Erik Viktor Almquist (7 March 1817 – 13 December 1872) was a Swedish politician. He was governor of the northern Swedish county of Vasterbotten. He improved

Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise net ...

rights and brought forward legislation regarding forestry management.

Life

Almquist was born in

Antuna Antuna or Antuña is a Spanish surname. Notable people with this name include the following: *Abelardo Fernández Antuña (born 1970), also known simply as Abelardo, Spanish footballer * Bladimir Antuna or José Bladimir Antuna Vázquez García (1 ...

, Eds County,

Uppland Uppland () is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. On the small uninhab ...

, in 1817 to Carl Gustaf Almquist and his second wife Agnes Catherine Alten. His elder half-brother was the writer

Carl Jonas Love Almqvist Carl Jonas Love Ludvig Almqvist (28 November 1793 – 26 September 1866) was a Swedish author, romantic poet, romantic critic of political economy, realist, composer and social critic. Biography Carl Jonas Love Almqvist was born in Stockhol ...

. Almquist joined the military where he was a dedicated worker. He worked his way up through the officer core.Eric Victor Almquist, urn: sbl: 5698, Swedish Biographical Dictionary (art by B. BOËTHIUS.), Retrieved 2014-05-27 In 1834 he was a sergeant in the Hälsinge regiment and he rose to second lieutenant before moving to the Uppland Regiment as a second major in 1862. His skills as a farmer, municipal worker and army officer were well regarded. Despite having to travel miles on foot he visited the Sami people three times.Erik Viktor Almquist 5.
Nordisk familjebok, 681-682, 1904, retrieved 27 May 2014

In 1864 he was appointed the Governor of Västerbotten succeeding Gustaf Munthe. The following year he donated land in Umeå to create the park that became known as Döbelns park. Maraimagdalena Mathsdutter

In 1866 he met

Maria Magdalena Mathsdotter Maria Magdalena Mathsdotter (21 March 1835 – 31 March 1873) was a Swedish Sami who in 1864 took the initiative to the foundation of schools for Sami children in Lapland. Life Mathsdotter was born 21 March 1835 in Fjällfjäll, Vilhelmina in Lap ...

, who contacted him via his half-brother Carl Jonas Love Almqvist. Mathsdotter had successfully petitioned the king two years earlier to improve Sami education in Lapland. She had captured the public's imagination by skiing the length of Sweden to ask a favour of the king. As a result, she had received international support for founding schools and improving education in Lapland. In 1866 she travelled south again and met Almquist.Hon skidade till Stockholm för barnen
Lilian O. Montmar, Sapmi, 2012, retrieved 27 May 2014 Almquist took up Mathsdotter's case and starting in 1871 the law was changed to establish better rights for the Sami people. Almquist became a member of the

Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

(parliament) in 1867. This was at a time of

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...

and a severe shortage of food in Västerbotten. He served from 1867 to 1869 in the first chamber before joining the second chamber in 1870. He introduced two bills that won approval whilst he represented Harnosand,

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; South Westrobothnian: ;). fi, Uumaja; sju, Ubmeje; sma, Upmeje; se, Ubmi) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Ume� ...

Luleå Luleå ( , , locally ; smj, Luleju; fi, Luulaja) is a city on the coast of northern Sweden, and the capital of Norrbotten County, the northernmost county in Sweden. Luleå has 48,728 inhabitants in its urban core (2018) and is the seat of Lu ...

and Piteå. The first made the grazing rights of the Sami people clear and the other related to forest management. Whilst he was governor there were significant problems with the ownership of timber as the saw mills seized power. The methods reported at

Baggböle Baggböle is a small village on the Ume River in northern Sweden, approximately upstream of the city of Umeå. The village was a base for sawing local timber in the nineteenth century, with a sawmill powered by the water of the river rapids close ...

sawmill in 1866–1867 created a scandal. A new

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

word derived from the name of the village, , was a derogatory term for the deforestation that had taken place in his county.Baggbole
Umea.SE, retrieved 27 May 2014 Almquist was appointed chair of a new forest committee but he died in

in 1872. His job as governor was taken by Axel Wästfelt.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Almquist, Erik Viktor 1817 births 1872 deaths People from Uppland Governors of Västerbotten County Members of the Första kammaren Members of the Andra kammaren