Land area
Land of the Navaho in New Mexico and Utah, ceded 1868 (area 519)
- 1868
Ceded to the United States
By Treaty of Bosque Redondo (Fort Sumner) with the Navajo, 1868
In the record
Given up by the Navaho in the June 1868 treaty, which gave up their right to land beyond the new reservation, in New Mexico, Utah and Arizona. The area covers about 24 million acres in what is now New Mexico and Utah.
The 1899 record names Navajo (Diné) as the people of this land.
How it was taken: a treaty made under documented pressure. The Supreme Court states that the United States forcibly moved many Navajos to Bosque Redondo before the 1868 treaty was agreed to end the war.
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:
Working with these nations
- Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition Nation government Tribal co-management and protection of Bears Ears National Monument 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 2
- Navajo (Diné)as named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Navajo Nation (Diné)matched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
Located in 2
Agreements recorded for this land 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: Utah 1 (Library of Congress)primary 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
- 519
- Dates in the 1899 record
- 1868-06-01
- Kind of instrument
- Treaty or agreement
- Peoples as named in the 1899 record
- Navaho
- States
- NM; UT
- Counties
- Cibola; Los Alamos; McKinley; Rio Arriba; San Juan; Santa Fe; Taos
- Map sheets in the 1899 record
- Utah 1; 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