From: u-lchoqu%peruvian.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Lee Choquette)
Subject: Re: Commonplace Dishonor, Followed by Commonplace Confusion
Date: 12 Aug 92 09:56:50 MDT
Organization: University of Utah CS Dept

Ah, a new thread.  Let's try to keep this one on the level of facts.

In article <1992Aug12.040754.27948@morrow.stanford.edu>
silva@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Holly Silva) writes:
 > 	Who were, or are the Saami? Are they ethnically or culturally 
 > distinct from Finns at this point in history?
 > 	Who are the Lapp? Have they 'always' lived in the far north and
 > are they at all integrated with the norse-ethnic people of the southern
 > parts of Sweden and Norway, or with the Finns?

The Saami are the Lapps.  Saami is the Finnish word for them, samer the Swedish
word, and lapp is falling out of use.  They are probably more Finnish than
anything else, although their language is different.  Rent the movie _The
Pathfinder_, shot in Norway with Saami actors speaking Saami.  I found it at a
video rental outlet in Salt Lake City, so you should be able to get it at a
specialty store near Stanford.

 > 	What is the size of the Finn-ethnic population of Sweden and 
 > likewise, the Swede-ethnic population of Finland? What are their 
 > demographics? Where do they reside? 

Finland's total population is somewhere around five million.  Three hundred
thousand of them speak Swedish as their native tongue, a small number speak
something else (most likely Russian), and the rest speak Finnish.  If you mean
``ethnic'' as in sharing a common trait, fine, but don't make the mistake of
thinking there is any racial difference between the Swedish-speaking Finns and
the Finnish-speaking Finns.  Nor is there, as some would claim, a class
difference.  (Kent?)

The Finland-Swedes live along the south and west coasts of Finland.  There are
regions just east and west of Helsinki where they outnumber the Finnish
speakers, but although there are a number of Swedish speakers in the capital
(my mother's family among them), they are far outnumbered by all the Finnish
speakers there.  Swedish speakers form the majority in the more rural parts of
the southwest coast around ]bo (Turku), and up on the Gulf of Bothnia from
Kristinestad (Kristiinankaupunki) to Jakobstad (Pietarsaari), including some
municipalities that are more Swedish than any in Sweden.  The archipelago of
]land (Ahvenmaa?) is completely Swedish-speaking, and goes to great lengths to
stay that way.

 > 	Are there any significant sub-populations of Balts west of 
 > Latvia, in the nordic countries, or the other Baltic states?

There are more Estonians in Sweden than anywhere else besides Estonia.

 > 	Are the Estonians, Finns, Danes, both, or none of the above?

Finnish and Estonian are mutually intelligible.  There is also some small
Swedish influence in Estonia from the long period centuries ago when the Baltic
Sea was a Swedish lake.  I don't know what the Estonians are racially.

There.  I hope I didn't write anything inflammatory.
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   . . . . Lee Choquette . . . . . . . . . . . Born a finl{ndare . . . . . . .
  . . u-lchoqu@peruvian.utah.edu. . . . . . .  and proud of it! . . . . . . .
 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .