Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited national park in the United States, straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are a division of the Appalachian Mountain chain. The border between Tennessee and North Carolina runs northeast to southwest through the centerline of the park. Before the arrival of European settlers, the region was part of the homeland of the Cherokees. President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, beginning the process that resulted in the forced removal of all Indian tribes east of the Mississippi River. Many of the Cherokee left, but some hid out in the area that is now the park. Some of their descendants now live in the Qualla Boundary.
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