From Foraging to Dairy Pastoralism: Indigenous Transformation Among Sami in Early Modern Northern Fennoscandia

Aboriginal societies worldwide have independently transformed their modes of production. In northern Eurasia, this included a shift from transport-oriented reindeer herding toward a pastoral economy between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. This article examines whether this transition among the Indigenous Sami of northern Fennoscandia was accompanied by intensified milking and a more elaborate dairy culture. Using self-governance as a theoretical starting point, the article analyses how long-standing milk practices were adapted through local decision-making rather than external pressure. Based on Swedish narrative sources and court records, it examines dairy practices in Sami households and their wider economic, social, and ecological contexts. The article demonstrates that the intensification of Sami dairy culture in the Scandinavian mountains during the Early Modern period was closely connected to the development of the pastoral economy, contributing to broader debates on tradition and innovation in Indigenous societies.