At the start of the 20th Century, the condition of Native Americans was far from ideal. The centuries of colonization, war, displacement, and government policies had left Native American communities devastated and their populations significantly reduced. Following the Indian Removal Act of 1830, 100,000 Native Americans were forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands and relocated west of the Mississippi River. Millions of acres of land were lost, along with the cultural identity and independence of numerous Native American villages.