A map shows the original territories of Eastern tribes, the regions of Indian Territory to which they were resettled, and the paths taken between the two during the Trail of Tears. The Cherokee were originally located in northern Georgia and Alabama. They walked northwest to southern Illinois and then southwest through Missouri and Arkansas Territory into northern Indian Territory.
The Creek nation originally inhabited land just south of Cherokee territory. They walked in three groups west northwest to the Mississippi River at the southwestern corner of Tennessee, before merging and walking to north central Indian Territory.
The Chickasaw and Choctaw originally inhabited regions in northern and central Mississippi. Both peoples travelled southwesterly into Louisiana and then northwesterly through Arkansas Territory into the southern portion of Indian Territory.
The Seminole originally occupied central Florida. They traveled by boat to New Orleans and then followed the Mississippi into Indian Territory, where they occupied a region surrounded by the new territories of the Creek, Choctaw, and Chickasaw tribes.
Use the map to answer the question.
What does this map most clearly show?
A. the effects of territorial expansion on white settlement
B. the forced removal of Native Americans from the Southeast
C. the sale of Native American lands east of the Mississippi
D. the development of sovereign nations by the Five Civilized Tribes