On June 1, 1868, the Navajo Nation and U.S. government signed a treaty formally ending their conflict and the internment of Navajo people at Bosque Redondo, allowing the Navajo to return to their ancestral homelands in present-day Arizona and New Mexico. Known by several terms, including the Treaty of Bosque Redondo and Naaltsoos Saní (The Old Paper in Navajo), the treaty essentially established the sovereign Navajo nation, today the largest Indigenous nation in the United States at 25,000 square miles. The signing of the treaty is commemorated each year as Treaty Day, but there are other year-round ways for your group to discover the treaty’s legacy alongside the history of the Navajo.
Three copies of the treaty were made in 1868: One was sent to Washington D.C., where it belongs to the National Archives; a second copy was given to Navajo Chief Barboncito, and its whereabouts are unknown, though according to legend it was perhaps buried with him in 1871. A third copy was given to Indian Peace Commissioner Samuel F. Tappan, but the document was soon lost to history. In 2019, Tappan’s great-grandniece, who had inherited the treaty in a trunk of family heirlooms in the 1970s, donated the document to the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Arizona.
There also is a memorial and historic site at Bosque Redondo in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, where groups can visit the very site where the treaty was signed. There is also an audio tour and interpretive trail. And in Tuba City, Arizona, the Explore Navajo Interactive Museum immerses your group in the life of the Navajo across 7,000 square feet of space. The Arizona museums are both located within Navajo Nation, allowing for groups to further explore the history and natural beauty of the region.
Main Image: Treaty Rock, Bosque Redondo Memorial at Fort Sumner Historic Site, New Mexico; Credit: Adobe/Bill Chizek
