USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Trail of Tears-actually a network of different routes-is over 5, 000 miles long and covers nine states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

Detailed explanation-2: -There were 4 routes used by the Cherokee to cross Tennessee on their way west. These are known as previously mentioned, the northern land route, the southern land routes, which are known today as the Bell and Benge routes through south-central Tennessee, and the water route by way of the Tennessee River.

Detailed explanation-3: -This is the story of the removal of the Cherokee Nation from its ancestral homeland in parts of North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama to land set aside for American Indians in what is now the state of Oklahoma.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Cherokee people called this journey the “Trail of Tears, ” because of its devastating effects. The migrants faced hunger, disease, and exhaustion on the forced march. Over 4, 000 out of 15, 000 of the Cherokees died.