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Trail of Tears
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Infographic map showing the routes of the Trail of Tears, the forced relocation of five major Native American nations from the southeastern United States to Indian Territory in the 1830s, highlighting 9 states crossed, 5,045 miles traveled, key routes and camps, and major events. Thematic map of the Indian Frontier in 1841, highlighting in pink the regions west of the Mississippi River where various Native American tribes were relocated. Labeled tribes include Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Shawnee, Delaware, Osage, Sauk and Fox, Ottawa, and others, with surrounding territories and neighboring states also marked. Painting of a group of Sauk and Fox people in traditional clothing and feathered headdresses, some standing and some seated, with hills and open landscape in the background. Robert Lindneux: The Trail of Tears Map showing the routes of the Trail of Tears across the southeastern and south-central United States. Red lines indicate land routes and blue lines indicate water routes taken by displaced Native American groups, mainly Cherokee, from locations in Georgia, Tennessee, and surrounding areas to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. Key cities, modern state boundaries, and forts along the routes are labeled.
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Infographic map showing the routes of the Trail of Tears, the forced relocation of five major Native American nations from the southeastern United States to Indian Territory in the 1830s, highlighting 9 states crossed, 5,045 miles traveled, key routes and camps, and major events.
Trail of Tears Routes, statistics, and notable events of the Trail of Tears.

Trail of Tears

United States history
Written by
Elizabeth Prine Pauls
Elizabeth Prine Pauls was Associate Editor, Anthropology and Languages, at Encyclopædia Britannica. She was State Archaeologist of Iowa from 2002 to 2006. She coedited Plains Earthlodges: Ethnographic...
Elizabeth Prine Pauls
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History

Trail of Tears, in U.S. history, the forced relocation during the 1830s of Eastern Woodlands Indians of the Southeast region of the United States (including Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole, among other nations) to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. Estimates based on tribal and military records suggest that approximately 100,000 indigenous people were forced from their homes during that period, which is sometimes known as the removal era, and that some 15,000...

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