Chinle, Arizona

History

In the Spanish colonial period, Chinle was a base for both trade and war. After acquisition of this area by the United States following the Mexican–American War, relations between the peoples deteriorated in the 1860s.

The United States conducted a peace conference through their representative Kit Carson and the Navajo people in order to end the war between the Navajo and the U.S. The first trading post operated out of a tent and was established here in 1882. By 1885 a full-sized camp had developed.

The Chinle Boarding School was established in 1910 by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Khalil Anthony Johnson Jr., a PhD candidate at Yale University, wrote an article in 2014 that said, with this school, the federal government "established a permanent presence in [Chinle]", and that the BIA "effectively governed the town thereafter."

Initially anglicized as Chin Lee, the spelling of the name was changed to Chinle on April 1, 1941.

Chinle serves as a gateway community for Canyon de Chelly National Monument. The monument was established in 1931 primarily to preserve the archaeological sites and record of ancient human history. Canyon de Chelly is unique among the National Park Service units because the park is located entirely on Navajo tribal land, and it has a residential community in the canyon.

From the History section of Chinle, Arizona on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.