The Navajo tribe is the second largest Native American tribe in the US, with its own governing body managing the Four Corners reservation. Their history is largely oral, and they have their own language and matrilocal system. The traditional dwelling is the hogan, and they have faced conflicts with the US government, leading to ongoing challenges on reservations.
The Navajo tribe is a large Native American population living primarily in the Four Corners region of the United States (Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico). The Navajo Tribe is the second largest Native American tribe in the United States and has its own governing body that manages the reservation in the Four Corners region. The Navajo word means “many farms” in the Zuni language. The Navajo call themselves Dine´, which means “the people”.
The Navajo tribe has inhabited the area in the Southwestern United States for centuries. Their ancestors date back to 1000 AD, but much of the specifics of the Navajo tribe’s ancestry and distant past have been lost because their history is traditionally told orally and rarely written. The Navajo tribe has its own language, known simply as Navajo, and it is still commonly spoken on reservations today, although most Navajos are now fluent in English as well. Their society is based on what is called a matrilocal system, in which the family formed by a married couple lives near the family of the female, and the female is the only one allowed to own or raise livestock.
The traditional dwelling for the people of the Navajo tribe is the hogan, which is made from forked poles and earthy materials, such as earth, rock and bushes. Some Navajos still live in hogans today, although it is now more common for Navajos to live in houses or apartments in the more urban areas of the reservation. Many ceremonies and rituals still take place in hogans, which are designed to face east to welcome the rising sun and invite good luck. Hogans are traditionally round or cone-shaped structures, but they can also be made square.
Throughout US history, there have been many conflicts between the Navajo tribe and the US government. The Navajo people were forced off their land numerous times to accommodate European settlers, and throughout much of the 19th century the conflict led to oppression and violence. Eventually, reservations were set aside specifically for Native Americans, and while this action eased tensions somewhat, it did not entirely resolve them. Today, reservations face ongoing challenges, such as poverty, crime and alcoholism. The lack of industry on reservations has been a continuing difficulty that has promoted and sustained poverty and crime.
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