OSAGE INDIANS

THIS NATION IS A SIOUAN LANGUAGE TRIBE ORIGINATING IN THE OHIO VALLEY IN PRESENT KENTUCKY. THEIR ANCESTORS LIVED FOR 1000'S OF YEARS. THEY WARRED WITH THE INVADING IROQUOIS THEY MIGRATED WEST TO THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

AT THE HEIGHT OF THE POWER 1700'S THEY BECAME THE DOMINANT POWER IN THEIR REGIONS. THEY ARE FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED. THEY LIVE THROUGH THE COUNTRY. GEORGE CALLEN DESCRIBED THEM AS THE TALLEST RACE OF MEN IN NORTH, EITHER RED OR WHITE SKINS. MOST MEN ARE ABOUT 6' TALL AND SOME 7 FEET TALL.

THE FRENCH MADE CONTACT OF THE OSAGE IN 1673 BY EXPLORER JACQUES MARQUET. THEIR EARLY HISTORY SHOWED FOR 1000'S OF YEARS THEY WERE PART OF A GROUP OF DHEGIAN-SIOUAN SPEAKING PEOPLE. ACCORDING TO THEIR STORIES THEY MIGRATED WEST BECAUSE OF THE WAR WITH THE IROQUOIS AND TO HAVE MORE GAME. SOME BELIEVE THEY STARTED MIGRATING WEST AS EARLY AS 1200 A.D. THEY HAD LONG YEARS OF WAR WITH INVADING IROQUOIS. EVENTUALLY THEY REACHED THIS HISTORIC LANDS. BY 1673 THE FRENCH RECORDED THAT THEY HAD SETTLED NEAR THE OSAGE RIVER IN THE WESTERN PRESENT DAY MISSION. BY 1690 THEY ADOPTED THE HORSE. THEY HELD HIGH RANK AMONG OLD HUNTING TRIBES OF THE GREAT PLAINS. THEY MADE ANNUAL BUFFALO HUNTING FORAGE INTO THE GREAT PLAINS.THEIR WOMEN CULTIVATED CORN, SQUASH , AND OTHER VEGETABLES, AND HARVESTED NUTS AND WILD BERRIES.

EARLY FRENCH EXPLORERS IN 1673 ENCOUNTERED THE OSAGE IN CANADA. THE OSAGE AND PAWNEE CONTROLLED MUCH OF MODERN DAY KANSAS.

THEY WERE EXPERIENCED WARRIORS ALLIED WITH THE FRENCH TRADE DURING THE 1700'S. IN 1724 THEY ALLIED WITH THE FRENCH TO GET CONTROL OF THE MISSISSIPPI REGION.

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