Trail of Tears Map
A free printable map of the Trail of Tears drawn on real terrain, showing the main routes of the forced removal of the Cherokee in 1838 and 1839. It comes labeled and blank.
Choose your version
Labeled or blank.
Both are free PDFs sized for US Letter paper.
Labeled
Cities, regions, rivers and seas named.
downloadLabeled PDF
Blank
The same terrain and markers with no names, for labeling practice.
downloadBlank PDFThe Trail of Tears
In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, and over the next two decades the United States forced the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole nations to leave their homelands in the Southeast for Indian Territory, in what is now Oklahoma. This map shows the Cherokee removal of 1838 and 1839. About 16,000 Cherokee were rounded up and held in camps, then sent west in groups by land and by river. The journey was roughly 800 to 1,000 miles, much of it in winter. Historians estimate that about 4,000 Cherokee died in the camps and on the way. Most groups took the northern route through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas.
On the map
- New Echota: the Cherokee capital in Georgia
- Fort Cass and Ross’s Landing: where groups set out
- Northern route: taken by most groups, overland
- Water route: by boat on the Tennessee, Ohio, Mississippi and Arkansas rivers
- Bell’s route and Benge’s route: two other overland routes
- Tahlequah: the new Cherokee capital in Indian Territory
Find it on the map
- The northern route crossing two large rivers, the Ohio and the Mississippi
- The water route following four rivers
- How far Indian Territory is from the Cherokee homeland
Routes are approximate, drawn from the main points along each one. Modern state lines are shown for reference.