Det stora frihetsbrevet : En studie av lappkodicillen och relationen mellan samerna och den svenska kronan

The native people of Sweden have in the last decade or so fallen under the spotlight when it comes to their rights. In the last few hundred years, the Sámi people have experienced what can only be described as colonization, racism, and discrimination from the Swedish state. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Swedish crown got more invested in the land that has previously been occupied by the Sámi people. The discovery of natural resources in Lappmarkerna along with the drawing of the border between Sweden and Norway/Denmark lead to the mapping of the north. With the drawing of the border came the first legal document, Lappkodicillen, to recognize the Sámi people as an ethnic group. Lappkodicillen concluded that the Sámi had to become citizens of either Sweden or Norway and lost the land that they had held on the other side of the new border. While the intention of the document was to preserve and protect the Sámi people, with time it gave the Swedish crown the opportunity to claim more control over Lappmarkerna and its natives. In the process of colonization, the Sámis’ right to ownership of land was starting to be questioned and the Swedish crown started to claim more and more of it as theirs. This paper analyses the relationship between the Sámi people and the Swedish crown during the years 1670 to 1770,a time when the natives of Sweden lived through both recognition and oppression.