Navajo weaving is a blankets and rugs made by the Navajo and thought to
be some of the most colourful and best-made textiles produced by North
American Indians. The Navajo, formerly a seminomadic tribe, settled in
the southwestern United States in the 10th and 11th centuries and were
well established by 1500. With a new life as a sedentary and
agricultural people, the tribe began to practice weaving, which had been
virtually unknown to them, learning from the Hopi how to build looms
and construct fabrics on a large scale. The introduction of domestic
sheep by Europeans revolutionized weaving by making a steady supply of
wool available, and the Navajo began to raise sheep for wool.