After passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the United States government forced tens of thousands of American Indians from their ancestral lands in the Southeast to new homes in Indian Territory, present-day Oklahoma, traveling over established land and water routes that led through Arkansas. To avoid the disease and hazards of summer travel, many groups departed in the fall and instead faced treacherous winter weather, and thousands died in the ordeal remembered as the Trail of Tears. In the 1830s, the federal government forcibly removed approximately 16,000 Cherokee, 21,000 Muscogee (Creek), 9,000 Choctaw, 6,000 Chickasaw, and 4,000 Seminole from the southeastern United States amid fierce debate over a policy whose supporters called it benevolent and whose opponents condemned its inhumanity and tragic consequences. Removal also freed millions of acres of Indian lands for American settlers. Despite the hardships, the people of the five tribes of the Southeast established new lives in the West and stand today as successful sovereign nations preserving cultural traditions while adapting to the challenges of the 21st century.
