The Long Walk of the Navajo - Essay Example

The Long Walk of The Navajo Eighteenth century is an important era in the history of the Navajo tribe which changed the whole of how these people lead their life in America. The mid eighteenth century taught a great lesson to the tribe. The injuries and deaths inflicted on Navajos' in the mid century is marked as a huge massacre in their history. And the enforced migration of the Navajos' from their homeland has come to known to be the Walk of The Navajo. This essay would further describe the Walk Of Navajo.

The Walk of the Navajo took place in 1863 when the government of United States forced the Navajos to leave their land and move to Fort Sumner. This was done by the government in reaction to the retaliation of the Navajos to the western people. They did not want to leave their ancestral places and thus did not allow any foreigner to have a share in the territory. This made the government to remove the Indians from their ancestral land to ensure that other people could live in that territory.

However before reaching such a decision different treaties were also made by the government with Navajos to ensure peace in the area but such treaties did not last long when both the military and Navajos started having conflicts. The government ordered the Navajos to leave their homeland and agricultural properties and move over to the fort Sumner. In August 1863 the first group of Navajos left for Fort Sumner which was 400 miles away from their homeland. While they had to walk barefoot to the fort they had to face many difficulties in their way such as the harsh weather.

It took them a total of 21 days to reach the Fort Sumner and while reaching the fort many of the Navajos died because of starvation. However after reaching the Fort also the Indians were not provided with any proper water or food treatment. The farmers were also not given favorable conditions in which they could grow crops for their livelihood. The natural condition and the human interference did not allow the Navajos to properly indulge in the farming sector. Furthermore the water provided to the Navajos was not of good quality and it made the Indians have different diseases.

Similarly the wood provided to the Navajos also finished after a certain time and they were exhausted of the necessary requirements of life. In 1868 the Navajos signed a treaty with the government which realized the land of the Indians and allowed them to live over there. The Navajos after a similar walk returned back to their ancestral land, but to find it much smaller than it was before. A rehabilitation plan was launched by the government of United States for the Navajos so that they could survive.

And this plan proved to be successful in view of the Navajos as they prospered like once they used to. The Navajos are one of the biggest tribes of Indians living in the United States now. Works CitedCoolidge, Dane, and Mary Roberts Coolidge. The Navajo Indians. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co, 1930. Bruchac, Joseph, and Shonto Begay. Navajo Long Walk: The Tragic Story of a Proud People's Forced March from Their Homeland. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2002. Navajo Long Walk http://findarticles.

com/p/articles/mi_m0RGT/is_/ai_n9511497 Accessed on 8th October 2008.The Long Walk of the Navajos http://www.logoi.com/notes/long_walk.html Accessed on 8th October 2008.