ABSTRACT
Introduction By the mid-sixteenth century, vast areas of boreal forests in northern Sweden had been claimed as crown property. In 1635, Carl Bonde, a government of¿cial, wrote that ‘It is hoped here, that by the help of God it shall be the West India of the realm’.1 Later, in order to promote colonization, increase tax revenues and population, the crown began privatizing forest areas, through donations and sales. Land ownership was granted to settlers who set up new farmsteads and cleared land, along with temporary tax exemption.2 Settler activities clashed with the Sami reindeer economy, which involved transhumance into the eastern lowland forest in winter, using vast areas intermittently for pastures. Settlers and farmers, backed by the crown, usually won legal cases against the Sami. The crown taxed the latter heavily and they were only granted usage rights for extensive grazing, whereas they claimed land ownership, based on ancient occupation and land use in certain mountain areas.3 As recently as 1981, the Supreme Court denied Sami ownership claims, stating that the Sami’s usage rights in these areas were just as protective as ownership. Yet the Sami have lost most recent conÀicts against individual farmers, forest owners or mining companies.4
