And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 23:33:41 -0700
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Din� In Transition:
Navajo culture as we know it today developed out of the combining of
"two major ancestral roots of traditional Navajo culture,
Athapaskan-Apachean and Anasazi-Puebloan...." Ultimately, a "single
tribal entity" emerged "with the Apaches de Nabaj� providing the
political unit and linguistic unity" while the theology was derived from
the Puebloan influence. /
Scholars agree that the Puebloan influence was significant and that the
majority of the traits acquired by the Navajos after they entered the
Southwest and prior to 1800 can be largely attributed to Puebloan
culture. / Conversely, the subtraction of Puebloan traits from
traditional Navajo culture and archaeological sites "leaves almost
nothing to work with, except....a few traits [of possible] Plains
origin."
Prolonged, and intensive exposure to Puebloan culture and its subsequent
acculturation by the Navajos may have been more significant in the
development of traditional Navajo identity and world view than contact
with Europeans. Establishing a time frame for this period of
acculturation may also reveal that aboriginal can be defined as a point
of reference related to this major cultural transition.
Brugge, Haskell, Ellis, and Hester all concur that as a result of the
Navajos' alliance "with the Pueblos in their effort to throw off Spanish
rule [1680-1696]," the Navajos experienced "the most intensive period of
Navajo-Pueblo acculturation" in their history. They had not
experienced any "strong Puebloan influence until [this period] of the
Pueblo Revolt." The result of their intense exposure to the Pueblos,
then, was that the Athapaskan newcomers made such a major cultural
transition that they acquired a complete new identity almost
unrecognizable in comparison to the culture they brought with them from
the north.
The end of the transitional period, from Athapaskan/Apache de Nabaj� to
traditional Navajo culture similar to what is known today, ended around
1774. By this time the Puebloan and Apachean traditions had become well
integrated into a traditional Navajo culture.
Legal Descriptions:
In 1946 the Indian Claims Commission was created by Congress "in order
to settle disputes between the Indians and the federal government."
The records of these proceedings provide a wealth of information on the
history of claims made against the federal government by tribes. Most
of these claims are seeking compensation for unfair dealings on the part
of the government during the appropriation of Indian aboriginal
territory or reservation land. Within the petitions, opinions,
findings, and conclusions of these cases can be found many variations
and perspectives on the definitions of tribal lands.
In the early 1950's, the Navajo tribe initiated claims against the
United States Government before the Indian Claims Commission. Their
assertion was that they held aboriginal Indian title to approximately 40
million acres of land in the Southwest at the time of the 1868 Treaty
that had set their reservation at 3.5 million acres. They also claimed
that "the United States paid the Navajo tribe an unconscionably low
consideration for the cession of these lands."
In deciding this case, it became important for the Commission to define
the "extent of the Navajo tribe's [aboriginal] land holdings". More
than 10,000 pages of documentary transcripts were accumulated and
volumes of reports were gathered from "expert witnesses" including
archaeologists, ethnologists, anthropologists, and historians in support
of the Navajo claims. In addition to this testimony and historical
data, a composite map delineating boundaries of the Navajo country as
described in various documents was submitted and entered into evidence.
(See Map, Appendix "F") This is an interesting map because it
superimposes 23 different versions of Navajo country by observers from
1630 to 1896 onto the Navajo Land Claim Boundary. It also clearly
demonstrates the ever changing boundaries of the aboriginal territories
of the Din�. The boundary that appears to have been disregarded is the
one on Escalante's map. (See Map, Appendix "D") The Escalante map also
describes an area considerably smaller and more consistent with Brugge's
1700 settlement area map than the composite map. This may be an
indication that the composite map was prepared by the Plaintiff
(Navajos).
Also included in the evidence is a map submitted by the Navajo tribe
describing their asserted aboriginal territory prior to 1868. (See
Maps, Appendices "G" and "L") These boundaries delineate an area almost
three times the size of the current Navajo reservation and over ten
times the area of the 1868 Treaty reservation.
The Commission found that approximately half of the area claimed by the
Navajos was occupied by the Havasupai, Hopi, Northern Tonto, Western
Apache, Chiricahua Apache, Fort Sill Apache, Pueblo de Acoma, and the
Pueblo of Laguna while another large portion had been occupied by the
Navajos "too close in time to the cession date in 1868 to allow
aboriginal title to 'take root' ."
