Navajo Nation
Navajo Nation is the name of a sovereign Native American nation established by the DinÃÂé. The Navajo Nation Reservation, which includes about 27,000 acres (approx. 11,000 hectares) of land also considered to be part of three states, is the largest land area assigned primarily to a Native American jurisdiction within the United States of America. The 2000 census reported 253,000 Navajo members, of whom 131,166 resided in Arizona and 17,512 lived in Maricopa County, which includes the city of Phoenix.
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The Nation's boundaries abut the Ute Nation at the Four Corners Monument landmark and stretch across the Colorado Plateau into Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. Canyon De Chelly National Monument, Monument Valley, Rainbow Bridge National Monument, the Hopi Indian Reservation and the Shiprock landmark are located within the Navajo Nation. The reservation land area is about the size of Rhode Island. The seat of government is located at the town of Window Rock, Arizona.
Members of the nation are often known as Navajo, also spelled Navaho. Navajo call themselves DinÃÂé, a term from the Navajo language that means people. The Navajo are closely related to the Apache. Congress established a Hopi reservation within the Navajo Nation's reservation at a historic homeland where Hopi history predates that of DinÃÂé in the area.
A conflict over shared lands emerged in the 1980s when the Department of the Interior attempted to relocate DinÃÂé living in the Navajo/Hopi Joint Use Area. The conflict was resolved, or at least forestalled, by the award of a 75-year lease to DinÃÂé who refused to leave the former shared lands. Another DinÃÂé and Hopi group lives on the Colorado River Indian Tribes reservation along the Colorado River in western Arizona.
The Navajo Nation has built a modern economy on traditional endeavors such as sheep herding, fiber production, weaving, jewelry making and art trading. Newer industries that employ members include coal and uranium mining, though the uranium market slowed near the end of the 20th century. The Navajo Nation's extensive mineral resources are among the most valuable held by Native American nations within the United States. The Navajo government employs hundreds in civil service and administrative jobs. Other Navajo members work at retail stores and other businesses within the Nation's reservation or in nearby towns.
Until 2004, the Navajo Nation had declined to join other indigenous nations within the United States who have opened casinos. That year, the nation signed a compact with the state of New Mexico to operate a casino at To'hajiilee, near Albuquerque. Navajo leaders also negotiated with Arizona state officials in talks that could lead to casinos near Flagstaff and Lake Powell.
The DinÃÂé have three times refused to establish a new government under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Members twice rejected constitutional initiatives offered by the federal government in Washington, first in 1935 and again in 1953. A reservation-based initiative in 1963 failed after members found the process to be too cumbersome and a potential threat to their self-determination. A constitution was drafted and adopted by the governing council but never ratified by the members. The earlier efforts were rejected primarily because members did not find enough freedom in the proposed forms of government to develop their livestock industries, in 1935, and their mineral resources in 1953.
Local and federal law enforcement agencies that routinely work within the Navajo Nation include the Navajo Division of Public Safety, often called the Navajo Police, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, often called the BIA, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation
The United States still asserts plenary power to require the Navajo Nation to submit all proposed laws to the United States Secretary of the Interior for Secretarial Review, through the BIA. Most conflicts and controversies between the federal government and the Nation are settled by negotiation and by political agreements. Laws of the Navajo Nation are currently codified in the Navajo Tribal Code.
The Navajo governing council continues a historical practice of prohibiting alcohol sales within reservation boundaries. Navajo residents who use alcohol often obtain supplies in nearby cities, such as Gallup and Grants, New Mexico. For some visitors of the area — often attracted by the Indian jewelry trade, by tourist attractions or by the Interstate Highway that passes through the area — heavy traffic to off-reservation liqour stores, and the public drunkeness that often follows have created impressions that drunkenness seems to describe Indian culture. Leaders and some member groups actively oppose the sale of alcohol, and have taken several measures to find and offer treatment for those members who are suffering from alcoholism.
Geography
Economy
Government
Further reading
External link