The Osage people are a Midwestern American Indian tribe with roots in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys.

The Osage (wazhazhe or ni u konshka) are descendants of indigenous peoples who have been on the North American continent for thousands of years. According to tradition, they were part of a Dhegihan-Siouan people who inhabited the Ohio River valley area, extending into what is now Kentucky. Conflict with the Iroquois led them to migrate west, eventually reaching their historic lands, splitting and forming individual tribes during the migration to the Great Plains.

By the 17th century, the larger part of the Osage had settled near the Osage River in what is now western Missouri. By the late 17th century, they had acquired horses, probably in raids on other tribes, and were able to get more horses by trading with the French.

With horses, they were able to defeat the indigenous Caddo tribes, establishing dominance over the Plains region, including large parts or all of what is now Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Allied with the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache, they dominated western Oklahoma.

From their villages in Missouri and Arkansas, the Osage hunted buffalo in the Great Plains to the west, and also hunted deer, rabbit, and other wild game, while Osage women cultivated corn, squash, and other vegetables, and harvested berries, nuts, and other edible plants.

Traditional Osage religious beliefs were pantheistic, with a view of the universe as an interconnected organic whole, structured around a dualism of reciprocity. This was manifest in the pairing of the above and below, or the sky and the earth. This understanding was reflected in the Osage social structure, in which they demarcated individuals and clans into tsízhu (sky) and hónga (earth).

The central figure in Osage religious beliefs was Wah-kon-tah, a supreme mystery spirit or great power. All living organisms and changes in the universe were seen as manifestations of Wah-kon-tah. Human beings, animals, and other living things were manifestations of Mah-kon-tah.

Ceremonies and rituals were performed for various purposes, including agricultural activities, buffalo hunts, and war, and a sacred pipe (nonníonba wakondagi) played a role in many Osage ceremonies.

The first documented encounter of the Osage people with Europeans were the expeditions of Jacques (Père) Marquette and Louis Jolliet, French explorers and missionaries who traveled south along the Mississippi River from what is now Canada. A 1673 map created by Marquette noted the locations of Kanza, Osage, and Pawnee villages in what is now Kansas.

The Osage frequently allied themselves with the French, from whom they acquired horses and weapons. An Osage delegation visited Paris and other locations in France, hunting with King Louis XV in the royal forest, and attending an opera.

When France was defeated by the English in the French and Indian War, in which the Osage were largely neutral, France lost control over the lands east of the Mississippi River to England, and Spain took partial control over much of the Illinois Country west of the Mississippi, although this area continued to be dominated by French colonists, with whom the Osage traded.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition reported that the Osage were the dominant tribe on the Osage River, the Little Osage, and the Arkansas band of the Verdigris River.

After the Louisiana Purchase, the United States government appointed Jean-Pierre Chouteau, a wealthy French fur trader, as the Indian agent assigned to the Osage. He lived with the Osage for many years and learned their language. On the completion of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Meriwether Lewis was appointed Indian Agent for the Territory of Missouri. At that time, there were increasing tensions between European-Americans and the Osage. As the new country lacked the military strength to go to war with the Osage, they opted to supply other tribes with weapons and ammunition, persuading the Potawatomi, Sac, and Fox to attack an Osage village in 1807, killing three Osage warriors. Chouteau dissuaded the Osage from a retaliatory strike.

In 1808, the Osage were coerced into signing a treaty with the U.S. government, ceding 52,480,000 acres to the federal government. Of course, the government took the land but did not live up to its obligations under the terms of the treaty.

Weakened, the Osage soon found themselves involved in conflicts with a series of other American Indian tribes, including the Choctaw, Cherokee, Kiowa, Comanche, and Kickapoo. During this period, the federal government compelled the Osage to cede additional lands.

By 1825, they were assigned to reservation lands, first in Kansas, and then to Oklahoma.

In 1872, the Osage were one of the few American Indian nations to buy their own reservation.

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