The Navajo and white men were enemies for many
years; but in 1863-64, an army under Kit Carson
invaded the stronghold, Canyon de Chelly, and
starved the Navajo into submission, burning
their crops and killing their sheep. After four
years of exile in eastern New Mexico, they returned
to their home, where more than 80,000 of them
now struggle to develop their reservations's
resources.
Monument
Valley photo: Frank Jensen
Navajo Warrior: Laboratroy of Anthropology,
Inc., Santa Fe
Illustration: Arizona Pioneers' Historical Society
Museum, Tucson
Navajo
Country - The tall buttes and spires
that rise in isolated splendor from the floor
of Monument Valley have been seen as the background
of many western movies. But never has the celluloid
image been able to reflect the area's real beauty.
This Navajo land, a country astride the Utah-Arizona
border, where mountains are still sacred, true
values of life still have meaning, and chants
and poetry maintain spiritual contact with nature
and keep the world in harmony.
