The Osage Nation is a Native American tribe with approximately 10,000 enrolled members, mainly residing in Oklahoma where they own casinos and businesses. They originated in Kentucky and were once a powerful tribe. They have had conflicts with other tribes and made treaties with the United States, retaining mineral rights to their reservation lands. The tribe is governed by a principal chief, assistant chief, and an eight-member tribal council.
The Osage Nation is a federally recognized Native American tribe found throughout the United States. The tribe’s main base, however, is in Osage County, Oklahoma. As of 2010, there were approximately 10,000 enrolled tribal members, with nearly half residing in the state of Oklahoma, where the tribe owns numerous casinos and other businesses. The Osage Nation is the only tribe in Oklahoma with a federally recognized reservation.
The tribe originated in the region around what is now known as Kentucky and have lived there for thousands of years. Before the arrival of Europeans, the Osage Nation was considered one of the most powerful tribes in North America. The Osage were widely considered to be the tallest Native American group. He was well respected in warfare by other regional tribes. By the mid-17th century, years of conflict between the Osage Nation and the Iroquois tribe caused the Osage to migrate west to land in present-day Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas.
In 1673, the Osage began having encounters with Europeans. That year, land in the Mississippi River Valley was claimed for France by explorers Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette. In the early 18th century, the Osage Nation and the French were allies and trading partners.
The Osage Nation has had a number of wars with other Native American tribes, including the Kickapoo, Choctaw, Sequoyah, Cherokee, and Comanche tribes. Most notably, the Osage Nation and the Kiowa Tribe had a conflict in 1833 in present-day Oklahoma. The Osage beheaded their Kiowa victims in the Cutthroat Gap massacre, during which no Osage warriors were killed. The incident sparked retaliation from the Kiowa and Comanche, who had become allies.
The Osage Nation and the United States began making treaties in the early 19th century. The Osage Treaty, which was signed in 1919, marked the first instance of Osage lands being ceded to the United States. That same year, the tribe moved from its homeland in what became central Missouri to the western region of present-day Missouri.
By the early 20th century, the Osage people had divested land in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma and were suffering even more hardship as a result of a forced removal from Kansas. In 1907, the tribe negotiated to retain mineral rights to the reservation lands. This proved lucrative for members of the Osage Nation, because large quantities of crude oil were found there. The Dawes General Allotment Act of 1887 provided a governing body for the Osage: the principal chief, an assistant chief, and an eight-member tribal council.
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