After passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the United States government forced thousands of American Indians to leave their ancestral lands in the Southeast for new homes in Indian Territory, present-day Oklahoma. In the 1830s, approximately 15,000 Cherokee, 21,000 Muscogee (Creek), 9,000 Choctaw, 6,000 Chickasaw, and 4,000 Seminole were forcibly removed from their ancestral homes in the southeastern United States. They traveled by existing roads and by river, and many groups left in the fall hoping to avoid the disease and heat of summer travel but instead faced treacherous winter weather. Many people died during the ordeal remembered today as the Trail of Tears; nearly 1,000 Cherokee died during the journey westward and up to 4,000 died as a result of the forced removal process. Federal Indian removal policy aroused fierce and bitter debate: supporters claimed it was a benevolent action to save tribes east of the Mississippi River from being overwhelmed and lost in the onslaught of an expanding American population, while opponents condemned its inhumanity and tragic consequences for American Indians. One thing was certain: removal freed millions of acres of desired Indian lands for use by white settlers. Despite the hardships of the journey, the people of the five tribes of the Southeast established new lives in the West and stand now as successful sovereign nations, proudly preserving cultural traditions while adapting to the changes of the 21st century.