Rise and Fall of the Osage Empire

Rise and Fall of the Osage Empire. . , This border area between the Ozarks and Osage Plains once belonged to the Osage nation. Osage lands included southern Missouri, eastern Kansas, and northern Arkansas and Oklahoma., The Osage maintained their stronghold for several centuries, witnesses to the coming and going of the French, Spanish and first wave of American settlers in the early 1800s., Prairie Power , Spain and France governed their North American territories with small militaries, so the Osage remained the regional power. Thanks to their large population and central location in the fur trade in the 1700s, the Osage controilled the flow of firearms and dominated their Indian rivals with superior weaponry. Missouri provided a resource-rich landscape in its prairies, rivers and woodlands. While men hunted, Osage women cultivated corn, beans, squash and pumpkins, and gathered wild foods., Fort Osage and Osage Mission , Fort Osage on the Missouri River opened in 1808 as fort and trading post. The fort established an American presence in the new Louisiana Territory, and the post, run by George Sibley, encouraged the Osage to trade furs there., Though an important early trade center, Fort Osage lost influence as other trading posts sprang up. Harmony Mission, founded in 1821 by the United Foreign Missionary Society of New York about eight miles from Osage village in southwest Missouri, tried with limited success to steer the Osge away from their semi-nomadic and communal life towards Christianity and sedentary farm life., Treaties , Converging events forced the Osage into an impossible situation. American settlers coveted the natural resources of Osage lands. From the west, teh Osage were harassed by Coman chi, Kiowa and others, and the tribe was severely weakened by smallpox and measles epidemics. In the 1808 Fire Prairie treaty, the Osage lost all Missouri and Arkansas lands except for a narrow strip on the western border., After further treaties with the United States, in 1818 and 1825, the Osage gave up most of their remaining territory–what amounted to half of today's Kansas and Oklahoma, plus northwest Arkansas and western Missouri–and moved to a 50-by-125-mile rectangle in Kansas. In 1872, the Osage were moved from Kansas to Indian Territory (later Oklahoma). Today, the tribal reservation is in Osage County, Okla.