Routes of Indian removal, 1830
The Trail of Tears occurred between 1830 and 1850 when, as a result of the United States' Indian Removal Act, Native Americans in the American South (primarily the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminoles, Choctaws, and Chickasaws) were forced to migrate to federal lands west of the Mississippi River. 16,543 Cherokee were forcibly deported to what is now Oklahoma, with as many as 6,000 Cherokee tribesmen dying on the journey. The "Trail of Tears" was a gross violation of human rights, and President Andrew Jackson has since been vilified for his role in the atrocity.