Navajo Reservation
The Navajo Nation (Dine'é in Navajo language) is a Native American sovereignty. The Navajo Reservation covers about 27,000 square miles (70,000 square kilometres, 17 million acres) of land, occupying all of northeastern Arizona, and extending into Utah and New Mexico, and is the largest land area assigned primarily to a Native American jurisdiction within the United States. Members of the nation are often known as Navajo (or Navaho) but traditionally call themselves Diné (sometimes spelled in English as Dineh) which means people. The word Navajo comes from the phrase Tewa Navahu, meaning highly cultivated lands. The Navajo Indians originally began their tribes in the 1500’s. They traded maize (or corn crops) and woven cotton items such as blankets for things like bison meat and various materials that they could use to make tools and weapons.
The Navajo Indians are considered to be the largest tribe of all Native American Indians. Their homes were very simple, just a small shelter of wooden sticks, mud, and tree bark. These homes were known as hogans, and their doors faced the east to be sure the sun would shine in. When the Spanish came into their territory in the 1600’s, the Navajo who use their sheep for things like clothing and food. They would set up trading posts within the Spanish towns with their handmade items in order to barter for things that they needed.
Eventually, both the Spaniards and the Mexicans began to take violent action against the Navajo tribes because of their raids on the camps. They sent in military installations to intimidate the tribes, and eventually about 2/3 of them surrendered to their wishes and moved to new territories, including Utah. For those who refused to surrender, they hid out in the mountains and the canyons to avoid being caught. Eventually the Navajo Indians settled into a reservation on Fort Sumter in the late 1800’s. By this point, they had begun raising sheep, giving them a prosperous and profitable edge. Today the Navajo population is still going strong. While young people in the tribes today search for their own identities, they still remain very close to their families and to their heritage. The Navajo tribes are some of the most influential of all Native Americans, and their history and traditions have been passed down over many generations.
Visitors from around the world are intrigued and mystified when they hear the Navajo language – so, too, were the enemy during World War II. Unknown to many, the Navajo language was used to create a secret code to battle the Japanese. Navajo men were selected to create codes and serve on the front line to overcome and deceive those on the other side of the battlefield. Today, these men are recognized as the famous Navajo Code Talkers, who exemplify the unequaled bravery and patriotism of the Navajo people.
