until the 1800's, the kola peninsula was extremely sparsely populated, with only 5,200 inhabitants in 1858. in 1868 the russian government created incentives for settlement and not only russians but also finns, norwegians and karelians moved to the peninsula. by the 1897 census 9,291 people were counted in the kola uyezd; 63% russian, 19% sami, 11% finnish and 3% karelian.