Navajo

The **Navajo people** (Navajo: Diné or Naabeehó) are a tribe of Native Americans from the southwestern part of the United States. The Navajo tribe has about 300,000 members. The capital is in Window Rock, Arizona. The Navajo Nation is an independent government that runs a large Native American reservation in parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Many Navajo live there, but not all of them. Most Navajo speak English. Some speak the Navajo language. The Navajo have many things in common with the Apache tribe and the two groups may share a common ancestry.

## Government 
The Navajo Nation works to maintain an economy for a population of 250,000 plus members. The discovery of oil on Navajo lands in the 1920s started the tribe towards building a systematic form of government.

## Culture 
Much of the Navajo culture, religion and other beliefs say everything in the world is connected and everything has a spirit.

Most Navajo wear modern American clothing most of the time but put on traditional clothes for special occasions.  For women, traditional clothes are a ''tl'aakal* skirt with a long-sleeve *deiji'éé'* shirt and shawl with moccasins.  For men, traditional clothes are a white pants and silver or turquoise *dootl’izhii'' jewelry with a headband and shirt, and moccasins.  Both men and women tie their hair into a bun on the back of the head. Arizona Newspaper Association, and Native American Journalists Association. This included awards for writing, its website and photography.

## Livestock 
The Navajo got sheep and goats after the Spanish brought them to North America.  This might be why their culture changed from Apache culture.  They became very good at raising sheep and goats and making cloth from sheep's wool.  In Navajo culture, the official owner of the sheep was usually a woman and not a man.  The Navajo also had horses and cows.

During the Great Depression, the United States government saw that Navajo and Hopi land was overgrazed and decided to "reduce" the number of sheep and goats.  They did not ask the Navajo what they thought.  They took sheep and goats away from the Navajo.  Some of the animals were sold, but for less than half what they were worth.  Some of the animals were killed and their meat processed and returned to the owners.  Some of the animals were set on fire in front of their owners.

In his book about his own life, *Code Talker*, Chester Nez wrote that the Great Livestock Massacre hurt the work ethic of the Navajo people because it meant no matter how hard you worked to build your family's herd, the government could take it away.

Like many other Native American tribes, the Navajo suffered after white colonists came to the area.  After the Spanish-American War in the 1840s, the United States took over the land where the Navajo lived.  Many Navajo died during the Long Walk, or Hwéeldi Baa Hane', in 1864.  Although they were allowed to go back years later, many died during the journey and during their time away.

The Navajo Nation government, called the Navajo Tribal Council, was established in 1923.  One of the reasons for this was that oil had been discovered on Navajo land.  The first election was in 1938.  In 1989, the government was changed to have three branches, judicial, legislative, and executive. Their training was  and all 17 pages of the code had to be memorized. Navajos served in all six Marine divisions plus parachute units and the Marine Raider battalions.  The Navajo Code worked much faster than Morse Code, minutes instead of hours. They transmitted messages on the battlefield including orders, troop movements and logistics. While the Japanese were able to break codes used by the United States Army and the United States Army Air Corps, they were never able to break the Marine codes. Even a Navajo soldier captured during the Battle of Bataan could not figure out the code for the Japanese. Major Howard Connor, a 5th Marine Division signal officer at Iwo Jima stated: "Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima."

The United States Military used the Navajo code in the Korean War and in the beginning of the Vietnam War, so they kept the code a secret.  During the late 1960s, the United States stopped using the code, and declassified it in 1968, meaning it was no longer a secret.  The code talkers were then allowed to talk about what they had done.

On September 17, 1992, the Navajo code talkers of World War II were honored for their contributions at the Pentagon in Washington, DC. The long delay was due to the Navajo code being Classified information.

## Notes 
## References 
## Other websites 
* Navajo Code Talkers' Dictionary, Department of the Navy
* Navajo Code Talkers, Interviews