OSAGE TRIBE
1895 Maps of Indian Nations

The first historical notice taken of the Osage appears to have been by the French explorer Marquette, who located them on his map of 1673 on the Osage River.� They were a warlike people, held in terror by the surrounding tribes, especially the Caddoans.

Under treaties of 1808, 1818, and 1825, the Osage ceded to the Government much of their land in Arkansas and all lands west of the Missouri River.� Subsequent treaties further reduced their lands until their present reservation was established in the northeastern part of Oklahoma in 1870.� At the turn of the 20^th Century, the Osage were considered to be the wealthiest tribe in the United states because oil was discovered on Osage land.� However, every oil-rich Osage has a score of contemporaries without oil who continue to farm their lands in Oklahoma as did their grandfathers.