North American Plains Indian people living mostly in Oklahoma, U.S. Their language is
The name Osage is a French-derived version of their name for themselves, Wazhazhe. They lived variously in the Piedmont and Ozark plateaus and the western Missouri and southeastern Kansas prairies. Their culture was marked by the combination of village agriculture and buffalo hunting. Their villages consisted of {{link=longhouse">longhouse s; tepee s were used during the hunting season. Their religious ceremonies divided clans into symbolic sky and earth groups. In the late 19th century the Osage were removed to a reservation in Oklahoma. The discovery of oil there made them a uniquely prosperous tribe. They number more than 18,000.