Native Americans - Activity 2. Indian Removal

*** If you have not gone through the preparation of this topic yet, please click here. ***

*** The red circle(s) on the screen shots indicate the location of the tool or button you must use. ***

1. Click this link.

2. This is the prepared map for this activity. Once the map is loaded, save this map in your Esri account using

“Save.”

3. Click the “Layers” tool.

4. In this activity, we will study what routes the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek,

and Seminole) used when they were forcibly relocated to new lands. The tribes used several routes, mostly by

land but also by water. Generally, the term “Trail of Tears” is applied to the forced migration of the Cherokee

tribe (by water (river) and land), but the “Trail of Tears” is sometimes used to describe the whole period of

forced relocations in the 1830s.

5. This map includes three map layers - Homelands, Routes, and New Lands. The following table shows their

meaning and data sources. If you want to know what a layer is, click here.

Layer Meaning Data sources

Homelands Tribe’s original lands Created based on the map in American Indian Issues

Routes Routes from homelands

to new lands

The Cherokee’s two routes: created based on the “Trail of

Tears” shapefile in In Time & Place

Other routes: created based on the map in History Alive!

published by TCI (2005, p.194)

New Lands Tribe’s new lands Esri

6. In order to visualize this information effectively, we will choose one color scheme for three features -

Homelands, Routes, and New Lands - of each tribe. Use a lighter color for their homelands and new lands and

use more vivid color for the routes (i.e. use pink for the homeland and new land and red for the route). See

example below:

7. Let’s start with the Cherokee tribe. Click the details of the Homelands layer.

8. In the “Layer Details” window, click “Configure” in the row labeled “Display.”

9. Click the details of “Cherokee.”

10. Click “Background Color.”

11. Choose one color scheme, and then pick the second lightest color (among circled red) for the Cherokee’s

homeland. We will use the same color for Cherokee’s new land and use more vivid color in the same color

scheme for their routes. Therefore, remember which color you use for the Cherokee’s homeland. Once you are

done, click the arrow button to go to the previous option.

12. Click the arrow button to go to “Configure Display.”

13. Click “Done.”

14. Click the arrow button again.

15. Click the details of the New Lands layer. Follow the previous steps from #8 to #14 to change a color for

Cherokee’s new land. Make sure that you use the same color that you selected for their homeland in step #11.

16. Your map may look like the following:

17. Now we will choose the more vivid color in the same color scheme for the Cherokee’s two routes. Click the

details of the Routes layer.

18. In the “Layer Details” window, click “Configure” in the row labeled “Display.”

19. There are two routes that Cherokee tribes used - land and water routes. We will change their colors to more

vivid color than the one you chose for their homeland and new land. First, click the details of Cherokee’s “Land

Route.”

20. Because the Routes layer consists of line features, you need to click the “Outline Color” button to change its

color.

21. In the color scheme you used for the Cherokee’s homeland and new land, use the second most vivid color

(among circled red). Once you are done, click the arrow button to go to previous option.

22. Click the arrow button to go to “Configure Display.”

23. Now let’s change a color of the Cherokee’s “Water Route.” Click the details of Cherokee’s “Water Route,”

and repeat the previous steps from #20 to #22. Make sure that you use the same (the second most vivid) color.

24. Follow the previous steps from #12 to #14 to go back to the “Layers” option. Your map may look like the

following:

25. Let’s change colors for the remaining four tribes, too. You need to follow the previous steps from #7 to #24

for the other tribes.

Once you are done, click “Add Features” to add the direction of routes on the map.

26. Click the “Left Arrow” feature.

27. Draw the feature on the bottom of your map as shown below. Then click “Map Legend” to see its legend

information.

28. Here is my final map.

Discussion questions

o Which route was the longest? Which was the shortest?

o Identify the rivers that the Cherokee tribe followed to move to the new land.

o For the Cherokee, how was the experience of taking the land route different from that of taking

the water route?

o What challenges might all tribes have faced on their journeys? What was the climate during the

season they traveled? What food and supplies did they have for their journeys?

o If you had been a member of one of these tribes, what would you have chosen to pack?

o Why did the U.S. government forcibly move the tribes to today’s Oklahoma?

o What challenges did the tribes face in the new lands? How did they adjust to this environment

and to the other Native Americans who lived there?