Sometimes known as Arkansas, the Quapaw people inhabited an area around the confluence of the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers when they were first encountered by the French explorers Jacques (Pere) Marquette and Louis Jolliet in the late 17th century.

According to tradition, the ancestors of the Dhegiha, which included the tribes that would later be known as the Omaha and the Quapaw, lived together east of the Mississippi River, near the mouth of the Ohio. They left that area, probably due to the Beaver Wars, in which the Iroquois drove other tribes from the region. Those who moved up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers became known as the Omaha, while those who moved downriver, toward its confluence with the Arkansas, would become known as the Quapaw.

Marquette and Jolliet found them there, in the Lower Mississippi Valley region, about twenty miles north of the Arkansas, on July 16, 1673.

Their villages were made of bark-covered longhouses, with extended families residing in each. Each village had a leader who was advised by a council of male elders.

Among the Quapaw, ancestry was traced through the father, with children adopting their father's clan, which were social units associated with an animal, celestial body, or weather phenomenon. Each clan was divided into two groups, the Earth People and the Sky People, with the former tending to administrative affairs while the latter was responsible for spiritual matters.

In 1686, a French military post was established near the mouth of the Arkansas River, beginning the European occupation of Quapaw territory. Within a decade, a larger portion of Quapaw women and children were killed in a smallpox epidemic.

In 1729, an alliance between the French and the Quapaw led to the near extermination of the Natchez tribe.

When the United States government took control of the territory in 1803, the Quapaw were living in three villages on the south side of the Arkansas River, about twelve miles above Arkansas Post. The U.S. government acknowledged that the Quapaw were owners of about 32 million acres that included all of what is now the State of Arkansas, south and west of the Arkansas River, as well as parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma. By treaty, the federal government required the Quapaw to cede nearly 31 million acres to the U.S. government, leaving 1.5 million acres between the Arkansas and the Saline rivers in southeastern Arkansas.

In 1824, they were forced to cede this too, except for about 80 acres occupied by Quapaw Chief Saracen below Pine Bluff.

Saracen was their last chief before the Indian Removal of 1834 when the Quapaw were moved to their current location in the northeast corner of Oklahoma, which was then Indian Territory.

In response to the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887, and the anticipated 80-acre land allotments it called for, the Quapaws agreed to divide their communal lands into 200-acre allotments in 1893, to which subsequent 40-acre parcels were added the following year. This strategy provided enrolled members of the Quapaw Tribe with three times the acreage they would have otherwise received.

When lead and zinc deposits were found on Quapaw land, mining profits led to a great deal of wealth.

The Quapaw continued its policies of hereditary chief until well into the 20th century. When Chief Louis Angel, also known as Tallchief (Tahíkašte), died in 1918, he had no male successor, so his daughter assumed his religious duties until her death in 1972. Since 1956, an elected business committee has served as the governing body for the tribe.

Today, the town of Quapaw serves as the tribal capital of the Quapaw Nation, which has a 13,000-acre tribal jurisdictional area. The tribe operates its own police and fire departments, issues its own tribal vehicle tags, and has its own housing authority.

The tribe owns a couple of gas stations and convenience store outlets, known as the Quapaw C-Store and Downstream Q-Store, two smoke shops, and the Eagle Creek Golf Course and Resort, located in Loma Linda, Missouri. The Quapaw Nation also owns gaming casinos, two located in Quapaw, the Quapaw Casino, and the Downstream Casino Resort, and another, the Saracen Casino Resort, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

The traditional language of the Quapaw people is part of the Dhegiha branch of the Siouan family of languages. The Quapaw Nation has taken steps to preserve and revitalize the language, including classes at its tribal museum.

The tribe hosts various cultural events throughout the year, many of which are held at the tribal museum. Besides its language courses, these have included Indian dice games, traditional singing, and traditional arts.

Online resources representing the Quapaw Nation, including businesses and enterprises, educational programs, medical facilities, and events, are appropriate for this category.

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