Osage Indians

Osage Nation

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) (Ni-u-kon-ska, “People of the Middle Waters”) is a Midwestern Native American tribe of the Great Plains who historically dominated much of present-day Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. The tribe developed in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys around 700 BC among other groups in its language family. It migrated west of the Mississippi after the 16th century due to wars with Iroquois invading the Ohio Valley from New York and Pennsylvania in a search for new hunting grounds.

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 River, the Ozarks to the east and the foothills of the Wichita Mountains to the south. They depended on nomadic buffalo hunting and agriculture.