In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act. Passage of the new law resulted in one of the most tragic periods in American History—the removal of thousands of Native Americans from their homelands in the Southeast to lands west of the Mississippi River. The Trail of Tears tells the story of the Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Cherokee people, known as the Five Tribes. Learn about their struggles to maintain their culture and keep their lands in the face of increasing pressure from white settlers and the US government to move west. Because of the many hardships and deaths during their journey west, the paths the people traveled came to be called the Trail of Tears. Use the interactive map to follow the journey of each of the tribes to land in what is now Oklahoma. Scroll through a timeline of important events and study the numbers during the period of Indian Removal.