Early Tlingit settlers selected village sites near heavily resourced areas along protected sections of coastline ideal for beaching canoes, digging clams, acquiring drinking water, and catching migrating salmon. An expanding Tlingit population, increasing competition for local resources, and intensifying patterns of warfare contributed to the progressive development of four types of villages: the local household village, the localized clan village, the local moiety village, and the consolidated clan village. In early times, people lived in one large community longhouse, which served as shelter, storage place, and fort. Population increases and mounting tension contributed to the breakup of the large household into several smaller related lineage households sharing a common fort. Later, in a third settlement stage, two intermarrying clans from the two moieties moved together to reduce distances, share resources, and increase village security. Depopulation and depletion of subsistence resources following European contact contributed to the rise of a fourth settlement pattern, the consolidated clan village, composed of two or more clans from both moieties.