Lapland Taiga

Western Kola lies in the northern taiga, a country of lakes, bogs and conifer forest where rivers run slowly across wide wetlands. Sámi families moved with their reindeer and fished the lakes, and the tribute they paid was gathered first for Novgorod and later for Muscovy. The Treaty of Teusina in 1595 drew the border between Sweden and Russia across Lapland, dividing the northern Sámi between two states.