Tribal, Quapaw of Oklahoma

QUAPAW TRIBE OF OKLAHOMA -  The Quapaw tribe (known as Ugahxpa in their own language) are descended from a historical group of Dhegian-Siouan speaking people who lived in the lower Ohio River valley area. The modern descendants of this group also include the Omaha, Ponca, Osage and Kaw.

The Quapaw (or Arkansas and Ugahxpa) people are a tribe of Native Americans that coalesced in the Midwest and Ohio Valley.  The tribe historically migrated to the west side of the Mississippi River and resettled in what is now the state of Arkansas; this migration is the source of the tribe's name in their language which references going down the river.  The Quapaw were called Akansea or Akansa, meaning "land of the down river people", by the Illinois and other Alonguian-speaking peoples to the northeast. French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet met the Illinois before the Quapaw and adopted this exonym for the more westerly people.  English-speaking settlers who arrived later in the region adopted the name used by the French.

The Quapaw are federally recognized as the Quapaw Tribe of Indians. Since their removal west to Indian Territory in 1834, their tribal base has been in present-day Ottawa County in northeastern Oklahoma. The number of members enrolled in the tribe is 3,240.