Laponia (historical province)

Laponia (Lappland) in the realm of Sweden. Though drawn exactly on the map, northern borders against Russia and Norway were approximate.

Laponia (Swedish: Lappland) was a historical Swedish province, or landscape, in the north of Sweden. It evolved from Lappmarken. In 1809, Sweden ceded the eastern part, along with Finland, to the Russian Empire, which in effect created a Swedish Lapland and Finnish Lapland.

Today, the Swedish part is no longer an administrative subdivision in Sweden (rather, it is part of Västerbotten and Norrbotten counties). On the Finnish side, there was a Province of Lapland (much larger to the south, especially by population, and where there were no Sami for many centuries) from 1938 until 2010, when Finnish provinces were discontinued, and the province was replaced by the Region of Lapland.

Lapland is considered in some nations — notably Croatia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Serbia, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Romania and France — to be the home of Father Christmas (more widely known as Santa Claus).

Population

The current population of Swedish Lapland plus the municipalities Enontekiö (Eanodat), Inari (Ánar), Utsjoki (Ohcejohka), Muonio (Muoná), Kittilä (Gihttel) and Sodankylä (Soad'egilli) in Finnish Lapland constitutes 125,151 individuals. The largest city is Kiruna (Giron) with 18,154 inhabitants.

Historical districts

Before being split, Laponia was divided into juridical districts which were:

• Arjeplog Lapland Court District
• Arvidsjaur Lapland Court District
• Enonteki Lapland Court District
• Gällivare Lapland Court District
• Jokkmokk Lapland Court District
• Jukkasjärvi Lapland Court District
• Lycksele Lapland Court District
• Norsjö and Malå Court District
• Åsele Lapland Court District

See also

• Sápmi (the larger traditional territory of the Sámi, often mistakenly called "Lappland")