People of the Legends
Indigenous People of North America - Navajo
Recent History - Hunter Gatherers and Farmers
Over time the Navajo learned from the Pueblo how to grow corn, beans and squash, and to make pottery and baskets, and weave cloth. They started to grow more of their food and hunted deer, elk, mountain sheep, rabbits and squirrels instead of bison.
If times were hard, small parties of Navajo would raid a Pueblo band and take food and other things they needed.
In the 1500s Spanish traders and settlers arrived from Mexico. They had flocks of domestic sheep and goats, and they had horses.
The Navajo traded with the Spaniards and began to raise sheep and goats for milk, wool and meat. The Spaniards taught them how to grow new fruits and vegetables, including potatoes, wheat and peaches.
The Navajo learned to spin wool and make blankets and rugs. Their weavers developed patterns and styles of weaving that have become famous all over the world.
The Spaniards knew how to use silver and the Navajo learned to make the silver and turquoise pieces that are collector’s items today.
Over the next 100 years or so, the Navajo, Pueblo and Spanish lived mostly peacefully with each other. But as the numbers of settlers grew, so did the demand for land.