The Commission finally concluded in 1970 that as of the date of the 1868
Treaty the Navajos held [aboriginal] title to a large tract of land
lying within boundaries that they described in detail to be considerably
smaller than that described in the Navajo claim. (See Map, Appendix
"H") The Commission also found that the Navajo tribe had ceded
aboriginal title to all of this land, effective June 1, 1868, with the
exception of the 3.5 million acre territory reserved for them by the
1868 Treaty.
Unfortunately, there are many legal considerations that complicate the
determination of aboriginal title. For example; the mere establishment
of use and occupancy alone does not constitute aboriginal title.
Exclusive use and occupancy must have occurred over a long enough period
of time to allow aboriginal title to "take root."
In (The Sac and Fox Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, et al., v. United
States, the court found that:
....The status of aboriginal ownership is not accorded tribes at the
very instant they first dominate a particular territory but only after
exclusive use and occupancy 'for a long time'....The rights of
aboriginal title must have time to take root, transforming a conquered
province into domestic territory.
At one time or another, the Navajo probably did use, visit, cross over,
or even temporarily reside on all of the lands within the boundaries of
the Four Sacred Mountains and within the boundaries of their most
aggressive land claims. This does not constitute exclusive use or
occupancy. The area that can be considered exclusively occupied by the
Navajo is considerably smaller than these boundaries. In fact, the
boundaries of their claim overlap areas on all sides that can be
demonstrated to have been occupied by other tribes even before the
arrival of the Navajo.
The Navajos have based their legal arguments on the assertion that they
had aboriginal title to the lands described in their claims before the
Indian Claims Commission at the time of the 1868 Treaty. However,
Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary defines aboriginal to mean "being
the first of its kind present in a region...." and aborigine to mean
"from the beginning" or "an aboriginal inhabitant esp. as contrasted
with an invading or colonizing people" ("Aborigine," "Aboriginal").
These definitions greatly diminish any Navajo claims to aboriginal
territory in the Southwest because many tribes, especially the Pueblos
of New Mexico and the Hopis of Arizona, were firmly established in the
region long before the arrival of the Navajos. This fact can be clearly
demonstrated with an enormous amount of archaeological evidence of long
term exclusive occupancy .
Webster's definitions would also invalidate any portions of the Navajo
aboriginal claims that were acquired by conquest or colonization. As a
great deal, if not most, of the territory acquired by the Navajos was by
some form of conquest or colonization, it could be reasonably argued
that they have no legitimate aboriginal claims in the Southwest. The
courts, however, do not confine themselves to Webster's definitions.
The Navajos may, though, have legitimate claims under International Law
and rights of conquest. According to Stephens, "...international law
sanctions the right of the Navajo to land they conquered prior to the
assumption of sovereignity [sic] by the United States." Subsequent
encroachments should not have been recognized.
The Navajo claim, however, was not argued based on the rights of
conquest under International Law. Until it was and the courts found in
their favor, the United States should not have recognized Navajo rights
to any territories acquired after 1848. (Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo)
The courts of the United States did not assume jurisdiction over the
matter of Navajo aboriginal land claims until the American assumption of
sovereignty over the territory from Mexico. Accordingly, the aboriginal
territory (Din�tah) of the Navajo can only be defined by United States
courts in terms of the boundaries as of the time of the Treaty of
Quadalupe de Hidalgo with Mexico in 1848 or later. The Indian Claims
Commission only addresses the issue of Navajo aboriginal title relative
to the period after 1848 and around the time of the 1868 Treaty.
Chapter Conclusions:
One main problem that emerges out of the preceding discussions is that
the terms aboriginal and traditional are abstract and subjective terms.
All too often, they are used carelessly, as if their meanings were
concise and undisputed. But what is traditional Navajo life? What date
should be used when determining the aboriginal territories of tribes?
These are challenging questions that do not have definitive answers.
Their answers depend on the perspective of the observer. Hester
maintains the premise that Navajos are archaeologically distinct from
the Pueblos, Spaniards, Mexicans, and Americans. As such, the "removal
of those traits attributed to acculturation [after arrival in the
Southwest] will leave a core of traits which may be termed 'traditional
Navajo'...." Others find very little left that can be called aboriginal
pre-Southwestern Navajo culture after the subtraction of Puebloan traits
from what has come to be called "traditional" Navajo culture as we know
it today.
The problem is compounded when dealing with a more mobile society like
the Navajo. It becomes one of setting some arbitrary date beyond which
the term aboriginal is no longer appropriate. Do we look at it from a
Eurocentric perspective and determine that the people were aboriginal
until contact with Europeans? Do we look at the cultural and social
characteristics of a people today and trace their history back to a
period before which they were essentially a different cultural entity?
