For the province in Sweden, seeLapland (Sweden). For the cultural region historically called "Lapland", seeSápmi. For the former municipality, seeLappi, Finland.
Lapland's cold and wintry climate, coupled with its relative abundance of conifer trees such aspines andspruces, means that it has become associated withChristmas in some countries, most notably theUnited Kingdom, and holidays to Lapland are common towards the end of the year. However, the Lapland region has developed its infrastructure for year-round tourism. For example, in 2019, tourism during the snow-free period grew more than in the winter season.[4] In recent years, Lapland has also become a major tourist destination for celebrities as well as royalty.[5]
Rovaniemi is the main regional centre of Lapland, and theRovaniemi Airport is the second busiest airport in Finland.[6] Besides tourism, other important sectors are trade, manufacturing and construction.[7][8] Like Rovaniemi,Inari is also one of the most important tourist destinations in Lapland for foreign tourism.[9][10]
The area of the Lapland region is 100,367 km², which consists of 92,667 km² of dry land, 6,316 km² fresh water and 1,383 km² of seawater.[16] In the south it borders theNorthern Ostrobothnia region, in the west, Sweden, in the north and west Norway, and in the east, Russia. Its borders follow three rivers: theTana,Muonio andTorne. The largest lake isLake Inari, 1,102 km².[17] The region's highest point is onHalti, which reaches 1,324 m (4,344 ft) on the Finnish side of the border and is the highest point in Finland.[18]
The areas ofEnontekiö andUtsjoki in northern Lapland are known as Fell-Lapland. The bulk and remaining Lapland is known as Forest-Lapland.Lake Inari, the manyfens of the region and theSalla-Saariselkä mountains are all part of Forest-Lapland. Fell-Lapland lies in thefells of theScandinavian Mountains. It is not made up of barren ground likeblockfields but instead has the vegetation ofbirchforests,willow thickets orheath.[19] Common soil types in Forest-Lapland aretill andsand with conifer forests growing on top. These forests show little variation across Lapland. Compared to southern Finland forest tree species grow slower. Theunderstory typically consists ofblueberries,lichens,crowberries andlings.[19]
The landscape of large parts of Lapland is aninselberg plain.[20] It has been suggested the inselberg plains were formed in theLate Cretaceous orPaleogene period bypediplanation oretchplanation.[21] Relative to southern Finland Lapland stands out for its thicktill cover.[22][B] The hills and mountains are typically made up of resistant rocks likegranite,gneiss,quartzite andamphibolite.[19] Theice sheet that covered Finland intermittently during theQuaternary grew out from theScandinavian Mountains.[24] The central parts of the Fennoscandian ice sheet hadcold-based conditions during times of maximum extent. This means that in areas like northeast Sweden and northern Finland, pre-existing landforms and deposits escaped glacier erosion and are particularlywell preserved at present.[25] Northwest to the southeast movement of the ice has left a field of aligneddrumlins in central Lapland.Ribbed moraines found in the same area reflects a later west-to-east change in the movement of the ice.[25] During the lastdeglaciation ice in Lapland retreated from the north-east, east and southeast so that the lower course of theTornio was the last part of Finland to be deglaciated 10,100 years ago.[26] Present-dayperiglacial conditions in Lapland are reflected in the existence of numerouspalsas,permafrost landforms developed onpeat.[19]
The first snowflakes fall to the ground in late August or early September over the higher peaks. The first ground-covering snow arrives on average in October or late September. Permanent snow cover comes between mid-October and the end of November, significantly earlier than in southern Finland. The winter is long, approximately seven months. The snow cover is usually thickest in early April. Soon after that the snow cover starts to melt fast.[30] The thickest snow cover ever was measured in Kilpisjärvi on 19 April 1997 and it was 190 cm.[31] The annual mean temperature varies from a couple of degrees below zero in the northwest to a couple of degrees above zero in the southwest (Kemi-Tornio area). Lapland exhibits a trend of increasing precipitation towards the south, with the driest parts being located at the two arms.[32]
In summer months, the average temperature is consistently over 10 °C. Heat waves with daily temperatures exceeding 25 °C occur on an average of 5–10 days per summer in northern Finland.[33]
The area of Lapland was split between two counties of theSwedish Realm from 1634 to 1809. The northern and western areas were part ofVästerbotten County, while the southern areas (so-calledPeräpohjola) were part ofOstrobothnia County (after 1755Oulu County). The northern and western areas were transferred in 1809 to Oulu County, which becameOulu Province. Under the royalist constitution of Finland during the first half of 1918, Lapland was to become aGrand Principality and part of the inheritance of the proposedking of Finland.Lapland Province was separated from Oulu Province in 1938.
