Nudarcha

Nudarcha is a name recorded for the Missouria, a Siouan-speaking people whose villages stood near the meeting of the Grand and Missouri rivers. The Illinois name for them gave the Missouri River its name, which was later applied to the surrounding country. They farmed the river bottomlands and hunted in the surrounding country, maintaining ties with their neighbours the Otoe and Ioway.

The French learned of the Missouria in the seventeenth century and later established trading relationships with them. During the eighteenth century war and smallpox greatly reduced their numbers. Many left their villages on the Missouri and joined the Otoe farther west. By the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition, the two peoples were living together, though each retained its own identity.

The later city of Kansas City lies here.