Lapland is neither a political nor a geographical unity; it is simply the collective name for the extensive region in the north of Europe that is inhabited by the Lapps. On the N. it is bounded by the Arctic Ocean, on the NW. by the Atlantic, on the E. by the White Sea; its southern limits coincide, roughly speaking, with 66° N. lat., though Lapps are sometimes found as far south as 63° N. lat. in Norway and Sweden. Norwegian Lapland is of course a mountainous country, its coasts cleft by the narrow, steep-walled fjords. In Swedish Lapland the most characteristic features are ridges with narrow valleys between, the latter generally partly filled with long, narrow lakes. Farther east, in Finnish and Russian Lapland, the surface is more level, the rivers and lakes become more numerous, marshes are frequent, and next the Arctic Ocean barren tundras; and many square miles are covered with forests of fir and spruce. Yet low ranges of hills occur in some districts, as, for instance, the Umbdek Mountains, in the peninsula of Kola. Some of the lakes are of large size: Lake Enare or Inara, in Finnish Lapland, has an area of 1147 sq. m.; Lake Imandra is 65 miles long by 9 wide; and Lake Noot, 35 miles long by 7 wide. The river Tana, which flows north to the Arctic Sea, is the second longest river of Norway; and several other rivers of considerable size flow into the White Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia, as the Tulom, the Kemi, &c. The summer is short and comparatively hot, owing to the fact that the sun scarcely ever sinks below the horizon during the three months that summer lasts. During this period the mosquitoes are a terrible plague. For seven or eight weeks in winter the sun does not rise above the horizon; comparative darkness prevails all the time, except when the snow-covered landscape is illuminated by the weird coruscations of the aurora borealis. The cold in winter is excessive, the thermometer generally indicating sixty degrees of frost, and sometimes more; but owing to the prevalent stillness of the air the cold is not felt so severely as might be expected. The total Lapp population is about 28,000, thus distributed: 18,000 in Norway, 7000 in Sweden, nearly 800 in Finland, and 2000 in Russia. But there are also numerous settlers belonging to these four nationalities in Lapland, chiefly engaged in agriculture, hunting, trading, and in administrative work, some of them no doubt the descendants of the criminals transported thither from Denmark three centuries ago.
The Lapps, who call themselves Sabme or Sabmeladsjak (the Norwegians call them Finns, whilst the Finns they call Kvæns or Qvæns), belong to the Ural-Altaic stock, and are consequently closely related to the Finns (Suomi). As a race they are the shortest people in Europe (4 or 5 feet in height), and the most brachycephalic. In other respects they are spare of body, with dark, bristly hair and scanty beard, and short, often bandy, legs. Although not very muscular they are capable of great exertion and fatigue, and frequently live to a great age (eighty or more). The mouth is large, the lips thick, and the eyes small and piercing, but not obliquely set. The Lapps are usually distinguished as Mountain, Sea, Forest, and River Lapps. The Mountain Lapps, the backbone of the race, are nomads; they move constantly from place to place in order to find sustenance (Arctic moss) for their reindeer herds, their only source of wealth. In summer they go down to the fjords and coasts, but spend the rest of the year in the mountains and on the plains of the interior. The Sea Lapps, mostly impoverished Mountain Lapps, or their descendants, dwell in scattered hamlets along the coast, and live by fishing. The Forest and River Lapps are nomads who have taken to a settled mode of life; they not only keep domesticated reindeer, but hunt and fish. The nomad Lapps live all the year round in tents. The reindeer supplies nearly all their wants, except coffee, tobacco, and sugar. They live on its flesh and milk; they clothe themselves in its skin; and use it as a beast of burden. In winter, harnessed to a boat-shaped sledge (pulk), it takes them the longest journeys, across frozen lakes and rivers, and over the mountains, and through the forests. It is computed that there are 400,000 reindeer in Lapland, for the most part semi-wild. In his personal habits and in his clothing the Lapp is the reverse of cleanly. He is, however, very good-natured, rather prone to self-indulgence when the opportunity presents itself (which is not often), but at other times sober enough. As a rule, he is 'saving, almost miserly,' 'selfish and 'cute in all his dealings,' not very trustworthy in the matter of speaking the truth, but on the whole inclined to take life easily. His imagination is easily excited, and he is readily susceptible to religious impressions of a sensational type; a notable 'epidemic' occurred at Koutokeino in Norwegian Lapland in 1848-51. The Lapps all profess Christianity; those of Norway and Sweden belong to the Lutheran Church, those of Russia to the Greek Church. Lapland witches, who are, more correctly speaking, wizards, have been famous from very early times. The principal instrument of divination was a curious oval-shaped drum, covered with a variety of figures and signs. In very early times the Lapps probably came much farther south in both Scandinavia and Russia; the bones of men of a short race, identified with the Lapps, have been discovered in several ancient Scandinavian burial mounds. The Norsemen treated the Lapps as a subject race as early as the 9th century, but had to reconquer them in the 14th; the Russians followed suit in the 11th, and the Swedes in the 16th. From the 13th to the 17th century the Lapps were kept in a state little better than slavery by Swedish adventurers known as Birkarlans. But at the present day both the Scandinavian governments bestow upon them every kindness.
See Sir Arthur de Capell Brooke, A Winter in Lapland (1827); Læstadius, Journal (1831); Tromholt, Under the Rays of the Aurora Borealis (2 vols. 1885); Du Chaillu, The Land of the Midnight Sun (2 vols. 1881); Rae, White Sea Peninsula (1882) and Land of the North
Wind (1875); Lieutenant Temple in Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc. (1880); Leem, An Account of the Laplanders of Finmark (Pinkerton's Voyages); and David MacRitchie, The Testimony of Tradition (1890). For folklore, see also Friis, Lappisk Mythologi, &c. (1871); Donner, Lieder der Lappen (1876); and Poestion, Lappländische Märchen, &c. (1885). Many Lapp and Finnish parallels are given in Jones and Kropf's Magyar Folk-tales (1889).