Monument Valley History

The spell-binding landscape of Monument Valley, Utah was a long-time coming. Hundreds of millions of years ago, the process began that would create one of the most photographed destinations on the planet. The history of Monument Valley, and the people who inhabit it, is like the landscape itself—multi-faceted and ever-changing.

efore the time of humans, in the Paleolithic era, Monument Valley was an enormous low-lying basin. Sediment deposits formed layers in the basin, which eventually created the Colorado Plateau. Over the course of millions of years, wind and water eroded the sedimentary layers, leaving behind the mesas, buttes, and pillars that decorate the valley today.

The earliest inhabitants of the region were the Ice Age Paleo-Indians, who lived in Monument Valley between 12,000 and 6,000 BCE and survived by hunting. Next, the Archaic hunter-gathers peopled the region for the next six thousand years. Anasazi farmers settled in the area from the beginning of the Common Era to the fourteenth century. Spanish and Mexican excursion into area was common in the latter part of the second millennium. During the nineteenth century, Monument Valley became a hotbed of violence between American troops and the Navajo. President Chester A. Arthur ordered the establishment of a Navajo reservation in 1884, though the needs of the Native people were often sidelined in favor of the economic needs pioneers.

Today, the region is home to a thriving Navajo Nation. Monument Valley is a popular tourist destination for American and foreign visitors. It also often featured in Hollywood films and television shows.