Navajo Nation Tribe Website

This website is the Navajo Nation Tribe website and is titled as the 'Navajo Nation Government', the official site of the Navajo Nation. Established in 1868, it talks about the history of the Navajo Nation and how it is 'striving to sustain a viable economy for an ever increasing population that now surpasses 250,000.' There is a real determination to keep their population in the 6 figures, as history evidences how their rapidly decreased.

The Navajo Nation covers over 27,000 square miles, and the Navajo government was established in 1923. The Council Chambers hosts 88 council delegates representing 110 Navajo Nation chapters. It states how they attain their integrity by still speaking their Native language, which really symbolises their strong feeling on the importance of their heritage and keeping it alive.

This links to the fact that their population is very small, and the language has been suggested to be dying out, so keeping history and heritage alive is considered a necessary tradition and imperative in order to sustain them as a tribe.

Quoted from Wikipedia their name change from the initial '"Navajo Indian Reservation"' to  'governed since 1923 by the "Navajo Tribal Council"' indicating their dedication to be respected within the rest of American society as a group with power and freedom, but also good organisation in terms of their government. 

The logo they have on their homepage mimics the Navajo flag, with some extra features added on, such as the sun and the (buffalo?) to highlight the importance the buffalo was to the Native American tribes as they were there main, and sometimes only resource. By having the mountains and the sun it represents the type of environment the Navajo lives on (The Great Plains), a dry dessert.



In terms of land and economy in relation with each other, the Navajo Nation seem to be successful as they cover a large amount of land as appose to the small reservations they had many years ago and the website seems to indicate that they are a 'wealthy nation in a world of its own'. Indicating that they define themselves against other tribes not collectively all tribes against the rest of the American population. History has indicated that since being conformed to the reservations, the Navajo's have grown in size and power, which has been suggested by the Nation it was due to the discovery of oil in the 1920's which lead to their decision for a more systematic, strategic and organised government, hence the expansion era for the Navajo Nation (1878-1930).

When talking more specifically about its governmental strategies, the Navajo's discuss their 3 branch system (executive, legislative and judicial) which was reformed in 1991. This type of organisation combined with the imperative to uphold traditions, such as speaking the native language, indicates that the Navajo's are trying to be innovative. Therefore, they have a right to be included in American society and not considered such a small minority, or even non existent. More so, they are combining traditional culture with modern strategies in order to be able to survive and achieve much success in modern America, without having to change their identity.

The Navajo Nation seems to be the most successful tribe out of the existing tribes left in America in terms of the amount of land it covers, the numbers in their tribes and their strong existence of a government and its organisation. The biggest success would be their innovative government strategies in order to be successful and included as a significant group of people in modern America, yet still being a semi-autonomous Native American governed territory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_Nation 

http://www.navajo-nsn.gov/