Geographic Reference

A small town located in eastern Texas, Huntsville is home to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and a large, state-operated prison. The Department of Criminal Justice and the correctional facility are the city’s two main employers. The Texas Prison Museum is one of the town’s main tourist attractions.

In the Old Testament, Mount Sinai was where God appeared before Moses, gave him the Ten Commandments, and instructed him on how to lead the Israelites, who were on their exodus journey, to the Promised Land. The actual mountain, whose peak stands at 7,497 feet (2,285 meters), is located in Egypt, in the northern peninsula of Sinai. Because of its important role in the Jewish and Christian traditions, Mount Sinai has become, in Western culture, a symbol of a sacred place where God's presence and guidance are revealed.

A Hopi village located on the Hopi Pueblo Reservation, within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation in northeastern Arizona. The village was founded in 1906 by traditionalists who left the Hopi village of Oraibi after a dispute concerning Western influences on the traditional Hopi ways of life. Today the village of Hotevilla has a population of a few hundred residents and is still known as a place dedicated to preserving old practices and traditions. The village serves as a trade center for Hopi crafts, baskets, and textiles.

A Hopi village located on the Hopi Reservation within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation in northeastern Arizona. The village was established before 1100 AD, and has been continuously inhabited since then, making it one of the oldest settlements within the United States. The first contact with Spanish explorers occurred in 1540 when the Francisco Vázquez de Coronado expedition reached the area. A mission was built in the village in 1629, but was destroyed in 1680 during the Pueblo Revolt. When the U.S. government took over the region in the mid-1800s, the Hopi were increasingly exposed to European influences and their traditional way of life began to change, especially as the result of the forced education of Hopi children at Christian boarding schools. In 1906, a split between traditionalist and progressive groups in Oraibi led to the founding of the nearby village of Hotevilla by the traditionalists who were struggling to preserve their old ways of life. Oraibi was once a thriving village of a few thousand people but is now a small community of less than 100 residents and is part of Kykotsmovi, the seat of the Hopi tribal government.

A 10-mile-long mesa located within the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation in northeastern Arizona. This mesa is an extension of Hopi Third Mesa. In Navajo, it is called Gad Dah Yisk'id, which means "Juniper Hill." Its English name comes from the geological surveyor Fray Juan Padilla, who was part of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado’s 1540 Spanish expedition.

Blue Point is part of Padilla Mesa, which is a 10-mile-long low mesa located within the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation in northeastern Arizona.

A long, flat highland located in the southwestern part of the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation in Arizona. This mesa was named after Francisco Garces, a Spanish missionary who was killed in the area in 1781.

A 15-mile-long mesa located at the center of the Painted Desert in Arizona, which is part of the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation. It was named after John S. Newberry, a U.S. Army captain who visited the area in 1859.

One of a chain of volcanic mesas and buttes that lies between Interstate 40 and the Hopi mesas on the Navajo Indian Reservation in northeastern Arizona. The area is characterized by its rough and barren terrain and for its striking geologic formations. It is important to both Navajo and Hopi peoples, and features in various migration stories.

Although called mountains, these are in fact a chain of low hills located in the western part of the Navajo Indian Reservation in northern Arizona. The origin of the name Yon Dot is unclear. In Navajo these hills are called Yaa Ndee’nil, which simply means “series of hills going down.”