Navajo Tribe

The Navajo Nation extends into Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. It covers over 27,000 square miles of land. There are currently over 290,000 Navajo people living in the United States. The Navajo government is the largest and most sophisticated form of Native American government existing today.

1. Also referred to as 'Dine' meaning "The People"
2. Tribe began to form in the 1500’s
3. Ancestors lived in Northwestern Canada and Alaska
4. Largest reservation in the U.S. (16 million acres)
5. Population: Over 290,000
6. Navajo Code Talkers Program was established in September 1942

The traditional Navajo believed in many different gods and supernatural powers. The most important were the anthropomorphic gods known as Changing Woman, the consort of the Sun God and the Monster Slayers. Other supernatural powers included animals, reptiles, birds, wind, darkness, light, celestial bodies, and monsters. They believed in the diety "Yei" who could be brought forward during ceremonies by masked dancers. The navajo were afraid of death and spoke of it as little as possible. Their dead were promptly buried without any tribal ceremonies. They did not believe there was a happy afterlife and their afterlife did not include punishments or rewards for deeds done on earth.

• 1500s: The Navajo began settling on Hopi land

• 1860: Navajo attacked Fort Defiance

• 1864: The US Army and Kit Carson removed Dineh Navajo to a concentration camp at Bosque Redondo

• 1868: Some 7,100 survivors of the Long Walk were released onto a New Mexico reservation

• 1923: Indian Commissioner H.J. Hagerman organized the first Navajo Tribal Council

• 1958: Monument Valley, the 1st Navajo Tribal Park was established

• 1962: Joint Use Area (JUA) was established

• 1974: Congress divided the Joint Use Area in New Mexico between the Hopi and Navajo

• 1983-1984: Twelve Navajo weavers in Arizona completed the 26x28 foot "Little Sister" rug

• 1996: A 1988 lawsuit resulted in an "accommodation agreement"

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