Final answer:
The Trail of Tears was the forced removal of Native American tribes from their lands in the Southeast to territory west of the Mississippi, most notably the Cherokee in 1838, resulting in severe hardship and thousands of deaths.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Trail of Tears refers to the tragic and forced relocation of Native American nations from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States to areas west of the Mississippi River that were designated as Indian Territory, primarily during the 1830s. The most infamous of these forced relocations was that of the Cherokee Nation in 1838, involving an estimated 16,000 Cherokee people. Following the Indian Removal Act of 1830 signed by President Andrew Jackson, tens of thousands of Native Americans from the 'Five Civilized Tribes'—Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole—were forcibly moved by federal troops. This relocation resulted in the deaths of about 4,000 Cherokee people due to disease, starvation, and exposure during their arduous journey.
Despite some tribes embracing Christianity and Anglo-American ways, including self-governance and owning newspapers, they were still removed from their lands. The march to the designated Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma became synonymous with suffering and death, hence the name Trail of Tears. This forced movement, which included other tribes and routes, not only resulted in significant loss of life but also the loss of ancestral lands and the breakdown of native cultures and societies.