The
Sami people (also
Sámi or
Saami), are an indigenous
Finno-Ugric people inhabiting the
Arctic area of
Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern
Norway,
Sweden,
Finland, the
Kola Peninsula of
Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sami are the only indigenous people of
Scandinavia recognized and protected under the international conventions of indigenous peoples, and are hence the northernmost indigenous people of
Europe. Sami ancestral lands span an area of approximately 388,350 km
2 (150,000 sq. mi.), which is approximately the size of Norway, in the
Nordic countries. Their traditional languages are the
Sami languages and are classified as a branch of the
Uralic language family.