Divide and Conquer: The Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute

Vicki Rose Kee stands outside her house in the former Bennett Freeze area

Written by Weilson Geng on March 1st, 2025

When imagining a territorial dispute between two Native American tribes, you might think of an ancient rivalry going back to time immemorial, as intertribal relations tend to be portrayed. On the surface level, the Navajo-Hopi land dispute may seem as such, but it was actually created and aggravated by the policies and actions of the United States federal government. The dispute, which was in fact started in the late 19th century, has caused extreme hardship and damage to both tribes. 

The Hopi tribe is a group of Pueblo Indians living in what is now considered northeastern Arizona who traditionally practice a sedentary lifestyle with an economy based on farming and herding. The geographically close but genetically unrelated Navajo people migrated south into New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah sometime between 1100 and 1500 CE, adopting many elements of the Pueblo peoples’ sedentary lifestyle into their hunter gatherer culture. According to a report from the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission, the two tribes historically engaged in alliances, trade, and intermarriage as well as disputes that sometimes led to war. However, the two groups banded together when threatened by an outside force such as the Spanish. 

The report further states that soon after Americans arrived in Navajo territory in 1846, the United States started a brutal war against the Navajo tribe for control over the land. During the war, the National Museum of the American Indian states that over 8,000 Navajo were incarcerated at the Bosque Redondo reservation in New Mexico, where one in four died of disease or starvation. In 1868, Navajo leaders signed a treaty with the US government, which ended the war and created a Navajo reservation containing part of their original lands; however, in 1882, President Chester A. Arthur signed an executive order carving a separate Hopi reservation out of the Navajo reservation. The new Hopi reservation included many Navajo villages, inciting conflict between the two tribes. Many Navajo, especially those returning from Bosque Redondo, felt that despite now living on Hopi territory, they still deserved the rights to their former lands.

The conflict grew throughout the early 20th century, especially after the discovery of extensive mineral resources in the area. The Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission identifies Congress passing Public Law 85-547 in 1958 as a key factor that exacerbated the situation, as it authorized the tribes to take the dispute to court. In 1962, the U.S. District Court of Arizona ruled that the disputed land would be made into a Joint-Use Area while the tribes negotiated ownership. After continued failure to reach an agreement, Congress passed the Navajo-Hopi Settlement Act in 1974, which decreed forced relocation for Navajo and Hopi people living on each others’ reservations. Although seemingly attempts to reduce conflict, these policies only worked to increase it.

Earlier in 1966, the Joint-Use Area had been put under the “Bennett Freeze,” which banned all construction in the area in an attempt to force the tribes to reach an agreement, according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The tribes ultimately reached an agreement in 2006, 40 years after the start of the Bennett Freeze. In the meantime, most residents had been reduced to extreme poverty and lived in appalling conditions. The Los Angeles Times states that in 2009, only 24% of the houses in the former Joint-Use Area were habitable, as most lacked plumbing and 60% lacked electricity. Although there have been attempts to promote recovery, progress has been slow. As the Navajo Times states, $4 million in federal funding is still untouched due to the bureaucratic and under-resourced tribal government.

The Navajo-Hopi land dispute exemplifies the “divide and conquer” tactic of federal Indian policy, which is to create conflicts between tribes to the benefit of the U.S. government. In fact, many tribal leaders believe that the government’s objective for creating the dispute was to accommodate mining interests on the reservations. The Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission includes a quote from Navajo elder Roberta Blackgoat, who believes that, “the American government created the land dispute so that it would be easier for American energy corporations to exploit the vast mineral resources in the land.” According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, mining has since become widespread on both reservations, greatly impacting residents’ health and the natural environment. While the Navajo-Hopi land dispute has already been resolved on paper, its impacts will be felt by local communities for generations to come.

References:

Allen, K. (2023, November 2). Former Bennett Freeze area residents still waiting: Part I. Navajo Times. Retrieved February 28, 2025, from https://navajotimes.com/reznews/former-bennett-freeze-area-residents-still-waiting-part-i/

Bosque Redondo. (n.d.). National Museum of the American Indian. Retrieved February 28, 2025, from https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/navajo/bosque-redondo/bosque-redondo.cshtml#:~:text=Harsh%20living%20conditions%20at%20Bosque,are%20buried%20in%20unmarked%20graves.

Darling, N., & Quimby, F. (2006, November 3). Historic agreement resolves Navajo-Hopi dispute over tribal lands in Arizona [Press release]. https://www.bia.gov/as-ia/opa/online-press-release/historic-agreement-resolves-navajo-hopi-dispute-over-tribal-lands

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2024, December 25). Hopi. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hopi

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2025, February 4). Navajo. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Navajo-people

Linthicum, K. (2009, November 5). Trying to be rebuild after 40 frozen years. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 19, 2025, from https://www.latimes.com/la-na-bennet-freeze-5-2009nov5-story.html

The Navajo Hopi Land Settlement Act of 1974: Hearings on S. 1003 before the Committee on Resources, 109th Cong., 2d Sess. (2006) (testimony of William P. Ragsdale). https://www.doi.gov/ocl/s-1003

Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission. (2012, July 6). The impact of the Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act of 1974 P.L. 93-531 et al.

Vanderpool, T. (2020, October 20). After the local coal mine shuts down, these Navajo and Hopi communities seek a just transition. Natural Resources Defense Councl. Retrieved February 20, 2025, from https://www.nrdc.org/stories/after-local-coal-mine-shuts-down-these-navajo-and-hopi-communities-seek-just-transition