About 1800, the site was named New Archangel as the capital of Russian America. After the United States purchased Alaska in 1867, Sitka remained the capital of the territory until 1906, when the seat of government was moved to Juneau. Beginning in the mid-eighteenth century, some Haida migrated into southeastern Alaska and their descendants remain neighbors to the Tlingit. Traditionally the Tlingit were a matrilineal society. Today, most members still recognize the principle of matrilineal succession.
Tlingit art forms a major portion of Northwest Coast collections in museums around the world.
The Haida erected their own clan houses and totem poles. By the early 1800s the Haida were doing a booming business providing otter pelts for foreign fur traders. Haida were known for their fearless seafaring in some of the world's most perilous seas. In 1887, Anglican missionary William Duncan established the utopian Christian Tsimshian community. Duncan successfully negotiated with President Grover Cleveland for the entire 86,000-acre Annette Island, which is where the Tsimshian permanently settled.