Canyon de Chelly

National monument in northeastern Arizona, USA, within the Navajo Indian Reservation, 85 km/53 mi south-southwest of Four Corners; area 33,955 ha/83,840 ac. Set here along 42 km/26 mi of Chinle Wash are cliff dwellings and other ruins from five periods, c.AD 350–1300, created by the Anasazi. The Hopi lived in the area c.1300–1700; since then it has been dominated by the Navajo, who use the canyon today for summer grazing and farming, and allow limited tourism.

The US Army destroyed permanent settlements here in the 1860s. The Navajo community of Chinle in Apache County (population (1990) 5,100), lies just to the west.