Native American tribe that
lives in the southwestern
United States. Before they settled in the southwest, they were a
nomadic tribe,
thought to have migrated to the southwest over time from what is now
Alaska and
Canada. They hunted,
farmed, and gathered plant products. They were
territorial and often
raided the
Pueblo,
Mexican, and
Spanish settlements in the southwest.
Early in the 17th century the Spanish introduced sheep to the areas of what are now the southwestern United States and Mexico. The Navajo adopted raising and farming sheep as a new way of life, instead of hunting and farming plants. As people from the eastern U.S. moved west, and occupied land throughout, some settled near the Navajo's territory. They were constantly attacked by the Navajo. Many campaigns were run by the new Americans to subdue the Navajo, but non were successful, until Kit Carson. He killed the Navajo's herds of sheep, from which they lived upon. This broke the back of the Navajo and they gave in. They were given* a reservation of over 3.5 million acres and new herds of sheep in northeastern Arizona, southwestern Utah, and northwestern New Mexico. About 9,000 Navajo began living there.
Today, there are over 225,000 Navajo people, making it the second largest Native American tribe existing in the present day. Their reservation size has also increased in size to about 16 million acres. Many Navajo run enterprises exist on the reservation, including farming, mining, and logging.
*See Inyo's excellent writeup below.