Page 154 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 154
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
salt, silver, tar and tobacco.1 Archaeological investigations have confirmed
that many of these products were probably traded because, for example,
fragments of clay tobacco pipes, pottery and porcelain, as well as needles,
metals and coins have been found at the ancient market site of Lycksele
in the Ume lappmark and at an ancient seasonal Sami settlement (Swed-
ish: kåtaplats) close to the Norwegian border in the Ume lappmark (Hug-
gert 2009; 2010; Rydström 2006). Given the small number of settlers there
at this time, most of these products were likely taken to market to be sold
to the Sami.
Apart from visiting Swedish winter markets, some Mountain Sami
also visited Norwegian markets around midsummer and in November
each year (Ehrenmalm 1743, 91; Lundius 1983, 40; Rheen 1983). There they
sold products such as reindeer hides, meat, feathers and down, and vari-
ous kinds of goods bought originally from Swedish merchants. They also
bought Norwegian goods such as dried sea fish, which they in turn sold to
Swedish merchants. But mostly they would have bought products for per-
sonal use that were cheaper in Norway such as silver, tobacco and woven
blankets.
Besides the trade conducted at market, it is obvious, on the basis of the
sources, that goods were continually changing hands between Forest and
Mountain Sami and between Sami and settlers. There are, for example, de-
scriptions of Forest Sami exchanging fish and wood grouse in return for
reindeer from Mountain Sami (Tornaeus 1983, 63–4), and Mountain Sami
exchanging reindeer cheese in return for turnips from settlers: “The colo-
nists settled in Lappmark sow a great deal of turnip seed, which frequently
succeeds very well and produces a plentiful crop. The native Laplanders are
so fond of this root, that they will often give a cheese in exchange for a tur-
nip; than which nothing can be more foolish.” (Linnæus 1811a, 174).
Commercial interactions of the kind described above required the
transport of goods. It would have been straightforward for the Sami, who
already had access to pack and draught reindeer, to go about this business.
Apart from the Sami transporting their own goods, reindeer transport
is also described as a good source of income in the market season when
Mountain Sami especially transported merchants and their goods from the
1 Interestingly coffee is not listed as a trade item in any of the sources, and neither is
it mentioned elsewhere in other contexts. In comparison there are plentiful descrip-
tions of tobacco and alcohol, as sought-after commodities consumed to excess by the
Sami. One obvious interpretation of this absence of information about coffee is that
the Sami had yet to begin drinking it in the 17th and 18th centuries.
152
salt, silver, tar and tobacco.1 Archaeological investigations have confirmed
that many of these products were probably traded because, for example,
fragments of clay tobacco pipes, pottery and porcelain, as well as needles,
metals and coins have been found at the ancient market site of Lycksele
in the Ume lappmark and at an ancient seasonal Sami settlement (Swed-
ish: kåtaplats) close to the Norwegian border in the Ume lappmark (Hug-
gert 2009; 2010; Rydström 2006). Given the small number of settlers there
at this time, most of these products were likely taken to market to be sold
to the Sami.
Apart from visiting Swedish winter markets, some Mountain Sami
also visited Norwegian markets around midsummer and in November
each year (Ehrenmalm 1743, 91; Lundius 1983, 40; Rheen 1983). There they
sold products such as reindeer hides, meat, feathers and down, and vari-
ous kinds of goods bought originally from Swedish merchants. They also
bought Norwegian goods such as dried sea fish, which they in turn sold to
Swedish merchants. But mostly they would have bought products for per-
sonal use that were cheaper in Norway such as silver, tobacco and woven
blankets.
Besides the trade conducted at market, it is obvious, on the basis of the
sources, that goods were continually changing hands between Forest and
Mountain Sami and between Sami and settlers. There are, for example, de-
scriptions of Forest Sami exchanging fish and wood grouse in return for
reindeer from Mountain Sami (Tornaeus 1983, 63–4), and Mountain Sami
exchanging reindeer cheese in return for turnips from settlers: “The colo-
nists settled in Lappmark sow a great deal of turnip seed, which frequently
succeeds very well and produces a plentiful crop. The native Laplanders are
so fond of this root, that they will often give a cheese in exchange for a tur-
nip; than which nothing can be more foolish.” (Linnæus 1811a, 174).
Commercial interactions of the kind described above required the
transport of goods. It would have been straightforward for the Sami, who
already had access to pack and draught reindeer, to go about this business.
Apart from the Sami transporting their own goods, reindeer transport
is also described as a good source of income in the market season when
Mountain Sami especially transported merchants and their goods from the
1 Interestingly coffee is not listed as a trade item in any of the sources, and neither is
it mentioned elsewhere in other contexts. In comparison there are plentiful descrip-
tions of tobacco and alcohol, as sought-after commodities consumed to excess by the
Sami. One obvious interpretation of this absence of information about coffee is that
the Sami had yet to begin drinking it in the 17th and 18th centuries.
152
