Osage (tribe)
Official seal of the Osage Nation
|
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (10,000) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 United States (Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma) |
|
| Languages | |
| English, Osage | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity (Roman Catholicism), Native American Church, traditional tribal religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Kansa, Omaha, Ponca, Quapaw |
The Osage Nation (English pronunciation: /ˈoʊseɪdʒ/ OH-sayj), originally named Ni-u-kon-ska (“People of the Middle Waters”), is a Midwestern Native American tribe of the Great Plains who historically ruled much of Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas. The tribe formerly lived in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys around 700 BC before migrating west as a result of wars with the invading Iroquois. The term "Osage" is a French version of the tribe's name, which can be roughly translated as "warlike". The Osage people refer to themselves in their indigenous Dhegihan Siouan language as "Wazhazhe", or "Mid-waters".
At the height of their power in the early 19th century, the Osage had become the dominant power in the region, feared by neighboring tribes. The tribe controlled the area between the Missouri and Red Rivers, the Ozarks to the east and the foothills of the Wichita Mountains to the south, being dependent on nomadic buffalo hunting and agriculture.
The 19th-century painter George Catlin described the Osage as
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