Wilderness in the Swedish Lappmarks : Swedish perceptions of nature, saamis and nature spirits in the swedish Lappmarks 1670-1740

The aim of this study is to investigate Swedish representations of the Lappmark in the 1600s and 1700s, with particular regard to the descriptions of nature and the supernatural. The study examines how swedes depicted nature and nature spirits in the Lappmark, and how the descriptions relate to larger process during the time period. The sources used are mainly from priests who were active in the Lappmarks during this period. The source material has been divided into two groups to simplify the comparison, one containing Johannes Schefferus Lapponia (1673), the other contains Pehr Högströms Beskrifning öfver de till Sveriges krona lydande lappmarker (1747). Works such as Carolyn Merchants The Death of Nature (1989) and Henri Lefebvre's The Production of Space (1991) are used in the study.The study show that the early authors had a very negative attitude towards the Lappmark and its nature. The area was perceived as an unproductive wilderness, and the saamis were used as an example of the Lappmarks depraved nature. Högström approached the land from a different angle, he believed that the Lappmarks had a great potential once Gods plan for the region had been realized. Högström uses the Saami to show how a people, despite their shortcomings, still could flourish in the Lappmark. Högströms optimistic attitude required that he separated the nature spirits from nature, which illustrated the transition from the idea of a lifegiving nature to the idea of a mechanical nature. The study also contributes to new knowledge about how swedish priests tried to define and control the representation of the Lappmark and how this was complicated by both saamis and settlers