Or, is it appropriate to determine that aboriginal refers to that period
preceding the time the United States assumed sovereignty over the
territory and people in question? The question, then, becomes "When is
�aboriginal?�"
When Was Aboriginal?
In defining their aboriginal lands, the tendency for modern tribes is to
select the point in their history, or their oral tradition, at which
they held the biggest land base. For the Navajo, that would be either
now (1995), the period between 1962 and 1974 when the Hopi reservation
was defined by the boundaries of Land Management District 6, or that
time in their oral tradition when the Din�tah included pretty much
everything the Navajos had seen from the time of their arrival in the
Southwest until 1868. The latter description includes an area
approximately three times as large as the modern Navajo Reservation.
(See Maps, Appendices "G" and "L")
The identifiable aspects of Navajo culture today, as well as their
religious and oral traditions, have been adapted from exposure to other
cultures in the Southwest. Both the foundation of modern Navajo
theology and a great deal of their material culture have been largely
acquired from Puebloan, particularly the Hopis. These acquisitions have
been so integrated into Navajo culture that many modern Navajos have
difficulty recognizing their true origins, believing them to be of
Navajo/Athapaskan origin. Weaving, for example, was acquired from the
Pueblos. Navajos later became influenced by Mexican designs and
ultimately started producing patterns designed by traders like Juan
Lorenzo Hubbell for sale in the East.
Who the Navajo are today (at least as perceived by non-Indians) has more
to do with their experiences after their arrival in the Southwest than
it does with their pre-Southwest experiences. Tracing backward in time
to a period when their's was a uniquely different cultural entity than
that which is now considered traditional Navajo, may demonstrate a
reference point for establishing their aboriginal land base.
In this argument, the term aboriginal becomes a reference to cultural
and social transition. Whereas, the most significant impact on the
cultural and social transition in the Southwest experience of the Navajo
was the acculturation that occurred out of the strong Puebloan influence
during the period of the Pueblo Revolt and Spanish reconquest of 1680 -
1692, it is reasonable to conclude that this was the period of major
transition from who the Navajos were to who they are. The vast majority
of the traits currently identified by observers as traditional Navajo
were acquired during and after this intense exposure to Puebloan and
Spanish culture.
The definition of Navajo aboriginal territories is a complicated process
that cannot be definitively accomplished except within some specific
guidelines that must be established at the outset. First, a time frame
must be agreed upon. Complicating the process of establishing a time
frame is the determination of the perspective to be used in defining the
boundaries.
If the purpose is to define the boundaries of traditional Navajo
aboriginal territories, then that period during which the Navajo made
their transition and became today's traditional Navajo is the period
that should be viewed as their aboriginal point of reference. That
point of reference for the Navajo would be from approximately 1700 to
1774. To go back farther in time would be to look at a cultural entity
uniquely different than what is perceived or presumed to be traditional
Navajo. To look at a period closer to modern times would allow for the
inclusion in their aboriginal territories those areas that had been
acquired recently through conquest and colonization.
Therefore, the territory defined in Brugge's map of Approximate Navajo
Settlement Areas depicting the period around 1700 represents that area
of Navajo occupation at or about the time they were transitioning from a
previous unique cultural identity to that which is now referred to as
traditional Navajo. These are the boundaries that most reasonably
describe what should be considered the aboriginal territory of the
Navajo Tribe of Indians.
(From Chapter 9)
The people who became known first as Apaches de Navaj� or Apaches de
Nabaj� by the Spaniards and later Navajo by Americans, until as recently
as 1700, were comprised of "numerous small bands of Athabaskan speakers
scattered in and around the San Juan Basin, having only the generic
identity of din�
(people) to tie them loosely together." These bands in the San Juan
area were distinguished from other Athapaskan bands by the Spaniards
because they
practiced agriculture. The Athapaskans that came to the Southwest
started their migration in northern Canada and worked their way into the
area through one of four theoretical routes:
1) Intermountain route through western Colorado and eastern Utah,
2) Rocky Mountain route through central Colorado,
3) High Plains route through eastern Colorado, or,
4) Plains border route through Kansas
These theories do not have to be taken as either/or possibilities.
