Allemann, L. The sami of the Kola Peninsula : about the life of an ethnic minority in the Soviet Union / Lukas Allemann ; [transl. by Michael Lomax]. - Rovaniemi : University of Lapland Printing Centre, 2013. - 151 p. : ill., map, portr. ; 25 см. - (Senter for samiske studier, Skriftserie ; 19).
Lukas Allemann lived in the Sami region of Finland (Lapin laani). 3,892 of them (32.9%) were Sami. In the Sami region of Russia, the Kola Peninsula, lived at the same time 1.1 million peo ple, of whom 1,615 (0.15%) Sami. 19 This infinitesimal proportion of the Sami in the total population of the Kola Peninsula is explained primarily by the extraordinary de velopment of this region in the twentieth century, which is today most the most densely populated region in the world to the north of the Arctic Circle, with the larg est city (Murmansk). The northern parts of the Nordic countries were not so forcibly colonized in the twentieth century, so that there the proportion of the indigenous population is much higher there. If the peninsula had, in 1897, a total of 8,000 inhabitants, in 1920 there were al ready 14,000, in 1930 32,000 and in 1940 318,400. The Murmansk region reached the one million mark in the 1980s. During this period the number of Sami was always relatively constant at between 1,600 and 1,900 .20 Of the Sami of the Kola Peninsula, around 70% live in rural areas, well above the average for the highly urbanized Kola Peninsula, where more than 90% of the total population is urbanized. 2 1 The lower absolute number of Sami in Russia compared to the Nordic countries is explained primarily, however, by the greater remoteness of the Kola Peninsula. Until its forced urbanization after the October Revolution, the Kola peninsula was overall more thinly populated than the northern regions of Norway, Sweden and Fin land. The number of Sami in Russia has remained remarkably constant. The fact that nowadays somewhat fewer Sami than previously live on the Kola Peninsula is ex plained primarily by increased mobility within the Soviet Union .22 N evertheless, the Sami of Russia are, in the opinion of many authors, threatened with extinction, espe cially if language is regarded as one of the most important characteristics of an eth nic group, which is still mostly the case. Whereas in 1959 70% of all Sami gave Sami 19Cf.: Vaba/Viikberg [no date], [no pagination]. 20Cf.: Sarv 1996, 131, 135. 21 Cf.: Kulincenko 2002, 26. 22Cf.: Federov 2000, 27. Senterfor samiske studier, Skriftserie nr. 19 8
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