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At the base of sheer red cliffs and in canyon wall caves are ruins of Indian villages builtbetween AD 350 and 1300. Canyon de Chelly National Monument offers visitors the chance to learn about Southwestern Indian history from the earliest basketmakers to the Navajo Indians who live and farm here.
Total size: 83,840 acres
Location:
In Chinle, near the geographic center of the Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona.
Historical Facts
Home to the Ancient Puebloans (Anasazi to the Navajo or Hisatsinom to the Hopi) for over a thousand years, the early people found in the canyons the ideal location for building homes, raising families and planting crops. The pit houses are evidence of the first settlers, but as large numbers of people migrated into the canyons, more sophisticated dwellings were constructed in alcoves to take advantage of the sunlight and natural protection. Around the mid-1300s, the puebloans moved to better farmlands and left the canyons. The Hopi then began to migrate seasonally to the area to plant peaches, cherries and apricots. The Navajo continue to live in and use the canyons for farming and raising livestock.
Designation Date: April 1, 1931, by President Herbert Hoover
Watch the Clip
From the air, Canyon de Chelly in northeast Arizona appears as a mysterious, meandering crack in the earth…a secret, lost world that even the sun has trouble finding.
>>Free software downloads: Windows Media - Quicktime
Windows Media Player:
PC compatible
Low: 207 KB | High: 838 KB
QuickTime movie:
Macintosh/PC compatible
1.78 MB
Learn More
Canyon de Chelly Info/NPS
Canyon de Chelly Fees/NPSCanyon de Chelly Facilities/NPS
Canyon de Chelly Activities/NPS
Managing Agency:
National Park Service
Canyon de Chelly National Monument
PO Box 588
Chinle, AZ 86503
928-674-5500
