The Osage Nation (/ˈoʊseɪdʒ/ OH-sayj) (Osage: 𐓁𐒻 𐓂𐒼𐒰𐓇𐒼𐒰͘ (Ni Okašką), "People of the Middle Waters") is a Midwestern Native American tribe of the Great Plains. The tribe developed in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys around 700 BC along with other groups of its language family. They migrated west after the 17th century, settling near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, as a result of Iroquois invading the Ohio Valley in a search for new hunting grounds.