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Coronado, in 1540, and de Onate, in 1598, introduced large numbers of sheep, goats, cattle and horses into the region on their expeditions. Some of these animals would ultimately escape, or be stolen or captured by various tribes. The Spaniards guarded their animals extremely well, so the process was very gradual, but eventually, the descendants of these animals reached the various tribes of the region. Pueblo workers were frequently assigned the task of caring for Spanish animals in the villages that the Spaniards occupied or built. Thus, the peoples of the Southwest became familiar with animal husbandry.The Pueblo people had come into the possession of a number of large herds during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. When the Spaniards reoccupied most of the New Mexico settlements in 1692, the Navajo nation suddenly gained a large number of animals. Many Pueblo fled before the Spanish advance, taking their animals with them, and found refuge with the Navajo. There was a large amount of cultural mixing, at that time, with many of the Pueblo absorbed into Navajo culture. Once again, the adaptive abilities of the Navajo came to the fore. When the Navajo men got horses, they quickly learned to ride, and rapidly became expert horsemen. In the latter 1600's, the range of the Navajo hunting and gathering parties increased dramatically.
The Pueblo had learned the practices of animal husbandry, becoming sheep herders, while they were tending the animals for their Spanish overlords. Now they passed these skills and benefits on to the Navajo. This brought another major switch to many of the Navajo groups. The Navajo were originally distinguished from the rest of the Apache by their relatively sedentary lifestyle. The group regained some of its mobility when Ute raids forced them to abandon their position as stationary targets. With the introduction of significant numbers of horses, ponies, and sheep into their villages, many of the Navajo again began to wander.
In the arid Southwest, with little vegetative cover, a herd of animals has to stay continuously on the move to get enough food, without overgrazing an area. The sharp-witted, adaptive Navajo sheep herders once again took up the old nomadic habits. In this new life, "hunting and gathering," all too often, meant gathering the neighboring tribe's horses, cattle, or sheep. A new round of conflicts began between the Navajo and the Hopi, Utes, etc. The Navajo pony allowed the riders to range much more broadly in their forays for bounty, so still more enemies were made. Some Navajo even developed a reputation for raiding for people, who would be sold to the Spaniards in an active trade at Taos, during the colonial period.
In the early years of the European invasion, Hopi conflicts and antagonism with the Navajo were minor and existed at a much lower level than their problems with the Spaniards. Nonetheless, the Navajo, unlike the Spaniards, remained in the area, increased in population, and repeatedly rubbed on the wounds that they had been causing since the 1600's. There is little in common today between the Navajo and Hopi. Little love is lost between the groups. Nonetheless, in the latter years of Spanish rule, it was the Navajo who would help to drive the Spaniards back in their attempts to reassert control over the Black Mesa region. Navajo raiders were a severe annoyance to the Spanish expeditions that repeatedly attempted to re-conquer the mesa.
Despite the fact that the Navajo created military problems for their troops during the Seventeenth Century, the Spaniards took little official notice of the group, since it had not become a primary target of their Christianization mission. The history of the Navajo name demonstrates this. The word, Navajo, is Pueblo, and is not a word the Navajo, themselves, would ever use to describe themselves. During the Spanish period, the friars attempted to move into existing population centers and to Christianize large numbers of natives, quickly. It was simple for them to do this with the settled, agricultural Hopi and Pueblo. The Navajo, on the other hand, were generally nomadic, spending large amounts of the year on the move. There were no large Navajo settlements for the friars to occupy. As a result, there was relatively little direct contact between the Spaniards and the Navajo. The friars had to get most of their information on the Navajo from the tribes with whom they were living, the Pueblo, Zuni and Hopi. The outside world still refers to these Native Americans as "Apache" and "Navajo," instead of as the "Dine," their own term for themselves.
The Spaniards had pressured not just the Pueblo, Navajo, and Hopi, but also the other nomadic nations of the region, including the Ute, Paiute, Commanche and other members of the Apache family, during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, and forced them to abandon portions of their traditional hunting grounds. These activities of the Spaniards produced a domino effect affecting one nation, then another.
As pressures increased in the east, throughout modern New Mexico, the neighboring tribes put pressure on the Navajo, who then moved their homes toward the west, in the direction of Canyon de Chelly and Hopiland. The emphasis in this discussion has focused on the Navajo raiders and the pressure that they exerted on the Black Mesa residents, but this pressure was exerted by Navajo males. The Navajo men may have spent their time on horseback, roaming the arid landscape, but they all had homes, wives, and children, somewhere. These men were concerned about these families. As pressures on their homes increased, the Navajo began to move their homes toward new areas.
Although most of the Navajo had, traditionally, resided east of the Chuska Mountains and the Defiance Uplift, a large body of Navajo took up permanent residence in Canyon de Chelly during the 1700's. During their hunting and other wanderings, the Navajo had explored much of the Four Corners region and discovered many of the ancient ruins of the Anasazi. There is a tradition among some of the Navajo that the first residents of the canyon were Pueblo refugees that had found sanctuary with the Navajo after the 1692 reoccupation of New Mexico. If so, they were quickly submerged by larger numbers of Navajo, who accompanied them into the canyon. The Hopi had apparently been visiting the canyon region, and using it as one of their remote field areas. Hopi peach trees survive on the canyon floor to this day. This gave the Hopi still another reason for resentment.
The Navajo nation would eventually adopt Canyon de Chelly as their own, turning the site into a physical center and spiritual nexus which has survived up to the present day. The network of remote nooks and crannies would become a refuge for the Navajo during times of persecution. Today, Canyon de Chelly has become the center of the Navajo cosmos. When visiting certain areas of the canyon, tourists are supposed to have Navajo guides to ensure that they do not damage or defile any sacred sites. This geographic shift created greater friction with the Hopi.
Although the Navajo generally managed to maintain a very low profile with respect to the early Spanish government in New Spain, their continuing raids for sheep, horses, and other livestock was to lead to one major catastrophe for the Navajo under Spanish rule. The Navajo, along with the Apache, Ute, and Shoshone, created increasing problems for Spanish troops, especially after these tribes all adopted the horse in the 1700's. By the late 18th and early 19th-Centuries, the Spanish settlers were generally still afraid to move toward the Arizona and Black Mesa regions, even as the population of settlements was growing in what is now New Mexico. This fear was due to the danger from Navajo, Ute, and Apache in that direction.
If the White Man would not come to them, the Navajo decided that they would go to the White Man. The mobility offered by the horse gave them their chance. The Navajo now began to extend the range of their raids, dramatically. Navajo raiding parties from the Four Corners began to swoop down on remote Spanish ranchos well to the south, in New Mexico, escape with a few head, and get away with impunity. Sheep were valued, but horses were the top prize in a raid. The riders would be sure to raid only in areas far from home. This created a problem for the Navajo nation, as a whole. The Spaniards did not distinguish a Navajo from the Four Corners from a Navajo from a nearby village.
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Contents, including illustrations, copyright T. K. Reeves, 1997.
on 5 April, 1997.
