For generations, the Native peoples of Southeast Alaska lived in unison with the environment and developed rich traditions. Land ownership was not viewed as an individual undertaking; land was owned by groups. Respect for the land was integral to the Native code of survival. Contact with Europeans forever altered the Native lifestyles and introduced foreign concepts of land and natural resources management. While the Russians were harsh taskmasters, to say the least, they did not expect assimilation of Native peoples into Western cultures. That concept appeared with the Treaty of Cession and the governance of America.