Reindeer herding is when reindeer are herded by people in a limited area. Currently, reindeer are the only semi-domesticated animal which naturally belong to the North. Reindeer herding is conducted in nine countries: Norway, Finland, Sweden, Russia, Greenland, Alaska, Mongolia, China and Canada. A small herd is also maintained in Scotland.
Nenets people in Russia
Sámi people in Norway, c. 1900, painted by Wilhelm Peters
Reindeer herding in Norway
Reindeer calf marking, Gabna Sámi village in northern Sweden
The Sámi are the traditionally Sámi-speaking Indigenous peoples inhabiting the region of Sápmi, which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and of the Kola Peninsula in Russia. The region of Sápmi was formerly known as Lapland, and the Sámi have historically been known in English as Lapps or Laplanders, but these terms are regarded as offensive by the Sámi, who prefer the area's name in their own languages, e.g. Northern Sámi Sápmi. Their traditional languages are the Sámi languages, which are classified as a branch of the Uralic language family.
Sámi outside lavvu, c. 1910
A Sámi depicted in art, painting by François-Auguste Biard
Aleksander Lauréus's painting of the Sámi by the fire
A Sámi family in Norway around 1900