ESC-Southwest.docVIP

English Speaking Countries, Part II The United States of America Regional Geography Approach The Southwest Always includes Arizona and New Mexico, and often Nevada, Utah and Colorado, and parts of California and Texas. Here, I will consider it as Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Southern California. Topics: The Navajo Los Angeles The Navajo -The Navajo are a Native American (Indian) Tribe (部落) in the Southwest of the United States, in the area where Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico meet. The Navajo tribe is the largest in the U.S., with about 170,000 people living on the reservation, and their reservation is the largest in the country. There are about 280,000 Navajo in total living in the country. -Called Diné in their own language. (Navajo is a name the Spanish gave them.) -(A reservation is an area of land the government left for the Native Americans to live on, after they took the rest of their land. Today these areas are partly self-governed.) Culture -Traditionally, they were semi-nomadic （nomad=游牧部落的人）, meaning moving several times during a year. -In their culture, female children inherit (继承) all the parent’s possessions and land. -The traditional house was a “hogan.” The door was always built to the east, to welcome the sun, and the building is considered sacred (神圣的) in the Navajo religion. They were used as houses until the mid-1900’s, and are now used mostly for ceremonial (礼仪的) purposes. -The Navajo are well-known for their beautiful woven blankets. Weaving (编织) is an ancient part of Navajo culture, but in the past blankets were very simple, except for the chief’s (首领). However, they began to make fancier patterns (花样) to sell to the white people. Outside Ideas -The Navajo are very good at adopting ideas from other cultures, and making them their own. For example: -Originally, the Navajos were nomads who migrated from Canada. They learned agriculture from another tribe, the Pueblos. -When the Spanish cam