Ancient cultures flourished on abundant natural resources along the Seaway Trail, and Native people have lived here for thousands of years, using resources from the land and water. Akwesasne is one of several Mohawk communities today, three of them along the St. Lawrence River, and although lifestyles changed from hunting and gathering to agricultural village life to modern times, appreciation for the land and water remains. The confluence of four rivers provided a productive ecosystem for food as well as travel and transport corridors, and although these lands have been part of Mohawk territory for thousands of years, Akwesasne has been continuously settled since 1752, when people from the Mohawk community of Kahnawake built a mission church at the confluence of the St. Regis and St. Lawrence rivers. The people of Akwesasne have a rich and complex culture that joins traditional ways of life with contemporary innovations, and they are especially known for basket making, including utilitarian and decorative baskets made from black ash splint and sweetgrass, along with beadwork, carving, cornhusk dolls, sewing, and leatherwork. One of the first recorded contacts between Europeans and Mohawk people came in 1534, when Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence River Valley, beginning an age in which trade, warfare, disease, religion, and politics brought major challenges and wars that disrupted and divided Native communities, yet Mohawk culture and traditions endured. In modern times, Akwesasne remains a vibrant community with strong ties to its history and Native culture, while environmental programs and departments work to protect natural resources for future generations amid the legacy of pollution, flooding, and other changes.