the heart of the northern Sami country.

Consort

none (no ruler)

Heirs

none (no ruler)

Peoples and districts

Drawn here (realm sami): the forest Sami of the Finnish interior (Forest Sami); Kemi Lapland (Kemi Lapland); Inari, the Teno and the Pasvik lakes (Inari); the Torne and Lule fells and forests with the coast round Luleå (Torne and Lule Lapland); the Pite, Skellefte and Ume lands with the Västerbotten coast (Pite and Ume Lapland). The Sami districts of Hålogaland and Finnmark are drawn by the now sheet as provinces of this realm; Jämtland's and Härjedalen's Sami are the now sheet's. The district names are later Swedish and Finnish lappmark names, used only to divide the map by river systems: the siida names of 1200 are unknown.

Great men and kindreds

None named.

Strongholds

None: the Sami do not build forts. Seasonal camps, fishing places, pitfall lines for wild reindeer and sacred places.

Trade and wealth

Furs (marten, squirrel, fox, beaver, ermine, bear, reindeer), down and feathers, dried fish, reindeer hides and antler, traded for iron, salt, cloth, silver and metal goods. Animal hides and furs were the commonest goods, exchanged for salt, metal blades and coins (en.wikipedia History of the Sami).

Tribute

West (Norway): the finnskatt, the Norwegian crown's right, gathered in Hålogaland and Finnmark; who collects it in 1199-1200 is the now sheet's question. East (the Karelians and through them Novgorod): tribute and trade among the eastern and forest Sami, not attested in a dated source for 1200. North of the Bothnian Bay (Swedish and Finnish Lapland): no tribute-taker is named for 1200. The Kvens and the Bothnian traders of Satakunta and Tavastia are the likeliest; the birkarls are first named in 1328 and their tax right ended in 1553 (en.wikipedia Birkarls).

Church and religion

Pagan: the noaidi, the drum, sacrifices at sieidi stones and sacred mountains and islands. No church or mission among the Sami of Sweden and Finland in 1200.

Relations

Norway: tributaries of the crown in the west. The Karelians: trading partners, tribute-takers and sometimes raiders. The Kvens and the Finns: neighbours and trading partners on the Bothnian coast and in the forests. Sweden: no contact of state in 1200.

Wars and feuds in force

None recorded for 1199-1200.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1200 (no dated event)No event touching the Sami is recorded for 1200. The winter tribute and trade journeys go on as every year.

Later, on the likely course

1251 and 1326 (after this year)Norway and Novgorod make agreements over the overlapping tribute from the Sami of the far north.
1328 (after this year)The birkarls are first named, as traders and tax-gatherers among the Sami of the Bothnian north under the Swedish crown.

Places of note

Lake Inari: heart of the Inari Sami country
Jokkmokk: the Lule river forests; a later Sami winter market
Kiruna: the Torne fells

Where the sources disagree

The brief asks who takes the Sami tribute in Lapland in 1200: no source names anyone for Swedish or Finnish Lapland. Statements about Karelian tribute rest on 13th- and 14th-century evidence projected back, and are marked as such.

Evidence: Ohthere (about 890), Historia Norwegie (most date it 1170-1220), sagas written in the 13th century, and later treaties and tax records. Nothing is dated to 1199-1200.

On the map: Drawn through the provinces Forest Sami, Kemi Lapland, Inari, Torne and Lule Lapland and Pite and Ume Lapland, plus the now sheet's Hålogaland and Finnmark Sami provinces. The southern edge in Finland is a judgement: in 1200 there was no line between the Sami forests and the Finns' and Karelians' hunting grounds. East Karelia, the White Sea coast and the Kola peninsula beyond the modern Finnish border are left to later sheets (outside).

Sources and studies

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.