:''For Lappland, the largest province in Sweden, see
Lapland, Sweden.''
'Province of Lapland' (''Lappi'' in Finnish and Sami, ''Lappland'' in Swedish) is one of the
Provinces of
Finland. The municipalities in the province cooperate in a
Regional Council, which also makes it the 'Region of Lapland'. It borders the
Province of Oulu and the
Region of North Ostrobothnia in the south. It also borders to the
Gulf of Bothnia,
Norrbotten County in
Sweden,
Finnmark County in
Norway and to
Murmansk Oblast in
Russia. In some parts of the world, particularly
Britain and Finland itself, it is considered the traditional home of
Père Noël.
Historical Provinces
:''For History, Geography and Culture see:
Laponia,
Österbotten and
Västerbotten''
Lapland was separated from the province of
Oulu in
1936. After the
Second World War, the
Petsamo and
Salla areas were ceded to the
Soviet Union.
Population
Lapland is home only to about 3.6% of the Finnish population, and is by far the least densely populated area in the country. The biggest towns in the Finnish Lapland are
Rovaniemi (the provincial capital),
Kemi, and
Tornio. Of the more than 185 000 inhabitants, less than 5% are
Sami people.
Administration
Main articles: Lapland State Provincial Office
The State Provincial Office is a joint regional authority of seven different ministries. It promotes national and regional objectives of the State central administration.
Regional Council
Main articles: Lapland Regional Council
The 21
municipalities of Lapland are organised into a single
Region, where they cooperate in the Lapland Regional Council, ''Lapin liitto'' or ''Lapplands förbund''.
Sami Domicile Area
The northermost municipalities of Lapland where the
Sami people are the most numerous, form the
Sami Domicile Area. Sami organization exists in parallel with the provincial one.
Municipalities
Main articles: Municipalities of Lapland
Those in 'bold' are cities:
Heraldry
Main articles: Heraldry of Laponia
The coat of arms for the ''Province of Lapland'' is composed out of the coats of arms of
Laponia and
Österbotten. The ''Regional Council of Lapland'' uses the Finnish variation of the coat of arms for Laponia.
See also
★
Lappmarken
★
Lääni
★
Sami people
★
Sápmi (area)
External links
★
Lapland State Provincial Office - Official site
★
Lapland Regional Council - Official site
★
The Tourism Expert - Lapland links in 10 languages
★ on
Wikitravel
★
[1] - Videos about Finnish Lapland
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