Navajo Nation

From ProleWiki, the proletarian encyclopedia
Navajo Nation
Naabeehó Bináhásdzo
Flag of Navajo Nation
Flag
Coat of arms of Navajo Nation
Coat of arms
Location of Navajo Nation
CapitalTségháhoodzání
GovernmentU.S. colonial occupation
Population
• Estimate
399,690


The Navajo Nation is a nation in North America that is occupied by the United States.

History

Early history

Several centuries before colonization, the Navajo separated from other Athabaskans living in the subarctic and migrated south until reaching what is now the southwestern USA. Most of the Athabaskans remained in Alaska and northwestern Canada.[1]

Spanish colonization

In the 17th century, the Navajo supported a Pueblo revolt against the Spanish. The Apaches, Hopi, and Utes also fought in the rebellion.[2]

U.S. colonization

Navajo people at the Bosque Redondo concentration camp in the 1860s

The U.S. took over Navajo territory from Mexico in 1848.[3] During the Civil War, James Carleton became a brigadier general and put Kit Carson in charge of the Navajo. In March 1864, Carson forced 8,000 Navajo civilians to march 300 miles to a concentration camp at Bosque Redondo. A quarter of the Navajo population died before being allowed to return to their homeland in 1868.[4]

References

  1. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (2014). An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States: 'Follow the Corn' (p. 23). [PDF] Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press. ISBN 9780807000403
  2. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (2014). An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States: 'Sea to Shining Sea' (p. 125). [PDF] Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press. ISBN 9780807000403
  3. David Vine (2020). The United States of War: 'The Permanent Indian Frontier' (pp. 149–54). Oakland: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520972070 [LG]
  4. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (2014). An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States: '"Indian Country"' (p. 138). [PDF] Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press. ISBN 9780807000403