Navajos

Navajos (also Navahos and Diné) are an Athapaskan tribe that settled in the American Southwest between 1000 and 1525 ce. The Navajos likely experienced some demographic decline after Spanish contact, but their isolation contributed to a rapid resurgence in their numbers. Relations between the Spaniards and the Navajos were marked by bitter warfare, fueled by the trade in captives in which both groups participated. Navajos allied with the Puebloans in the Pueblo Rebellion of 1680, after which their lands became a refuge for those who resisted the Spanish reconquest (1692–1693). Many of the fugitives remained among the Navajos, exposing Navajo culture to Hopi and Pueblo influences. Internal division resulted from conflicts between Puebloan and Athapaskan values within the Navajo Nation. Tensions were exacerbated by drought and the increasing incidence of Ute attacks. Together these pressures led to a revitalization of Navajo culture. By 1774 the Navajos had driven the Spaniards from much of their traditional lands in northwestern New Mexico and settled down to a life of agriculture, animal husbandry, hunting, and gathering.

After Mexican independence (1821), the Navajos became the target of slave traders from New Mexico. Warfare between the Navajos and the New Mexicans escalated rapidly in the 1830s as did the trade in Navajo captives. The burdens of war fell heaviest on the isolated Navajos, who again experienced internal division as a result of outside pressure.

The Navajos' fate did not improve when the United States usurped Mexico's position as the dominant force in the Southwest in 1846. In an ill-conceived plan to relocate the Navajos, the tribe was moved to Bosque Redondo, New Mexico, in the infamous Long Walk of 1864. The resettlement plan was a disaster: the Navajos suffered from drought, disease, blight, and ultimately starvation. In 1868 the Navajos returned to their reservation, which was now only a fraction of their former homelands.

Over the twentieth century the Navajo Nation slowly recovered in both population numbers and land base. In 2002, the Navajo Nation counted 250,000 members, and their territory spanned approximately 25,000 square miles in southern Utah, northern Arizona, and northern New Mexico. All Navajo land is communally owned and administered by the Nation's government. Although poverty and unemployment continue to plague Navajo communities, rich mineral deposits on Navajo land and the construction of the Navajo Nation's first casino may improve the local economy.

See alsoIndigenous Peoples; Pueblo Indians; Pueblo Rebellion; Slavery: Indian Slavery and Forced Labor.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Frank McNitt, Navajo Wars: Military Campaigns, Slave Raids, and Reprisals (1972, 1990).

Myra Ellen Jenkins and Ward Alan Minge, Navajo Activities Affecting the Acoma-Laguna Area, 1746–1910 (1974).

Peter Iverson, The Navajo Nation (1983).

                                     Aaron Paine Mahr