The Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, is a river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is the southwesternmost part of the Missouri River drainage, which is in turn the northwesternmost portion of the extensive Mississippi River drainage. Its two names both come from the Kanza (Kaw) people who once inhabited the area; "Kansas" was one of the anglicizations of the French transcription "Cansez" () of the original "kką:ze". The city of Kansas City, Missouri, was named for the river, as was later the state of Kansas.