Shiprock is a volcanic monadnock that rises 1,583 feet above the desert landscape of the Navajo Nation in San Juan County, New Mexico and is 7,177 feet above sea level. Multiple volcanic dikes radiate from it, including one pictured in the lower left of the image. The formation figures prominently in the religion, myth and traditions of the Navajo, and stood at the geographic and cultural center of the Ancient Puebloans of the Colorado Plateau, also known as the Anasazi. Three major Anasazi sites, Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, and Aztec Ruins National Monument reside less than a hundred miles from the volcanic plug
Shiprock is made of volcanic breccia and dikes of igneous rock. It is what remains of the upper core of a volcano that formed 27 million years ago.
The name of the formation derives from an anglicized perspective of what the rock looks like, in this case a 19th-century clipper ship. The Navajo have a different name, Tsé Bitʼaʼí, which means winged rock, and comes from the legend of a great bird.
Navajo Tourism – Shiprock New Mexico Department of Geology – Shiprock
One of the distinguishing cultural and architectural aspects of the American Southwest are historic remnants of Catholic missions that were established by the Empire of Spain in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. The goal unlike the conquest of Mexico and South America for gold and riches, was to save the souls of native american indians the Spanish saw as pagans.
One of those missions was the Tumacacori Spanish Mission Church is located outside of Tubac, Arizona. The mission dates back to as early as 1691 (though the present building dates back only to 1753), and was founded by the Jesuit priest Father Eusebio Francisco Kino of the Franciscan order. During his life, Eusebio established more than 24 missions, and country chapels in Pimería Alta (Sonora) and Baja California. The name of the current Church translates as “The Mission of Saint Joseph of the Rocky Flat Place”. The building is considered of Spanish Colonial architectural design and is similar in nature to other Spanish mission churches found in California and New Mexico. The primary mission of the church was the conversion of the local Pima Indians, and more specifically the Tohono O’odham band.
The Franciscans are a monastic Christian religious order within the Catholic Church, that was founded by Saint Francis of Assisi in 1209.
Another Spanish mission founded by Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, also exists up the road near Tucson, Arizona. It is known as San Xavier del Bac.
National Park Service – San José de Tumacácori Adventurous Way – Tumacácori National Historical Park
The Woodland Indian Village at George Rogers Clark Park is something of an open-air museum, representing dwellings and structures that the great Shawnee Indian Chief Tecumseh likely encountered while trying to band together numerous separate Native American tribes from across the Northeast and Southeast United States. His goal of a Native American confederacy, was an attempt to respond to the growing presence of white settlers heading west from the 13 colonies in search of new land, particularly the territory of the Shawnee in what is now Ohio. He ultimately aligned his efforts with Great Britain, which culminated in the Battle of 1812, which Britain lost. It was during that battle that Tecumseh died.
The Woodland Indian Village itself was built near the original location of the Shawnee villages of (Peckuwe and Kispoko) that were attacked by George Rogers Clark, during the battle of Peckuwe in 1780. George Rogers Clark is the older brother of William Clark, of the famous William and Clark expedition that ventured toward what would eventually become the state of Washington, in search of a fabled short cut to the Pacific Ocean that has become known as the Northwest Passage.
Native Dwellings The first dwelling pictured above is of an Iroquois Longhouse. Each longhouse typically accommodated multiple families. The Iroquois inhabited at that time what we know as upstate New York, and parts of Ontario near Toronto.
The second dwelling known as a Birch bark conical Wigwam, was typical of the northeastern woodlands of Ontario, Canada, and parts of Maine. The homeland of the Miꞌkmaq people. The Birch Bark wigwam is very similar in design to the commonly known tepee of the Plains states, except that in that case buffalo hides were used in place of the birch bark, since bison were quite plentiful in areas of vast praire land, while not as common either in Ohio, or where the Mi’kmaq were located in eastern Canada.
The third dwelling known as a mound house, is more typical of the southeastern United States, and is called a mound house, because it normally would have been built on top of the enormous earthen mounds European settlers found exploring the region.
Fourth is the domed wigwam, a structure that is found in many different forms across a wide variety of the native cultures of the United States. This is impart to strength a domed shaped design provides in built structures.
Finally the fifth structure pictured here, what we will call an Indian log cabin began to appear as Native Americans in the northeast started gaining access to horses, and other tools brought to America by the colonists. The combination provided a way to transport and construct buildings with more substantial timbers. This particular home is something one might have seen in the 1790’s.
