Enontakis

Enontekis lies in the northern river country of Sápmi, where the Könkämä and Lätäs rivers join to form the Muonio. The Sámi communities of this vast upland travelled between fishing grounds, pastures and meeting places, and maintained contacts across the mountains to the Norwegian coast.

After Torne Lappmark was separated from the parish of Torne in 1606, a church was built at Eanodat, later known as Markkina, in the territory of the Suonttavaara Sámi community. A replacement followed in 1661. The site became a meeting place for church, trade and administration. The division of Sweden and Russian Finland in 1809 put the church on the Swedish side of the new border; in 1826 it was dismantled and its timbers floated downriver for a church on the Finnish side.