Abstract:
Göran Wahlenberg (1780-1851) mapped and categorised Sami life, culture and society during the 19th century. He made field studies in North Norway, the north of Sweden and north of Finland, and in eastern parts of the Kola Peninsula. He made anthropological and ethnographical studies of Sami. His studies also included several presentations of land and terrain, and on how Sami used the land for
... their livelihood, as well as nature resources in their diet. He made population studies as well, and described demograhical changes in the areas. So his nature- and cultural inspired field research also had a socioeconomical and -political perspective. This type of research had economical and political importance. The studies contained information on how many tax payers there were in the studied Sami areas, and how the land were used by the Sami. The latter interest implicated how the areas could be used; for example if the regions could be cultivated, and if a colonsat
ion from «the outside» would be economical sustainable. Economically, such studies also gave credibility to invest in new, similar projects, and the areas are still today objects for research. The studies were also a physical marker for Swedish scientific presence in areas outside the borders of Sweden. The field research made by Wahlenberg became an important part of the Swedish national myth about science in Sweden. So politically did the studies construct a (historical) narrative of Swedish scientific prescense in areas that did not belong to Sweden. The studies cleared way for ideas about the «Great North» as a strategic place. For instance, strategies of wildlife conservation and tourism, of forestry-, mining industries, and of water power companies from the end of the centry and onwards, formed an industrialized control over Sami, a scenery we can see today. 