There is enough evidence to support the validity of each route. Meaning
that all four routes could have been used at different times by
different factions of the original Athapaskan transients. Therefore,
the bands that became Navajo may have split off from the original groups
farther north and, subsequently, had extremely different encounters and
experiences along the way. This would have resulted in the seemingly
different Athapaskan cultures in the Southwest. The band that became
Navajo, as there is little evidence of their appearance in the
Southwest prior to the 1500s, may have been one of the later groups to
arrive and may have had more opportunities to altar their original
lifestyles along the way. This may explain the very different lodging
styles between the Navajos and other Apachean-Athapaskan groups.
Brugge asserts that the so-called migration may have been more of an
expansion. As populations grew, ecological changes occurred, famines
occurred, and, it can be assumed, factions split off (for all the
reasons that usually cause cultural rifts) as the Athapaskans expanded
south. Note that this implies territorial expansion not random
migration or "concerted movement with any fixed destination." An
Athapaskan model of colonialism is beginning to unfold.
According to J. Lee Correll, who got most of his material from Dr.
George P.
Hammond�s archival collections, claims that as early as June 9, 1583,
Navajos
were living in the vicinity of the Hopi villages. He draws this
conclusion
from Antonio de Espejo�s reports of "Querechos" in the area of Mt.
Taylor and "over twelve thousand Indians in the [Hopi] ("Hopi" inserted
by Correll)province with bows and arrows, and many Chichimecos whom they
call
Corecho s," presumed by Correll to be "Querechos." Correll also
claims that "many historians" believe the "Querechos" to be an early
Navajo group. This
is a difficult theory to support. In my search of O�ate�s reports I was
only
able to find reference to "Querechos" and "Querecho Indians" and the
"Pueblos of the Querecho Indians." The descriptions, however, make it
unlikely that
they were the bands of Athapaskans that became Navajo because their
lodgings were described to be made of finely tanned animal hides in the
form of tents
(perhaps as Plains style lodges). It was also described that the
people made
extensive use of their dogs to haul their belongings around by use of a
travois. There was also mention of "Vaquero Indians," "Vaqueros de
C�bola," and "Vaqueros Indians." This can be understood to be an Indian
behaving like a cowboy. There were still massive herds of buffalo
(C�bola) in New Mexico. Thus, a "Vaquero Indian" could be an Indian
that behaved like a cowboy with buffalo: Indians that hunt buffalo. The
evidence that these or the "Querechos" are Navajos is flimsy. It is
just as likely, perhaps more so, that these are not the Athapaskans
known as "Apaches de Navaj�," but some other band of Plains or
Athapaskan group. This argument is based on O�ate�s observation of
their lodges. Unless the anthropologists and archaeologists are wrong,
these are unlike anything that has ever been attributed to Navajo. This
disputes what Bailey and Bailey report from George Hammond and Apagito
Rey who argue that the "Querechos" near the Hopi villages in 1583 were
the band of Athapaskans identified as "Apaches de Navaj�."
The group that we continue to call Navajo did not emerge as a distinct
sociocultural group "readily distinguishable from other Athabaskans"
until after their close involvement with the Pueblo cultures that
occurred as a result of the large retreat by Pueblo people from the Rio
Grande into the
territory of the Navajo during the Spanish reconquest of New Mexico.
Fearing retribution for earlier revolts and knowing the brutality of the
Spaniards, in 1892 thousands of Pueblo Indians, to escape this
persecution, fled from the Rio Grande to take refuge with the bands of
Athapaskans living in the Din�tah area of the upper San Juan River in
northcentral New Mexico.
The Pueblo people brought with them their knowledge of herding and
animal husbandry, as well as some new construction methods and their
religion.
It was this close cultural involvement that began to distinguish the
Navajos
from other Athapaskan-Apachean groups. This is when the herding aspect
of Navajo economy began to develop and the Navajos began to emerge as a
culturally distinct group.
During the first decade or so of the 18th century, the Navajos were
comprised of "two culturally distinct populations...--Athabaskans and
Puebloans--that were rapidly fusing." What we know as Navajo today,
is, according to Bailey and Bailey, a "biological and cultural hybrid"
of the Athabaskans and Puebloans.
After the Navajos� release from Bosque Redondo and the establishment of
the 1868 Treaty Reservation, the Navajos immediately began their
campaign of
expansion. The factors that contributed to this expansion have been
discussed in previous chapters. The primary motivation, however, was
the almost total focus on sheep as the central theme of Navajo economy.
The Navajo economy became completely dependent on sheep. The sheep
industry had shifted from a subsistence industry to a marketing and sale
for profit industry. Sheep require an incredible amount of grazing land
to sustain a profitable industry.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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