 Despite the economic activity, permanent settlement of the peninsula did not intensify until the 1860s and even then it remained sporadic until 1917. The population of Kola in 1880, for example, was only around 500 inhabitants living in 80 households, compared to 1,900 inhabitants in 300 households living there in 1582. Transportation facilities were virtually non-existent and the communication with the rest of Russia irregular. 1887 saw an influx of Izhma Komi and Nenets people who were migrating to the peninsula to escape a reindeer disease epidemic in their home lands and brought their large deer herds with them, resulting in increased competition for the grazing lands, a conflict between the Komi and the Sami, and in marginalization of the local Sami population. By the end of the 19th century, the Sami population had mostly been forced north, with ethnic Russians settling in the south of the peninsula.
