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Canyon de Chelly

Canyon de Chelly National Monument
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
Canyon de Chelly, Navajo.jpg
Canyon de Chelly, 1904, by Edward S. Curtis
Map showing the location of Canyon de Chelly National Monument
Map showing the location of Canyon de Chelly National Monument
Location Apache County, Arizona, USA
Nearest city Chinle
Coordinates 36°09′19″N 109°30′32″W / 36.1552818°N 109.5089952°W / 36.1552818; -109.5089952Coordinates: 36°09′19″N 109°30′32″W / 36.1552818°N 109.5089952°W / 36.1552818; -109.5089952
Area 83,840 acres (339.3 km2)
Created April 1, 1931 (1931-April-01)
Visitors 828,478 (in 2013)
Governing body Bureau of Indian Affairs
Website Canyon de Chelly National Monument
NRHP Reference # 70000066
Added to NRHP August 25, 1970

Canyon de Chelly National Monument (/dəˈʃ/ də-SHAY) was established on April 1, 1931 as a unit of the National Park Service. It is located in northeastern Arizona within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation. Reflecting one of the longest continuously inhabited landscapes of North America, it preserves ruins of the early indigenous tribes that lived in the area, including the Ancient Pueblo Peoples (also called Anasazi) and Navajo. The monument covers 83,840 acres (131.0 sq mi; 339.3 km2) and encompasses the floors and rims of the three major canyons: de Chelly, del Muerto, and Monument. These canyons were cut by streams with headwaters in the Chuska mountains just to the east of the monument. None of the land is federally owned. In 2009 Canyon de Chelly National Monument was recognized as one of the most-visited national monuments in the United States.

The name chelly (or Chelley) is a Spanish borrowing of the Navajo word Tséyiʼ, which means "canyon" (literally "inside the rock" < tsé "rock" + -yiʼ "inside of, within"). The Navajo pronunciation is [tséɣiʔ]. The Spanish pronunciation of de Chelly [deˈtʃeʎi] was adapted into English, apparently through modelling after a French-like spelling pronunciation, and now /dəˈʃ/ də-SHAY.


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