Honoring the legacy of our first cultures

November is National Native American Heritage Month, a commemoration that invites us to delve into Native peoples' traditions, languages, and art forms. There are millions of Native Americans across the US, with hundreds of tribes and groups, each with their own culture. In Arizona, Canyon de Chelly National Monument preserves the ruins of Indigenous tribes that have lived here over the past 5,000 years, including Ancestral Puebloans, who built the ancient village in our homepage image, and the Navajo, who arrived here around 1700. Carved by the relentless forces of nature, the canyon is owned by the Navajo people who manage it in cooperation with the National Park Service. Some Navajo families still live here, keeping traditions alive in one of North America's longest continuously inhabited landscapes.
© Cindy Miller Hopkins/Danita Delimont