Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Colonizing Chaco Canyon: Mapping Antiquity In The Territorial Southwest, Berenika Byszewski
Colonizing Chaco Canyon: Mapping Antiquity In The Territorial Southwest, Berenika Byszewski
American Studies ETDs
The 1849 Navajo Expedition was the first official US military mapping of Navajoland after the Mexican Cession, and has been recognized by historians as the first sustained window into the region and its people. Lieutenant James H. Simpson of the US Topographical Corps of Engineers was ordered to accompany the punitive expedition to document the route. Captivated by the stone ruins of Chaco Canyon, Simpson made a side excursion to record and map the structures, and contributed to the way Chaco is interpreted and imagined to this day. In this paper, I follow Lieutenant Simpson's survey party, tracing their "discovery" …