Navajo Nation

The Navajo Tribe is primarily associated with the states of Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico.

History
The Navajo Agency of the Office of Indian Affairs was created in 1851 and was under the jurisdiction of the New Mexico Superintendency. Even when the Arizona Superintendency came into existence in 1863, the Navajo Agency remained under New Mexico until that superintendency was abolished in 1874.

The early Navajo Agency was located at Fort Defiance, Arizona and continued to operate there even after the superintendencies ceased to exist.

Currently there are five agencies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs administering the government's programs with the Navajo Nation -- Chinle Agency, Eastern Navajo Agency, Fort Defiance Agency, Shiprock Agency, and Western Navajo Agency. Each of these agency offices maintain the standard records required by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, so far as they apply to the Navajo Nation. A few of the records no longer in use by the local offices have been transferred to the Pacific Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration in Laguna Niguel, California.

The Navajo Nation created their own government in 1923 to handle their own business affairs. When the Indian Reorganization Act was passed in 1934, they chose not to reorganize under its authority, since they already had a tribal government. It was also felt that the requirements of the new act was unduly complicated.

The Navajo government is run by a tribal council with elected officials from districts.

Important Web Sites
Navajo Nation Official Web Site