During theInterim Peace and beginning of theContinuation War the government of Finlandallowed the NaziGerman Army to station itself in Lapland as a part ofOperation Barbarossa. After Finland made a separate peace with theSoviet Union in 1944, the Soviet Union demanded that Finland expel the German army from its soil. The result was theLapland War, during which almost the whole civilian population of Lapland was evacuated. The Germans usedscorched earth tactics in Lapland before they withdrew to Norway. 40 to 47 per cent of the dwellings in Lapland and 417 kilometres (259 mi) of railroads were destroyed, 9,500 kilometres (5,900 mi) of roadways were mined, destroyed or were unusable, and 675 bridges and 3,700 kilometres (2,300 mi) of telephone lines were also destroyed. Ninety per cent ofRovaniemi, the capital of Lapland,was burned to the ground, with only a few pre-war buildings surviving the destruction.
After theSecond World War,Petsamo municipality and part ofSalla municipality were ceded to the Soviet Union. The decades following the war were a period of rebuilding,industrialisation and fast economic growth. Large hydroelectric plants and mines were established and cities, roads and bridges were rebuilt after the destruction of the war. In the late 20th century the economy of Lapland started to decline, mines and factories became unprofitable and the population started to decline rapidly across most of the region.
The provinces of Finlandwere abolished on 1 January 2010, but Lapland was reorganised as one of the new regions that replaced them.[34]
This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(September 2023)
Lapland is the home of about 3.4% of Finland's total population and is by far the least densely populated area in the country. The biggest towns in Lapland areRovaniemi (the regional capital),Tornio, andKemi. In 2011, Lapland had a population of 183,320 of whom 177,950 spokeFinnish, 1,526 spokeSami, 387 spokeSwedish and 3,467 spoke some other languages as their mother tongue.[37] Of the Sami languages,Northern Sami,Inari Sami andSkolt Sami are spoken in the region.Pelkosenniemi is the smallest municipality in mainland Finland in terms of population, whileSavukoski is sparsely populated in terms ofpopulation density.[38]
Lapland's population has been in decline since 1990.
The 21municipalities of Lapland are organised into a singleregion, where they cooperate in the Lapland regional council,Lapin liitto orLapplands förbund.
The northernmost municipalities of Lapland where theSámi people are the most numerous form theSámi homeland. Sámi organisation exists in parallel with the provincial one.
ThreeEuropean roads pass through Lapland:E8,E63 andE75, the latter of which runs almost 600 kilometres from the southernmost municipality ofSimo to the northernmost municipality ofUtsjoki.[42]
In the western part, the Laurila–Kelloselkä railway runs fromTornio toKolari,[44] and the eastern line runs fromKeminmaa via Rovaniemi andKemijärvi to the eastern border of the country atSalla's Kelloselkä.[45]
^Among the glacial deposits of Finnish Lapland pre-Quaternary Cenozoic marinemicrofossils have been found. These findings were first reported byAstrid Cleve in 1934, leading to the assumption that the areas weredrowned by the sea during theEocene. However, as of 2013, nosedimentary deposit from this time has been found and the marine fossils may have arrived much later by wind transport.[23]
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