The Navajo Nation: What Phoenix Residents Should Know

The Navajo Nation covers approximately 17.5 million acres across Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah — an area roughly the size of West Virginia — and is home to approximately 170,000 tribal members, making it the largest tribal nation by land area in the United States. The Navajo Nation's capital, Window Rock, is three and a half hours northeast of Phoenix. The Nation operates its own government with executive, legislative, and judicial branches, tribal courts, educational system, and police force. Federal Indian law creates a complex sovereign relationship with both state and federal government that shapes every aspect of Navajo life. The Nation's relationship with water — the Colorado River settlement, the ongoing disputes over water rights in the Little Colorado River basin, and the contamination legacy of uranium mining on tribal lands — is one of the most consequential ongoing legal and political issues in the Southwest. Phoenix's relationship with the Navajo Nation is economic and cultural as well as political. Navajo artisans have commercial relationships with Phoenix dealers that are important economic channels for rural Navajo communities. The Heard Museum provides the most comprehensive educational context for understanding Navajo history and contemporary life.