Scandinavian and Nordic Countries, Explained
Like the United Kingdom, these northern European countries have overlapping languages, cultures and ethnic groups. The names used to identify them can also be confusing.
Scandinavia refers to the countries of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark — all speaking the Scandinavian languages and home of the Norse people during the Viking Age.
Nordic countries include Scandinavia plus Finland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland. These form a group of countries having affinities with each other and are distinct from the rest of continental Europe.
So within the Nordic region, only Swedes, Danes, and Norwegians call themselves Scandinavian, while the rest would likely prefer to be called Nordic (with Scandinavian roots and/or ties).
To confuse things, the English-speaking world mostly refers to a “Scandinavia” that not only includes Sweden, Norway, and Denmark — but also Finland and Iceland (as illustrated in the map).
The Sámi are the indigenous peoples inhabiting large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and of the Kola Peninsula in Russia. The region of Sápmi was formerly known as Lapland, and the Sámi have historically been known in English as Lapps or Laplanders, however these terms are outdated.