In the late medieval and early modern periods, the northern part of Finland, at that time part of the Swedish kingdom, became a veritable melting pot of different cultures and ethnicities. The northern parts of Fennoscandia were largely populated by the indigenous Sami people when the first colonial expansion of the Swedish kingdom began during the 14th century. Then the first peasant villages on the northern river estuaries were founded, based on the Crown's centrally-organized relocation of peasant families from the more southern part of the kingdom. Relations between Sweden and the Sami are best described within the framework of colonialism. “Colonialism” refers to a situation of unequal power relations between peoples: Wolfgang Reinhard, for instance, defines it as “the control of one people by another, culturally different one, an unequal relationship which exploits differences of economic, political, and ideological development between the two”. Sometimes too the term “internal colonialism” is suggested to describe the relationship between the Sami and the Swedes, especially during the early modern period when the northern areas were already formally a part of the Swedish kingdom.

The intensification of the Swedish Crown's economic and political interests in the north began in the medieval period. The Crown aimed to strengthen its power in the north by taxation of the native population and by encouraging the establishment of agrarian settlement. Moreover, Christianity was promoted as the Catholic Church began to expand into the area and new parishes were founded.5 An expansion with clearer colonial agendas and ideologies took place from 17th century onwards.