Quapaw

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 territory and state of Arkansas were named for them, as Europeans first learned their name as the Arkansea, the term used by the Algonquian-speaking Illinois Confederation traders encountered to the east. The Quapaw are among the Siouan-speaking peoples west of the Mississippi.