Navajo History

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The Navajo are one of the largest tribes in the Southwest culture area. They are one of the largest tribes in the United States. Their homelands are in what is now Northeastern Arizona, Northwestern New Mexico, Southeastern Utah and Southwestern Colorado. In the Navajo language their name is Dine’ meaning "The People."

The Navajo are closely related to the Apache; the ancestors of both peoples emigrated from western Canada and settled in the Southwest sometime between the 13th and 16th centuries. They lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers. They first came into conflict wit the Spanish colonist in the 17th century and later with the Mexicans. From the Spanish, they obtained horses, sheep and goats which became a vital part of their economy. They learned weaving and pottery making from the Pueblo Indians and silversmithing from the Mexicans.

The Navajo tribe was divided into more than 50 clans and descent was traced through the female line. The Navajo came to build permanent homes called hogans, cone-shaped houses constructed of logs and poles. The hogans were covered with earth and bark and later built with six or eight sides from stone and adobe. These dwellings had a smoke hole at the top and were entered through a short, covered passage that faced east to greet the rising sun.

Traditional Navajo religion included a large body of mythology relating to nature, with gods who were believed to intervene in human affairs. The Navajo frequently invoked these gods, making offerings to them, in ceremonial dances the gods were represented by painted and masked men. Navajo belief systems included ghosts, supposed spirits of dead ancestors, sometimes malevolent-and witches, people who practiced magic for personal gain or to harm others.

A Navajo healing ritual is that of a sand painting, the trickling of sand colored with minerals onto neutral colored sand. Under the guidance of a shaman, a sand painter would create a mosaic on the floor of a lodge at dawn. The painter would use the five Navajo sacred colors-white, black, blue, red, and yellow to depict legendary beings and natural phenomena. At the end of the ceremony the work, a kind of temporary altar, would be destroyed. By tradition, no sand painting was to be kept after sunset.

The modern Navajo economy today is based on owning livestock and employment in various jobs, a number of them relating to tourism. The Navajo also make pottery and baskets and are well known for their silver jewelry and wool rugs and blankets.

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