Geographic Reference

The Kaibab Plateau is a plateau in northern Arizona located within the larger Colorado Plateau. The Kaibab Plateau is split between the Kaibab National Forest to the north and Grand Canyon National Park to the south. The eastern and western sides of the plateau are bounded by tributaries of the Colorado River, and the northern edge is bounded by cliffs. Located at approximately 8,000 feet in elevation, the plateau is home to a range of forest types including aspen and mixed conifer stands, open stands of old-growth ponderosa pine, and a transitional zone of pinyon pine and juniper scrub near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

A fictitious location near Many Ruins Canyon, Arizona that would be in the vicinity of Red Rock Valley, near the Arizona-New Mexico border, as well as to the west of Shiprock, New Mexico, which is also near the state line.

A small town located in central New Mexico, just north of Interstate 40, about 75 miles west of Albuquerque. It is the county seat for Cibola (formerly Valencia) county. The area was first inhabited by ancient Puebloans in the 12th century, but was left abandoned until European and American settlers arrived in the late 1800s, along with a railroad station. First named Grant's Camp after the three Grant brothers who were contracted to build the region's railroads, the town later changed its name to Grant's Station, and eventually in 1936 to Grants. The community's early economy was based on logging, ranching, and farming but when uranium was discovered in the 1950s the town saw a growing boom as the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission established large mining operations in the area. After the recession of the 1980s, and the ensuing decline of the uranium mining industry, the town gradually developed a more diverse economy. Its history and proximity to national monuments and forests (including Mount Taylor, the Zuni Mountains, Acoma Pueblo, El Malpais, and Chaco Culture National Historical Park) make it an attractive destination for tourists, Route 66 tourists, and outdoor recreation enthusiasts.

One of the most iconic interstates in the U.S, this route followed and ultimately replaced Route 66. I-40 connects the primary urban areas mentioned in Tony Hillerman's Navajo detective stories including Flagstaff, AZ and Gallup, Grants, and Albuquerque, NM. I-40 is also the primary thoroughfare for traveling east-west through Indian Country.

More commonly spelled as Hoskinini Mesa, this is a site located roughly between Monument Valley and Kayenta. Hoskinini was named after the well-known Navajo leader, Hashké neiní, born in the area of Monument Valley. In 1863, Kit Carson engaged in a campaign, now referred to as the Long Walk, whereby the Union Army forcibly removed Navajos from the Four Corners Region and forced them to walk over 300 miles to a new reservation in eastern New Mexico known as Bosque Redondo. Hoskinini and his band evaded capture and lived for four years in the Navajo Mountain region in Utah. Upon the release of the Navajo from Bosque Redondo, Hoskinini travelled back to Monument Valley, where he became known for his generosity to those Navajo who had survived their internment at Bosque Redondo. He died in 1912 in Monument Valley.

The city is named after Sam Houston, the first president of Texas and a leader of the 1834-36 struggle against Mexico to win control of the state and annex it as a U.S. territory. Established as a small settlement in 1837, the town grew slowly until the first railroad arrived in 1853, but saw consistent development and expansion after that. In 1863, it became one of the headquarters of the Confederacy, playing a significant role during the Civil War. After the war, segregation led to the development of separate neighborhoods for whites, African Americans, and Hispanics, and growing racial tensions culminated in violent riots in 1917. Today, Houston is considered one of the most diverse cities in the U.S. It is one of the country's largest transportation hubs and is home to many colleges and universities, cultural centers, and leading medical institutions.

A fictional location mentioned by Hillerman in Dance Hall of the Dead. Because the local hippie commune is mentioned as "living in hogans behind Hoski Butte," it seems appropriate to locate the butte close enough to Zuni for locals to be familiar with it, yet out of town enough for abandoned hogans to exist along a "wagon track," which is what Lieutenant Leaphorn drives along when he goes to interview the commune's members.

On the Hopi Reservation in north-central Arizona, which is completely surrounded by the Navajo Reservation, there are twelve Hopi villages. These villages are not in the exact same places as they were in the 1500s, but the people there still live in tune with the traditional ways. The Hopi are a Pueblo people, named as such by the Spanish colonizers because of their traditional building style, which reminded the Spaniards of their own small towns, or pueblos, on the Iberian Peninsula. The cluster of Hopi villages are located on three peninsular mesas, First Mesa, Second Mesa, and Third Mesa, that form the southern edge of Black Mesa. Although the customs, language, and rituals of the tribe across the villages and mesa are intertwined and similar, the villages do have their own unique variations and specific customs. First Mesa includes the villages of Walpi, Sichomovi, and Tewa (Hano). Walpi is the oldest village and has had inhabitants since 900 AD. Second Mesa is the home of the villages of Shungopavi, Mishongovi, and Sipaulovi. Third Mesa includes Kykotsmovi (New Oraibi), Old Oraibi, Hotevilla, and Bacavi.

Officially titled the Republic of Guatemala, this Central American country is bounded by Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, and Belize. The origin of the name Guatemala has two possible sources. The first possibility is that the word derived from an Aztec word Quauhtemallan (“land of trees”), and the second is that Guatemala derived from Guhatezmalha (“mountain of vomiting water”). Since there are 27 volcanoes within the country, which is, or was before the devastating encroachment of coffee plantations, also heavily forested, either name seems appropriate.

Guatemala was also the territorial seat of the Maya civilization, one of the three great civilizations (including the Aztecan and Incan empires) that dominated the Americas prior to European contact in the sixteenth century. Known for its impressive pyramid temples and extraordinary art and artifacts, its written language, and its advanced mathematical and astronomical achievements, descendants of the Maya civilization and culture still populate the Guatemalan highlands in one of the most concentrated indigenous populations currently extant in Central America.

One of the seven wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon is a vast canyon system located in present day Arizona, west of the Navajo Reservation. Almost three hundred miles in length and one mile deep, the Grand Canyon's steep and variegated walls reveal billions of years of geological history. In addition, because the Canyon is so extensive, cut as it has been through the Colorado Plateau by the Colorado River, the Canyon creates its own weather patterns due to the powerful and super-heated uplifts that surge up out of the canyon bottom. Continuously occupied for thousands of years by several Native American communities for whom it remains a sacred place to this day, the Canyon entered protected federal status as a National Park in 1919. Currently, the Canyon is revered as much for its natural beauty as for its various layers of biological, ecological, archaeological, and cultural significance.