According to the 1868 U.S.-Navajo Treaty, the Navajo Nation comprises 27,000 square miles of reservation branching into the states of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. The area is larger than ten of the fifty states in America, and today contains a population that surpasses 250,000 people.

By the 1920s, an oil discovery detected on the Navajo's land demanded the formation of a government. Three years later, a tribal government formed and met to help the increasing demands of American oil companies.

The Navajo Nation Council Chambers house 88 council delegates who represent 119 Navajo Nation chapters. After the Navajo formed a government, five federal agencies, the Navajo Nation, congressional staff, academics, state and local government representatives, community members, and nongovernment organizations met to implement a five-year plan to address uranium contamination on the Navajo reservation.

The traditional Navajo flag reflects the 1868 Reservation Treaty, and in recent years, the Navajo built a Veteran's Memorial at the base of Window Rock to honor the many Navajo who served in the U.S. armed forces. Today, more than fifteen national monuments, tribal parks, and historic sites exist within the nation's perimeters.