The Navajo

The Navajo are the second largest Indigenous Nation in the United States today. Throughout the Southwest in their ancestral territories of what is now northern Arizona and New Mexico, southern Utah, and Colorado, the Navajo were successful in their resistance to Spanish and Mexican invasions into their territory. However, as part of the program of Manifest Destiny, the United States waged an all-out war, defeating these resilient people in 1863. Between 1863 and 1868, more than half of the Navajo were forcibly relocated to a reservation in northeastern New Mexico where they were to become Americans. In 1868, after four years of trauma and extreme deprivation, the Navajo leaders negotiated a treaty with the U.S. government that allowed them to return to their beloved homeland. From 1868 to the present, the Navajo have strived to maintain continuity with the past by affirming traditional lifeways and values in the face of ongoing American colonialism and globalization. In The Navajo, learn about the fascinating history of these resilient people, their enduring culture, and their role in American society today.