Navajo

Click a letter for the index

Or search the encyclopaedia:

 

 

Go

 

Member of an American Indian people, who migrated from Canada to southwest USA (Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah) in about AD 1000. They are related to the Apache, and speak an Athabaskan language, belonging to the Na-Dene family. During World War II, Navajo code talkers in the US Marine Corps transmitted radio messages directly in their native language, which the enemy could not translate. The Navajo were traditionally cultivators, although many now herd sheep, which they acquired from the Spanish. Renowned for their artistry, their painted pottery, woven rugs and blankets, and silver and turquoise jewellery are sold internationally; tourism also generates income. They are the second-largest group of American Indians, numbering about 269,200 (2000).

The Navajo refer to themselves as Dine (‘people’). Originally nomadic hunter-gatherers, they came under the influence of Pueblo Indians in the southwest, from whom they learned to cultivate maize. The Navajo lacked a centralized political organization, being formed instead into small kinship-based bands led by a headman or chief. Navajo origin myths relate the story of how the first people emerged from under the earth, while other myths provide the basis for their many rituals. Their religious rituals vary from simple ones carried out by individuals to complex healing rituals requiring specialist expertise and sometimes involving thousands of people. Other rituals involve elaborate sand-paintings for which they are well known.

The stars on a blue field represent Europe. The yellow triangle stands for equality between the three peoples of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Effective date: 4 February 1998. >>