Navajo Nation

Navajo Nation
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Navajo
Total population
298,215 as of 2000 census
Regions with significant populations
United States (New Mexico, Utah, Arizona)
Language
English, Navajo
Religion
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The Navajo Nation (Navajo: Naabeehó Dine'é) is a sovereign Native American tribe traditionally known as Diné. The Navajo Indian Reservation covers about 27,000 square miles (70,000 square kilometres) of land, occupying all of northeastern Arizona, and extending into Utah and New Mexico, and is the largest land area assigned primarily to a Native American jurisdiction within the United States.
The 2000 census reported 298,215 Navajos living throughout the United States, of which 173,987 were living within the Navajo Nation boundaries. 131,166 lived in Arizona. 17,512 of these lived in Maricopa County, which includes the city of Phoenix. Because the Navajo Nation encompasses land in three states, its Division of Economic Development extracts census data for the Navajo Nation as a whole, and sends a representative to the Census Board. Another group lives on the Colorado River Indian Tribes reservation along the Colorado River in California and Arizona.
Each tribe establishes its own requirements for being an enrolled tribal member, which is usually based on "blood quantum." The Navajo Nation requires a blood quantum of one-fourth for a person to be an enrolled tribal member and to receive a Certificate of Indian Blood (CIB). In comparison, some tribes require a one-thirtysecond blood quantum for issuing a CIB. Recently, the Navajo Tribal Council voted down a proposal to reduce the blood quantum to one-eighth, which would have effectively doubled the number of individuals qualified to be enrolled Navajo tribal members.
continue this article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_Nation