wah zha zhe

Also known as the Osage, "A tribe in the United States, which is mainly based in Osage County, Oklahoma, but can be found throughout America. At the height of their power in the early 17th century, the Osages were a dominant regional power, occupying much of present day Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma." "Today, the Osage Nation has 9,635 enrolled tribal members, with 4,994 living within the state of Oklahoma. They are headquartered in Pawhuska, Oklahoma and have jurisdiction in Osage County, Oklahoma. The tribe issues its own vehicle tags and operates its own housing authority. The Osage Nation owns a truck stop, a gas station, 19 smoke shops, and seven casinos. The Osage Tribal Museum in Pawhuska, the oldest tribally-owned museum in the country, documents their history." "Osage legends state that the tribe originally known called themselves Ni-U-Kon-Ska, which means meaning Little Children (or People) of the Middle Waters. However, by the late 17th century, the Osage were calling themselves Wah-Zha-Zhe." "The earliest record of European - Osage contact is a 1673 map by Jesuit priest and explorer Jacques Marquette. This map translated the Wah-Zha-Zhe name into Ouchage A few years after the Marquette expedition, French explorers discovered a Little Osage village and called it Ouazhigi. These early French translations of the tribe's name were the basis for the English name Osage." Info from wikipedia.