12 - Lapland's Taxation as a Reflection of “Otherness” in the Swedish Realm in the 17th and 18th Centuries: Colonialism, or a Priority Right of the Sami People?

Summary

Taxation has been a mechanism for the wielding of power in relation to control over land areas throughout history. As late as the 17th and 18th centuries, Lapland comprised its own special region in the Swedish Empire, where the Crown sought through taxation to consolidate “otherness” – the Sami culture – into a fixed part of the empire. The focus of this chapter is upon the question of whether the government sought to colonize Lapland by means of dictates related to taxation, or whether the aim of Lapland's tax system was to protect the rights of the people living there. Examination of the tax system permits an understanding of how the government sought to find an administrative solution that best suited a population group which differed from the mainstream culture. However, the system also had negative consequences for the Sami people.

Throughout history, taxation has been crucially linked to the wielding of power. Taxation has never been an independent, unconnected or solely local phenomenon, but rather a top-down mechanism for controlling the economy and exercising authority. In Sweden, as late as the 17th and 18th centuries, Lapland clearly constituted a special region in which it was not possible to practise large-scale agriculture. However, the Crown sought to consolidate otherness – Sami culture – as an integral part of the realm. This unification was a reflection of intellectual values, since the government understood Lapland's special economic and livelihood-related circumstances and the taxation could not be the same in Lapland as in other parts of the Swedish Empire.

In this chapter I examine the special characteristics of Lapland's system of taxation and the significance these had from the standpoint of “otherness” and diversity. The focus is on whether in the 17th and 18th centuries the Swedish Crown – the central power – sought to pursue a colonialist agenda in Lapland by means of its regulations with regard to taxation, or whether Lapland's system of taxation was intended rather to protect the traditional rights of the population there. What did Lapland's taxation and Lappish “tax-land” – whereby earnings from hunting and fishing but not the quality and extent of the terrain were taken into account – mean from the standpoint of “otherness” and diversity?