At the time of removal, the Cherokee Nation was home to thousands of men, women, and children across parts of what are now Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama. The 1830 Indian Removal Act required the Cherokee and other southeastern tribes to surrender their lands and move west. In 1838, more than 15,000 Cherokee began the journey from their eastern homeland to Indian Territory, present-day Oklahoma, along the Trail of Tears. More than 1,000 died during the westward journey, and more than 4,000 died as a result of the forced migration. Four Cherokee water-route detachments passed here on the Ohio River, and eleven land detachments crossed the Mississippi River north of the confluence. Travel by water brought dangers such as sickness aboard, fear of disease in the river lowlands, fires on steamers, unpredictable weather, and changing water levels, while those traveling by land sought to avoid summer disease and heat but instead faced treacherous winter weather, frozen rivers, cold, and dwindling supplies. Federal Indian removal policy in the 1830s provoked fierce debate, with supporters calling it a benevolent measure and opponents condemning its inhumanity and tragic consequences, while millions of acres of Indian land were transferred to white settlers. Despite the hardships, members of the five removed tribes built new lives in the West as successful sovereign nations preserving cultural traditions while adapting to later challenges; Cherokee survivors of the Trail of Tears joined earlier migrants to form a new government in present-day Oklahoma, while some Cherokee remained in North Carolina and formed the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.