Geographic Reference

Glen Canyon was formed by the Colorado River and is located between Lake Powell and Lee's Ferry, in Northern Arizona. Originally, the canyon stretched about 100 miles further upstream, into what is now Utah’s Lake Powell, a large reservoir formed by the construction of Glen Canyon Dam in 1964. The Navajo name for the canyon is not certain but it may be “Tséyi'” meaning "a place deep in the rock." The name Glen Canyon was registered in 1869 by John Wesley Powell, the Anglo explorer after whom Lake Powell is named.

A small town in New Mexico located 13 miles northeast of Farmington. The town is called "Kinteel" by the Navajo, which means "wide house," referring to Anasazi ruins located in the town. The ruins are now preserved and partially excavated as the Aztec National Monument.

The largest town on the Zuni Reservation is Zuni Pueblo. Most of Zuni's residents live in the main village of Zuni and the nearby community of Blackrock. Zuni Pueblo is also known as Halona:wa Idiwan'a, or the Middle Place, and has been continuously occupied since at least 700 CE. It is considered one of the most traditional of the surviving Pueblo communities, retaining a unique language, culture, and history.

Prior to using the current pueblo community as their tribal seat, the Zuni people lived at Hawikuh, an ancient pueblo that was considered one of the Seven Cities of Cibola by the early Spanish conquistadors.

This region, known as "Halchíítah" or "Among the Red Areas" in Navajo, is a vast expanse of badlands and desert landscape in Arizona. The exposed colorful layers of sandstone, clay, and volcanic remains give the desert its name. Much of the Painted Desert is protected, because it lays within the Petrified Forest National Wilderness Area. Vast expanses of this desert also still remain within the Navajo Nation reservation.

What was once well-known as U.S. Highway 666 is now Highway 491, a long north-south route that crosses the states of Wyoming, Utah, and Arizona. The highway’s name was changed in 1993 because of many incidents of stolen road signs linked to superstitions based in Christian associations of the number 666 with biblical prophecies of the “number of the beast,” with the “beast” being the devil. This long highway has a spur, which was also known as Highway 666, that heads to the southeast from Monticello in Utah, through western Colorado and New Mexico, down to Gallup, NM. In 2003, the name of this segment of the highway was changed to U.S. Route 491.

A deep canyon located near Kayenta, AZ on the Navajo Nation. The gorge is known for its sheer walls of sandstone formed by the Laguna Creek and for its marsh growth. The canyon is a source of water to the surrounding area as a part of the Kayenta and Dinnehotso irrigation projects.

In Navajo, "Tséyi" means "In Between the Rocks” or "Inside the Rock."

Also known as Mishongnovi, this Hopi village shares a name with the mesa it is located on. Second Mesa is the middle of the three peninsular mesas located on the Hopi reservation, projecting like fingers from the southern part of Black Mesa. Approximately 20 miles long and 2 to 10 miles wide, it also contains the villages Shongopovi and Shipolovi.

One of three Hopi villages on the Second Mesa, located on the southwestern side of the mesa. There are at least 57 known spellings for the name of this village, but the Hopi call it Shung-o-hu Pa Ovi ("Place by the spring where the Tall Reed Grow"). The Shongopovi village is often considered the most traditional or conservative of all the Hopi villages. The ruins of Old Shongopovi can be found on the hills below the current dwelling place and are considered the oldest Hopi settlement.

A basin and watershed area in northern New Mexico. It receives water run-off from the Sangre de Cristo mountains to the north and drains into the Rio Grande to the southeast. Because of its ideal location between two rivers (the Rio Grande and the Pecos) and near three mountain ranges (the Sangre de Cristos, the Jemez, and the Sandias), the Galisteo Basin has been occupied by Puebloan peoples for centuries, making it one of the richest archaeological, historical, and cultural sites in North America.

Fruitland began as a Mormon community and Navajo Trading post located in San Juan County, New Mexico. This community was named in order to advertise its agricultural resources. The Navajo term for Fruitland is Bááh Díílid, which means “burning bread,” and Fruitland received this name after a group of Navajo witnessed Mormons burning a batch of bread.

Although the general area was eventually added to the Navajo Nation Reservation, Fruitland, the community, is on the north bank of the San Juan River and not on the actual reservation itsel, which runs on the south side of the river. This area was also the site for the precursor of the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project. The early stages of this long-term project, which began in 1973, allotted small portions of land to Navajos to irrigate and farm by using water harnessed from the San Juan River by the Navajo Dam and Navajo Lake, which are about 50 miles east of Fruitland.