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Trail of Tears

The Age of Revolution

The Trail of Tears was the forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of about 60,000 Native Americans of the Five Civilized Tribes, along with their black slaves, between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government.

Facts
Year
1838 1
1838 is the year of the Cherokee removal specifically, the trek the name Trail of Tears most directly denotes; the broader Indian Removal process affecting the Choctaw, Muscogee, Chickasaw and Seminole nations began with the Indian Removal Act of 1830.
Location
Southeastern United States to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River (present-day Oklahoma) 1
Death Toll, Low Estimate
4000 1
This figure concerns the 1838-39 Cherokee removal specifically. The broader Indian Removal (1830-1850) affected additional nations, including the Choctaw and Muscogee, each with separately documented death tolls not included in this count.
Classification
Event Type
Political Event 1
Connections

In Era

Source Trail of Tears (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Trail of Tears (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Sentence naming the Cherokee removal year
    The Cherokee removal in 1838 was the last forced removal east of the Mississippi and was brought on by the discovery of gold near Dahlonega, Georgia, in 1828, resulting in the Georgia Gold Rush.
  • Lead section, sentence naming the removal route
    members of the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations were forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States to newly designated Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River after the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830.
  • Sentence on the Cherokee death toll during the trek
    Approximately 4,000 Cherokees died in the ensuing trek to Oklahoma.
  • Sentence on the Cherokee death toll during the trek (same point estimate)
    Approximately 4,000 Cherokees died in the ensuing trek to Oklahoma.
  • Trail of Tears: Event Type
    The Trail of Tears was the forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of about 60,000 Native Americans of the Five Civilized Tribes, along with their black slaves, between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government.
  • In Era: The Late Modern Period, lead paragraph and infobox, dates
    The Trail of Tears was the forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of about 60,000 Native Americans of the "Five Civilized Tribes", including their b
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