<Tr> <Th> Deaths </Th> <Td> <P> Cherokee (4,000) Creek Seminole (3,000 in Second Seminole War--1835--1842) Chickasaw (3,500) </P> Choctaw (2,500--6,000) </Td> </Tr> <P> Cherokee (4,000) Creek Seminole (3,000 in Second Seminole War--1835--1842) Chickasaw (3,500) </P> <P> The Trail of Tears was a series of forced relocations of Native American peoples from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States, to areas to the west (usually west of the Mississippi River) that had been designated as Indian Territory . The forced relocations were carried out by government authorities following the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830 . Many of the relocated people suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation while en route to their new designated reserve, and many died before reaching their destinations . The forced removals included members of the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), Seminole, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Ponca nations . The phrase "Trail of Tears" originates from a description of the removal of many Native American tribes, including the infamous Cherokee Nation relocation in 1838 . </P> <P> Between 1830 and 1850, the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, and Cherokee people (including mixed - race and black freedmen and slaves who lived among them) were forcibly removed from their traditional lands in the Southeastern United States, and relocated farther west . Those Native Americans who were relocated were forced to march to their destinations by state and local militias . The Cherokee removal in 1838 (the last forced removal east of the Mississippi) was brought on by the discovery of gold near Dahlonega, Georgia in 1828, resulting in the Georgia Gold Rush . Approximately 2,000--6,000 of the 16,543 relocated Cherokee perished along the way . </P>

What is meant by the trail of tears
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