Skip to main content
Timeline, 1930- Collections

Language & Glossary

Language shapes history and our understanding of it.

Bosque Redondo takes its name from the towering cottonwoods along this winding stretch of the Pecos River. The U.S. Army set aside a million acres here as a "reservation." Today, it would be more accurately described as a concentration camp.

á gunu yuu´

An Apache term for imprisonment that can be used to describe the Bosque Redondo period; it translates to "herding up and penning like cattle."

Bosque Redondo

Spanish term for "round grove," the name described the cottonwood trees found along the Pecos River; name of 1860s concentration camp.

Concentration camp

A guarded compound designed to detain or confine political prisoners or members of national, racial, or ethnic groups for military or political reasons.

Cultural genocide

Deliberate destruction of the culture, language, or religion of a people or nation for military, political, racial, ethnical, religious, or ideological reasons.

Diné

Navajo word for "the people."

Fort Sumner

The U.S. Army established the fort on October 31, 1862, to serve as the supply and control point for Bosque Redondo.

Hwéeldi

Navajo word for Bosque Redondo, meaning "a place of suffering;" it loses some of its meaning and power when translated into English.

Internment

A state of imprisonment, especially for military or political reasons.

Long Walk

1860s deportation of Mescalero Apaches and Navajos from their homelands to Fort Sumner.

Ndé

Apache word for "people."

Reservation

An area of land reserved for, and managed by, a tribe or tribes under a treaty, executive order, federal statute, or administrative action.

Site of Conscience

A place of memory—such as a memorial, museum, or historic site—that creates a setting for the public to connect the past to the present and consider the lessons that history provides for their own lives.