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The Navajo people had first contact with Europeans in about 1540 when Spanish expeditions came though the area. The first and largest effect is they gained sheep and horses which became important to their culture.

They had little contact with settlers in the Rio Grande valley for the first 100 years. They met them at trade fairs and there was some raiding and forth. The Navajo for sheep and horses, the Spanish for slaves.

In 1680 the Great Pueblo Revolt happened. It is believed that at that time some refugees from the conflict came and intermarried with the Navajo.

In the 1700s the Spanish demand for Navajo slaves led to the Comanche and the Ute and Kiowa getting into extensive slave raids and trading. This was very difficult on the Navajo and caused counter raids.

In the early 1800s Mexico gained independence. The slave raids continued. At that time about 1/3 of the population of New Mexico and close to a similar ratio in northern Mexico were descendants of those slaves who had lost their tribal roots. In New Mexico these people are known as Genizaros.

In 1846 the US gained theoretical control over New Mexico and Arizona. The Spanish had never successfully controlled or colonized the Navajo areas. The raids and counter raids with the now American army continued and grew. The slavery did not stop.

In 1863-4 the American army led a scorched earth campaign against the Navajo. They meant they burned crops, homes, storehouses, killed livestock until the Navajo were defeated by starvation in the winter.

From 1864-8 the Navajo were forced onto the Long Walk to live in an interment camp. Many died on the way and many more in the camps of disease.

In 1868 the Navajo were allowed to return to their traditional lands.

The slavery issue continued even after the Civil War in New Mexico up into the 1880s.

Most of where they live was not desirable to settlers. The lands they were given were expanded from 1868 to 1934 until they are today 27,000 square miles. About the same as Holland and Belgium combined.

Some areas in New Mexico were wanted by settlers and they had powerful Senators. That land for oil and gas and grazing was taken from them after it was given in the late 1800s.

Today there are 300,000 members of the Navajo Nation.

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Q: What happened to the Navajo Indians when white settlers came?
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