"After we get back to our country it will brighten up again and the Navajo will be as happy as the land, black clouds will rise and there will be plenty of rain. Corn will grow in abundance and everything look happy." Barboncito, Navajo Head Chief

Just north of US. Route 66, chiefly in Arizona and New Mexico, is the Navajo Reservation. The Navajo are the largest Indian tribe in the Southwest and occupy a reservation greater in area than many independent nations.

Navajo is not their own word for themselves. In their own language they are dine, "The People".

In pre-historic times, perhaps around 1000 a.d., the Navajo and the various Apache groups came down from the north. The People have such a tradition.

When and how the Apaches and Navajo arrived in the Southwest are still a matter of debate.

The first known reference to the Navajo in a European document is in the report of aFranciscan missionary in 1626.

A few years later Friat Benavides, another Franciscan, wrote a more extended description. By this time The People were already agriculturalists. No longer were they a migratory people, dependent on hunting and on the gathering of wild plants, seeds, nuts, and fruits.

A this time there was no mention of Navajo weaving or hearding of sheep. But, by the mid-1700's, when English speaking Americans had their first dealings with The People, the Navajos were herders and weavers as well as farmers.

Today Navajo weaving and silver work are famous around the world.

Navajo History

Sacred Mountains

Navajo Sweatlodge

Navajo Stories and Legends