"Flight"

                   original: oil on masonite 24x36"

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The Navajo, who call themselves “Dineh,” were a migratory people from west-central Canada who moved slowly southwest over a period of three hundred years to finally settle in the Arizona territory. A hunter/gatherer society their migration was a matter of survival, following the buffalo herds, or fleeing other tribes. They possessed little knowledge of farming and as they moved into a new territory they made enemies quickly by raiding and warring on the local tribes until they were forced to move on.

 

By the 17th Century they found something of a home in the southwest, mingled with the Pueblo tribes and from them learned farming and ranching, weaving, jewelry making, and religious ritual. Still, they subsidized their increasing presence by raiding from the local farmers and made serious enemies of the Utes, to the north, Comanches, to the east, and Spanish, to their south. The Spanish fought a weak campaign for the area their governors considered of little worth, but as more American settlers moved into what was now considered Navajo and Apache lands, the expected conflict over ranchlands escalated.

 

In 1846, during the war with Mexico, American soldiers arrived, military forts were built, and the Navajo world would change again.

 

Respectfully,

 

Jerry Bingham