Navajo Neighbors

1. Navajo Neighbors Pueblo Indians

2. Dinétah • Navajos living in Dinétah soon learned they were not alone • Pueblo villages occupied the surrounding lands • Pueblo village culture was different from the Navajo culture

3. Different Tribes • Pueblo Indians belonged to many different tribes • Spoke different languages • Had been living in the south western part of the United States for centuries

4. Adobe Villages • Most pueblos lived in adobe villages • Scattered along the Rio Grande in New Mexico • By 1400, there were over one hundred Pueblo villages in the Rio Grande valley

5. Farmers • Pueblo Indians were not hunting or gathering people • Lived in the villages all year and raised most of the food they needed • Pueblos planted large fields of corn, beans, squash, and cotton along the banks of the Rio Grande • They used the cotton they raised to weave colorful clothing

6. Friends • Later, many Navajo bands made friends with Pueblo villages and they began trading with each other • Navajos traded animal meat and hides, stone axes, flint knives and arrow heads to the Pueblos for cotton cloth, corn, beans, squash, and Pueblo pottery • Some Navajo bands decided to move near to Pueblo villages so they would not have to travel so far to trade • Navajos and Pueblos learned many things from each other

7. Not All Friends • But not all Navajos and Pueblos were friends • Some Navajo bands and Pueblo villages became enemies and carried out raids on each other • When a Navajo band wanted to raid a Pueblo village, the war leader and his men carefully planned their attack • Usually the warriors had to walk many days to reach the enemy village

8. Hid • Once they came near the village, the Navajo men hid themselves and carefully watched the Pueblo people • They noticed when the villages went to get water, when they went to work in the cornfields, and when groups of Pueblo men left to go hunting • At the right time, the Navajo raiding party moved as close to the village as they could without being seen • Would attack the Pueblo Indians that remained in the village

9. Tactics • Their tactic was to surprise and frighten the Pueblo people • While the confused villagers ran for cover and gathered their weapons, the Navajo raiders made their escape • They had to escape quickly because the Pueblo warriors would be after them

10. New Clans • In those days, Navajos probably took very few Pueblo prisoners • When they did, many of the prisoners became slaves and had to work for Navajo families. • Often they became part of the family • Navajo men sometimes took captured women for their wives • When their Pueblo wives had children, they belonged to their mother's clan as well as their Navajo father's clan • Because of this fact, Pueblo women started new Navajo clans

11. Prisoners • After a while, the Pueblo prisoners changed the culture of the Navajo bands.  • Some scientists think that Navajos were already farming by this time • Other scientists believe that Navajo people learned how to farm from their Pueblo prisoners.  • They learned how to plant, care for, harvest, store and grind the corn and they discovered different ways to cook corn, beans, and squash.

12. Farms • In a few years, many farms grew below the canyon walls of Dinétah.  • For the first time, Navajo families depended on crops of corn, squash and beans from their farms.  • They did not have to depend as much on gathering plants from the land, so they did not have to travel so often

13. Stronger Hogans • There was more time to spend around the home, so Navajo families built stronger hogans.  • They were able to make and own more things.  • When they did travel, they knew their homes and farms would be waiting for them when they returned.