Were the Navajo Indians travelers?

Today there are 300,000 enrolled Navajo members and they travel all around the world. They have served heavily in the armed services in every war since WWII when they were Code Talkers. Traditionally, it was felt (and is still felt by some) that it was dangerous (in a spiritual balance sort of way) to travel beyond the boundaries of the Four Sacred Mountains.

Those are Blanca Peak in Southern Colorado, Mt Taylor in West Central New Mexico, San Francisco Peaks west of Flagstaff Arizona, and My Hesperus in SW Colorado. There are special ceremonies, that are still practiced, for those who spend to much time beyond this area. However, that makes for a very large area.

Much larger than the current Navajo Nation which is 27,000 square miles on part of that land. That is about the size of Belgium and Holland combined. Navajo people traditionally did not live in towns but in extended family settlements sort of like ranches.

There was a great deal of traveling within that area. It is wrong (incest) to marry anyone within any of the four clans of your grandparents (or those related) in Navajo culture so one needed to travel just to meet someone that was ok to marry. Since the 1540s, Navajo people have raised sheep.

Typically they moved with the sheep to higher new grass when the snow melted in the mountains in the summer. They also have always raised corn and beans and squash so that was grown in lower areas. They usually had a main hogan and then a summer house/camping area.

They also traveled for hunting up into the Southern Rockies. Navajos gained horses about the same time in the 1540s. They were known for loving horses and horse races were popular.

Horses made it so travel was much faster. Navajos up until 1900 or later went to trade fairs to buy and sell things. The trade fairs in Zuni, Hopi and Taos, and Acoma have been going on for at least 900 years.

After the Spanish came in the 1500s there were trading fairs in Santa Fe too. Navajo rugs were valued by people as far north as the Northern Plains. Later their silver work was highly valued too.

The Navajo sacred gem of the west is abalone and the one of the east is white shell from the Gulf of Mexico. These had to be exchanged at trade fairs. Navajo turquoise can be found far and wide too.

Navajo also raided for horses and sheep and to rescue slaves that had been taken. This took them regularly south and SE to what is now Mexico, east beyond Santa Fe and sometimes NE.So, the answer is: in the time period from 1540 to 1868 Navajo people traveled widely in the areas of today's states of New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Northern Mexico and Texas and maybe farther north onto the Plains. They also seem to have traditional knowledge of The Great Plains, The Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific Ocean (and maybe the Channel Islands in California), the Sea of Cortez, and maybe northern Canada (or the Pacific NW) where other people with the same language family live.

So it seems the probably occasionally traveled to these places along trade routes.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.