In Sweden we are not fully entitled to have real discussions like this, it's to emotional charged due to later mass immigration, so we have adopted some kind of denial culture, and as it seems to be today, swedes have no own history of themselves, everything is considered as imported goods, loans and influences from other people's cultures, just never swedes in general or Scandinavians in particular.
Instead, today, we are all supposed to be viewed as swedes here, but we are at the same time not allowed to define us!
The first people in Scandinavia arrived ca. 13.000 BC., they were hunters and gatherers, the period shortly after this is called the older stone age and lasted between ca 9000 - 4000 BC. but before this ended, long after the agriculture's entry ca. 6000 BC. almost all of Sweden was at that time ice free all the way up to Norrland. Around 4000 BC. people lived in timbered houses today referred as "long house", and before the start of 2000 BC. they were all a part of the iron age all the way from the south to the north.
The Sami people at the other hand, arrived to the north soon after the ice age, either from the European continent or from the east or from either side. A small accession would have come from the east as late as 2,700 years ago, = 700 BC.
Archaeologists thinks that they have been here for max. ca. 3000 year, some of them speculate that it might have been longer, however, the Sami were not the first people in that area where they have been residing in the last millennial, or in Sweden! and thus neither are true indigenous peoples in an archaeological sense, but by later new political reason, they are today the only accepted group that are allowed to call them self Swedish indigenous people.
Why, the answer is completely because of endogamy, the custom of marrying only within the limits of a local community, clan, or tribe. The first people in Scandinavia have been mixed up with later waves of immigrants from all over Europe, most likely spoken different variants of indo-European languages, most likely having similar cultures, but yet seen as different people, thus not indigenous...inconsistency?
Compared to the Sami, that also immigrated at different times, had slightly different languages due to different groups of clans from different places, but yet a similar culture, but compared to other Scandinavians, the outcome is totally different in their case, despite that they have gone thru a very similar development.
In a way, we can also claim that in fact, the first Scandinavians did also have forms of endogamy, but perhaps (or more truly) without stronger racist characteristics, as economic considerations could ( or rather to speak frank, should) have been valued more than just consanguinity. ( I do in fact consider endogamy to be the true racism!).
It's impossible today for any ethnic swede, unless they're Sami's, to claim that they belongs to the indigenous Scandinavian people, (of course, people can do or say what they want but), to do so is considered blasphemy, racism, and very very politically incorrect and you will get frozen out, lose your job etc.
In a very contradictory way, our rulers say at the same time that we should work for a multicultural society, yes, but only as long as we don't count in us self in that sphere as a culture, because what they actually do mean with multicultural is just everyone else's cultures, as we in fact are denied both our own culture as well as roots, here, we are all just human beings belonging to the human race, nothing special or more than that.
