The Cherokee Nation once stretched across parts of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama and was home to thousands of men, women, and children. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 required the Cherokee to surrender their land and move west, part of a broader federal policy that forced thousands of American Indians from their ancestral lands to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. In 1838, more than 15,000 Cherokee began the trek west from their eastern homeland on the Trail of Tears, traveling by roads and rivers and passing through southern Illinois. Many groups left in the fall hoping to avoid summer heat and disease but instead faced treacherous winter weather. Nearly 1,000 died during the journey westward, and up to 4,000 died as a result of the forced removal process. Supporters called removal a benevolent policy, while opponents condemned its inhumanity and tragic consequences, and it freed millions of acres of Indian land for white settlers. Despite the hardships, Cherokee survivors established a new sovereign nation in present-day Oklahoma, while some who remained in North Carolina formed the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.