Navajo

The Navajo are a Native American tribe primarily located in the southwestern United States. Navajo settlements in the United States date back thousands of years. The Navajo population decreased greatly in the years following European colonization. The tribe spent many centuries fighting for their rights and independence. The Navajo Nation Council governs the modern Navajo Nation, although the US government holds power over lawmaking. According to 2010 census data, about three hundred thousand people are members of the Navajo Nation, making the Navajo the second-largest federally recognized Native American tribe in the United States.

Many anthropologists and historians believe that the Navajo descend from a group of Paleo-Indian hunters known as the Athabaskans. This group arrived in North America from...