Sápmi: Land of the Sámi People!

Sápmi is a super big place in the very north of Europe! It's like a giant playground that spreads across four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and even a bit of Russia. Most of Sápmi is way up north, past the Arctic Circle, where the sun can shine all night in the summer and disappear for a while in the winter.

It's bordered by big, cold seas like the Barents Sea and the Norwegian Sea. Some parts are as far south as the counties of Trøndelag in Norway and Jämtland in Sweden.

The Sámi people are the original inhabitants of Sápmi. They have lived there for a very, very long time. They have their own special languages and traditions.

Many Sámi people are known for herding reindeer, which are like super-powered deer that can survive in the snow. Places like Kautokeino and Karasjok in Norway, and Inari in Finland, are very important centers for Sámi culture. It's like their special home base!

Sápmi has never been its own country with a king or queen. But that doesn't mean the Sámi people don't have a say! In recent years, they have started to have their own little governments called Sámi Parliaments in Norway, Sweden, and Finland.

These parliaments help make decisions about things that are important to the Sámi people. They also work together with other Sámi groups through something called the Sámi Council.

People used to call the Sámi people 'Lapps' or 'Finns,' but those names aren't used anymore because they can sound a bit rude. The land itself used to have names like 'Finnmǫrk' or 'Lappland.' Today, you can still see parts of these old names in places like Finnmark County in Norway or Lapland in Sweden and Finland. These names remind us of the long history of the Sámi people in this beautiful, wild land.