After the passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the United States government forced thousands of American Indians from their ancestral lands in the Southeast to new homes in Indian Territory, present-day Oklahoma. They traveled by existing roads and rivers, and many groups left in the fall hoping to avoid the disease and heat of summer travel, only to face treacherous winter weather, frozen ground, floating ice, hardship, and exposure. Hundreds died during this ordeal, remembered as the Trail of Tears. In the 1830s, the federal government forcibly removed approximately 12,000 Cherokee, 21,000 Muscogee (Creek), 9,000 Choctaw, 6,000 Chickasaw, and 4,000 Seminole from their ancestral homes in the southeastern United States. Federal Indian removal policy sparked fierce and bitter debate: supporters claimed it would save tribes east of the Mississippi River from being overwhelmed by an expanding American population, while opponents condemned its inhumanity and tragic consequences for Indian peoples. Removal also freed millions of acres of Indian land for white settlers. Despite the hardships of the journey, the people of the five tribes of the Southeast established new lives in the West and today stand as successful sovereign nations, preserving cultural traditions while adapting to the challenges of the 21st century.