Hunt's Mesa, Monument Valley
Before any white man got to see the Monument Valley the Navajo people were already living there for centuries and called it Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii - Clearing Among the Rocks. Throughout the 19th century, white settlers considered Monument Valley to be hostile and ugly. The first US soldiers to explore the area called it “as desolate and repulsive looking as can be imagined,” as Capt. John G. Walker put it in 1849, the years after the area was annexed from Mexico in the Mexican-American War. “As far as the eye can reach … is a mass of sand stone hills without covering or vegetation except a scanty growth of cedar”.
Thanks to John Ford, Monument Valley is now one of the most familiar landscapes in the United States. The perception of its stark nature changed dramatically as proven by 350,000 annual visitors (and progressively increasing) and the existence of the hotel “The View”, opened December 2008.
Interested in a photo tour through the American Southwest? I can help you with it and make you come back with unique shots.
_______________________________
Image is under Copyright by Peter Boehringer.
Contact me by email if you want to buy or use my photographs.
_______________________________
Hunt's Mesa, Monument Valley
Before any white man got to see the Monument Valley the Navajo people were already living there for centuries and called it Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii - Clearing Among the Rocks. Throughout the 19th century, white settlers considered Monument Valley to be hostile and ugly. The first US soldiers to explore the area called it “as desolate and repulsive looking as can be imagined,” as Capt. John G. Walker put it in 1849, the years after the area was annexed from Mexico in the Mexican-American War. “As far as the eye can reach … is a mass of sand stone hills without covering or vegetation except a scanty growth of cedar”.
Thanks to John Ford, Monument Valley is now one of the most familiar landscapes in the United States. The perception of its stark nature changed dramatically as proven by 350,000 annual visitors (and progressively increasing) and the existence of the hotel “The View”, opened December 2008.
Interested in a photo tour through the American Southwest? I can help you with it and make you come back with unique shots.
_______________________________
Image is under Copyright by Peter Boehringer.
Contact me by email if you want to buy or use my photographs.
_______________________________