People of the Legends
Indigenous People of North America - Navajo
Recent History - Navajo Ancestors
Scientists think that between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago different groups of people walked across the Bering land bridge from what is now Siberia, down to Alaska.
The Athabaskan peoples were one of these groups. They may have been the ancestors of the both Navajo and the Apache, their relatives.
The Athabaskans made the long journey across Beringia and stopped in Canada. For several thousand years they lived in small bands (groups) in Alberta or Saskatchewan, as nomadic hunter gatherers.
About 700 years ago, in the 1300s, the Navajo and Apache left the other Athabaskans and travelled south. Scientists think the climate got colder in Canada, and the Navajo and Apache may have followed the sun.
They didn’t have horses. They walked along the Great Plains – a huge prairie stretching from Canada, down through Texas into Mexico. To carry their things they used sleds, pulled by smallish dogs.
They hunted bison, setting up camp then moving on to follow the herds. They lived in hogans made of packed earth, or tepees made of skins that they took apart and packed on the sleds.
They may have camped and moved like this for at least 100 years, until they reached the Colorado Plateau, in the Southwest. This was a large area covering parts of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, and the Pueblo peoples were already living there. The Navajo probably settled in Utah and Colorado.
The Pueblo were very good farmers and the Navajo were impressed by the food they saw them grow.
