Located in the heart of the Navajo Nation, Canyon de Chelly National Monument is a place of towering sandstone that has been home to Native Americans for more than 4,500 years. With ancient ruins and beautiful artwork, the canyon reminds visitors of those who have lived there and challenges commonly held notions of American history.
GERALD C. HAMMON
HEN people think of US history, they may think of the Spanish, French, and
British vying for control over the great mass of land that would one day become the United States. Or they may think of the Revolutionary War in America, the Louisiana Purchase, Texas’ secession from Mexico, and the gold rushes. But to think of US history only in these terms is to limit it to the history of those who came from Europe or were descended from people who came from Europe, and that limits it to a mere fraction of the immense history of the land whose native inhabitants were here thou- sands of years before the Europeans. Luckily, the United States is full of
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places that can help to remind us of the deeper history of this land, and one such place is Canyon de Chelly National Monument in the far north- eastern region of Arizona. Bordered on the north by Navajo Route 64 and on the south by Navajo Route 7, Canyon de Chelly National Monument is an astounding place full of the history of the American South- west. Located not far from the town of Chinle, Arizona, and about three miles from US Highway 191, the park is best known as a site of spectacular Native American cliff dwellings. A traveler going north or south along US Highway 191 might not know that the lush land within the canyon even existed. The land around
it is largely dry, supporting some shrubbery and small trees as it slopes gently up toward the Chuska Range to the east, but in the canyon the story is different. Water flows there much of the year, nurturing a green landscape of trees and fields, which attracts seasonal Navajo farmers, some of whom still live in traditional Navajo dwellings called hogans.
History and People Canyon de Chelly National Monu- ment is a massive canyon system consisting of four main canyons— Canyon de Chelly, Canyon del Muerto, Black Rock Canyon, and Monument Canyon. Together, all of the canyons within Canyon de Chelly National
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PHOTO: ©DAVID MUENCH/CORBIS
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