Osage Nation
The Osage Nation (Wazhazhe) is a Dhegihan Siouan-speaking people whose traditional homeland encompassed present-day Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. They were one of the most powerful nations in the central Plains and maintained extensive trade relationships with French and later American traders, including the Chouteau family. The Osage signed several significant treaties with the United States beginning with the Treaty of Fort Clark in 1808, which ceded much of their territory in present-day Missouri and Arkansas. These treaties fundamentally altered Osage territorial boundaries and laid the groundwork for their eventual removal to Indian Territory (Oklahoma), where the Osage Nation is headquartered today in Pawhuska.
Portrait: George Catlin, "Cler-mónt, First Chief of the Tribe," 1834. Smithsonian American Art Museum.
