A Brief Introduction of the Navajo Nation

Among some 500 Indian tribes and 318 reservations recorded in the country by the 2000 Census, the Navajo Nation is the home of the largest American Indian Tribe; and sprawls across northeast Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Diné Bikéyah, or Navajo land, is larger than 10 of the 50 states in America. The term American Indian has a fascinating origin. It originated with Christopher Columbus, who thought he had read the East Indies, islands off Asia, and called the people Los Indios. even after the error was realized the Spanish Continued to use the term Indios, which later became Indian in English.

By the early 1970's the word Indian was becoming politically incorrect as it was increasingly identified as a racist term. Native American became the most popular alternative although it can apply to anyone born in the United States. A recent survey in the United States indicates that about 50 percent of the Indians sampled preferred the term "American Indian" over "Native American".

The Navajos are not only the most populous tribe in the United States, this is also the best known to non-Indians. This is the tribe which has been studied most by the anthropologists - so much so that a Navajo Family has sometimes been defined as "a man, his wife their children, and their anthropologist". About one hundred films and videos have been released about the Navajos only in recent past, and about 2,600 articles, books and monographs have been published.

The Navajos have remarkable capacity to adopt the ideas and culture of other people. The Navajo did not appear as a distinct tribe till 1725. Since then the Navajo have absorbed so many Indians and non-Indians alike, and have integrated into their own culture the ideas and culture of so many other people - both Indians and non-Indians.



(Source: 2007-2008 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy of The Navajo Nation - Trib Choudhary)