Johnston] NAVAHO POPULATION 5 



also includes languages spoken by Indians in Alaska and the Canadian 

 Northwest, and in scattered localities along the Pacific coast.® 



With respect to the second criterion, it is generally agreed that the 

 Navaho have resided in the same general region of the Southwest for 

 at least four centuries, and are known to have occupied a definite terri- 

 tory for most of that period.^ 



The third criterion of "tribalness," however, can be attributed to 

 the Navaho only with extreme caution. Specific references to the 

 Navaho date back over two centuries, and one study has traced the 

 origin of the tribe as a distinct social organization to about A.D. 1485 

 (Hodge, 1895, p. 225; Hall, 1944, p. 100). However, it is doubtful 

 that the Navaho were organized into a distinct group until after their 

 arrival in the Southwest, in view of their evident relation to the 

 Apache groups. In addition, physiological studies of the Navaho 

 reveal an admixture of Ute, Shoshonean, Yuman, and other Indian 

 stocks, suggesting that the Navaho tribe was largely composed of 

 accessions from these groups.'^ Such an admixture would at least 

 suggest a very limited degree of social solidarity among these elements. 



The criterion of "political autonomy," finally, must also be applied 

 to the Navaho with caution. It is true that the Navaho retained their 

 independence throughout the nearly three centuries of Spanish 

 hegemony in the Southwest.^ However, the Navaho never achieved 

 a centralized political organization of any kind. The largest eco- 

 nomic unit they developed is the grazing community, of which there 

 are hundreds, and the largest social unit they developed is the clan, 

 of which some 77 have been distinguished (Hadley, MS. b). As 

 Willard W. Hill (1940 b, p. 14) points out : 



Speaking in strictly a political sense, a Navajo tribe does not exist. . . . The 

 Navajo have never functioned as a unit in a concerted action ... or been 

 brought, even temporarily, under the leadership of a single person or individual 

 group for a common purpose. 



It should be evident from the considerations above that any sta- 

 tistics pertaining to Navaho "Indians" or to the Navaho "tribe" must 



^ Underhill, 1956, pp. 4-5. An earlier work by the same author Inclndes a plate show- 

 ing the distribution of Athapascan languages in North America (Underhill, 1953, p. 27.3). 

 The linguistic aifinlty of the Athapascan peoples is given more detailed treatment in 

 Morice, 1907, and in Saplr, 1936. 



« The first region occupied by the Navaho in the Southwest is near the headwaters of 

 the Rio Grande, north of the Jemez Plateau In northern New Mexico. From this region, 

 the Navaho appear to have expanded gradually to the south and west into the much 

 larger area they now occupy. The region of their original occupation is shown in 

 Underhill, 1953, p. 40. For a good summary of the general ouestion of Navaho origins, 

 see Underhill, 1956, ch. 2. 



^ Hodge, 1895, pp. 238-239. The original and still authoritative sources on the 

 physiological characteristics of the Navaho are HrdliCka, 1900 and 1908. 



* In commenting on the Navaho at the start of the 19th century, Zebulon Pike men- 

 tions (1811, p. 337) the fact that they were frequently at war with the Spaniards at 

 this time. 



