Salla Live Cam

History

The story of Salla in Finnish Lapland stretches back to the indigenous Sámi peoples, whose reindeer herding culture shaped the landscape long before permanent settlements. Archaeological finds—stone-age tools and ancient hunting pits—dot the undulating fells and forested valleys, testifying to millennia of human adaptation to subarctic conditions. The earliest documented mention of Salla appears in 17th-century Swedish administrative records, when Lapland was under the Swedish crown. At that time, Salla’s strategic location along trade routes connecting Oulu on the Gulf of Bothnia to the Arctic coast made it a waypoint for furs, hides, and tar, commodities that fueled northern Europe’s burgeoning industries.