Land area
Reservation of the Navaho in New Mexico (area 518)
- 1868
Set aside as a reservation
By Treaty of Bosque Redondo (Fort Sumner) with the Navajo, 1868
In the record
Set apart as the Navaho reservation by the June 1868 treaty; not a cession, and later enlarged by executive orders. The area covers about 3.3 million acres in what is now New Mexico.
The 1899 record names Navajo (Diné) as the people of this land.
This area was not ceded. The 1899 record shows it as a reservation the nation kept, at least until the record ends in 1894.
Today, Colorado River Indian Tribes and Navajo Nation (Diné) carry the history of the people named here.
Written from the records linked here; open any of them for its sources.
Shapes come from C. C. Royce’s 1899 maps as georeferenced by the US Forest Service. They are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land. Royce recorded land the United States treated as ceded; the shape does not show a nation’s territory.
Who is doing the work
This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:
- Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes
- Northern Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming
- Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana
- Colorado River Indian Tribes
- Navajo Nation (Diné)
Working with these nations
- Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Nation government Seeking return of about 6,700 acres at Fort Reno
- Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition Nation government Tribal co-management and protection of Bears Ears National Monument Give on their site Website
- Right Relationship Boulder (Land Group) Native-led Funds tribal youth camps and gatherings, plant-gathering access, trail content with tribes, pushes for tribal… Give on their site Website
Land return and Native-led work nearby
- Taos Pueblo Nation government Blue Lake return, 48,000 acres, Dec 15, 1970 (Pub. L. 91-550) Website
- Colorado Plateau Foundation Native-led Grants to Native-led organizations protecting Colorado Plateau lands, waters and cultures Give on their site Website
- Lakota People's Law Project (program of Sacred Defense Fund) Native-led Legal advocacy Give on their site Website
- Native Seeds/SEARCH Native-led Seed bank and seed return to Indigenous growers (Rematriation Seed Donations program) Give on their site Website
Native legal and land defense, nationally
- Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Native-led Litigation and legal advocacy for tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, land and resources Give on their site Website
- NDN Collective (LANDBACK Campaign) Native-led LANDBACK campaign (launched 2020; Mount Rushmore closure and return of Black Hills public lands), Indigenous… Give on their site Website
- Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
- Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy Give on their site Website
Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.
Connections
Links marked “suggested” were matched automatically by name or date and have not yet been reviewed by a person.
Nations named for this land 3
- Arapahomatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Cheyennematched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Navajo (Diné)as named in the 1899 recordsuggested
Agreements recorded for this land 1
Located in 1
Sources
- Royce, Indian Land Cessions (1899), Schedule entry dated 1868-06-01primary record
- Kappler, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, text for 1868-06-01primary record
- Royce’s map sheet: Arizona 1 (Library of Congress)primary record
- Royce’s map sheet: New Mexico 1 (Library of Congress)primary record
- USDA Forest Service, Tribal Lands Ceded to the United States (digitized Royce maps)reference work
The record’s fields
- Area number in the 1899 record
- 518
- Dates in the 1899 record
- 1868-06-01
- Kind of instrument
- Treaty or agreement
- Peoples as named in the 1899 record
- Navaho
- States
- NM
- Counties
- McKinley; San Juan
- Map sheets in the 1899 record
- Arizona 1; New Mexico 1
- Geometry
- Approximate shape from Royce’s 1899 maps
Research notes
geometry_role is 'cession' for every USFS feature: no field in the source distinguishes cessions from reservations.
- Kind
- Land area
- Confidence
- Medium