A Brief History of Utah's Navajos

Timponogos - Ute Deep Creek Mountains - Goshute Monument Valley - Navajo A BRIEF HISTORY OF UTAH’S NAVAJOS ANCESTRAL NAVAJO TERRITORY CURRENT NAVAJO RESERVATION from First World to the Fourth World, the Earth-Surface World. First Man brought the four sacred The Navajos tell the story of the Emergence, in which First Man, First Woman, and the people moved mountains from the Third World to the Earth-Surface World, and these mountains—Sis Naajinii, or White Mountain (Blanca Peak, in Colorado); Tsoodził, or Turquoise Mountain (Mount Taylor, in New Mexico); Dook´o´oosłííd, or Yellow Mountain (Mount Humphreys, in Arizona); and Dibé Ntsaa, intoor Dark the SouthwestMountain (Hesperus between 200 Peak, and in 1300 Colorado)—mark A.D. the sacred homeland of the Navajo people. Anthropologists hypothesize that the Navajos split off from the Southern Athabaskans and migrated present- Between 900 and 1525 A.D. the Navajos developed a rich and complex culture in the area of day northwestern New Mexico. Here the Navajos created trade networks with both the byAnasazi the eighteenth and historic century Pueblo they peoples, had spread bringing into new northeastern goods and Arizona technologies, and southeastern such as flint Utah. points and moccasins, to the Southwest. The Navajos may have moved into southeastern Utah as early as 1620; The Navajos came into contact with early Spanish explorers in the sixteenth century. In 1680 SpanishNavajo and back Apache into Mexico groups for aided a time, Pueblo but in Indians 1693 the in theSpanish Pueblo reconquered Revolt, a war the for area independence of the Rio Grande from the Spanish, who had brutalized and enslaved the Pueblos for decades. The rebellion forced the Valley. Some Pueblos took refuge among the Navajos, resulting in an intermixing of Navajo and Pueblo cultures. highly adaptive and incorporated domestic livestock and agriculture into their subsistence system. TheyThe arrival also adopted of the Spanish the horse also and, introduced like other sheep, tribes goats, who used and horsesthe animal to the as Navajos.a means Theof transportation, Navajos were sometimes engaged in slave and food raids on neighboring tribes. 8 WE SHALL REMAIN: UTAH INDIAN CURRICULUM GUIDE Timponogos - Ute Deep Creek Mountains - Goshute Monument Valley - Navajo Timponogos - Ute Deep Creek Mountains - Goshute Monument Valley - Navajo intent on conquering the Southwest. The Spanish formed alliances with the Comanches and Utes to In the late-eighteenth century, the Navajos became involved in direct conflict with Spanish forces weakenThe culmination the Navajos, of hostilities and many came Navajos in 1863, fell victim when tothe the U.S. Spanish Army, underslave trade. the command of Christopher or“Kit” disappeared Carson, used during “scorched the grueling earth” tacticsthree-hundred-mile to force the surrender forced march. of the Those Navajo. who This survived defeat resulted were held in atthe the infamous overcrowded, Long Walk undersupplied, from their homeland insanitary to Bosque Fort Sumner Redondo in Reservationcentral New atMexico. Fort Sumner. Hundreds died land. executiveAfter four orderyears andof interment, special legislation, an 1868 treaty including allowed an 1884 the Navajo executive to return order throughto their original which much home of the The Navajo Reservation, set aside by the Treaty of 1868, has subsequently been enlarged through developed a barter economy, exchanging rugs and silverwork with white traders. In the 1920s, oil andland mineral in present-day exploration southeastern began in Utahthe Four was added.Corners The region. Navajo Oil raised and gas goats discoveries and sheep in andthe 1950seventually and a great deal, although oil wells have also caused environmental problems, contaminating water and damaging1960s on therangelands. Utah portion Uranium of the mining, reservation which have began enriched in the 1940s, the Navajo has also Nation had andmixed the results State of for Utah the left a legacy of death and disease in mining communities. Navajos. Mining brought much-needed funds to the tribal treasury, but radioactive contamination has Although Native Americans were not granted citizenship until 1924, Navajos have a proud history of wartime service in the twentieth century. Many Utah Navajos served in the First World War. During World War II, Navajos played a major part in winning the war in the Pacific by developing a Corps,code based and Women’s on the Navajo Army languageCorps. Several that provedthousand impossible more left for the the reservation Japanese toto workbreak. in These war-related “Code industries.Talkers” are now famous, but over three thousand Navajos also served in the army, navy, Marine The decades following World War II were ones of both opportunity and disappointment for the andNavajo communities people. Motivated sought moreby experiences involvement in thein programswar effort, once many administered Navajos turned by theto the federal legal govern system- and political activism to seek greater control over land, resources, and their own lives. Navajo leaders ment. Education, especially, became an important priority for the Navajos. In the 1950s they began to build local schools so that Navajo children could receive an education and still live at home. Utah’s theNavajos reservation. struggled Through for decades efforts to to get improve schools education, for their healthcare,children, and and in the the reservation 1990s they economy, won a case the against the State of Utah that required the state to build adequate facilities for Navajo children on Navajos have developed a great degree of self-sufficiency and authority within their lands. 9 WE SHALL REMAIN: UTAH INDIAN CURRICULUM GUIDE Timponogos - Ute Deep Creek Mountains - Goshute Monument Valley - Navajo.

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