ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces a selection of maps of the Sami homeland from some centuries. The Sami people are Europe's northernmost Indigenous minority, and the only indigenous group in Europe listed in the compendium of the International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs. Forest growth in Finnish Upper Lapland is very slow because of the cold climate above the Arctic Circle. Despite the limitations of the climate, forestry is nevertheless extensive in many areas of Finnish Upper Lapland, where about 90 percent of the land is state-owned. The Nellim herding group is part of the Ivalo reindeer herding cooperative. Located at the north-eastern border between Finland and Russia, Nellim is home to the small community of Skolt Sami who were relocated after their land had been ceded to Russia during the Second World War. The Nellim case thus shows how the Indigenous movement has gained cartographic literacy in the sense of having the mapping of reindeer pastures.
