The Apacheans, including the Navajos, began to arrive in the southwest from Canada late in the 15th century on a route that took them east of the Rockies. There is, however, evidence that four or so smaller groups may have migrated into the area via the Great Basin as early as the 12th century. Evidence of this also rests in the ethnie’s two religions, first the Begochidi or Enemy Way followed later by the Blessing Way. All of the so-called Navajo tribes were, at first, predatory nomadic hunter/gatherers. They acquired guns and horses early and preyed on the sedentary peoples of the area.

     The Navajo are now the largest tribe in population in the United States.