the osage are a midwestern native american tribe of plains indians who historically ruled much of arkansas, missouri, kansas, oklahoma and texas. the tribe formerly lived in the areas in the ohio and mississippi valleys around 1,200 bc. they then began migrating west due to wars with the invading iroquois. the term "osage" is considered a french name for the tribe which roughly translates into "mid-waters". the osage people refer to themselves in their own language as wazhazhe.