People of the Legends
Indigenous People of North America - Navajo
Recent History - Canyon de Chelly
In the late 1600s some of the Navajo moved west into Arizona and New Mexico, perhaps to get away from the growing numbers of Spanish settlers. Later the Navajo, Apache and Pueblo joined together and fought the Spanish to keep control of their lands.
In Canyon de Chelly in Arizona the Navajo built a town where they could defend themselves. The ancient people, the Anasazi, had lived in the Canyon many years before but had gone by the time the Navajo arrived.
Today the Navajo still live in Canyon de Chelly, or Tsegi and the Canyon is a US National Monument.
Visitors come from all over the world to learn about Navajo culture and explore the ruins of Anasazi houses.
The Navajo lived without interference in Canyon de Chelly for several hundred years. But in other parts of the Southwest and the rest of America, the settlers wanted change in the way they were governed.
Eventually this affected the Navajo very badly.
