 Zons, the Rhine toll town of the Prince-elector of Cologne is regarded as one of the best preserved Lower Rhine planned towns of the Late Middle Ages.Until 1794 the parish Zons belonged to the Electorate of Cologne and was bordered in the south by Dormagen, an enclave ruled by the Duchy of Jülich; in the south-west by Hackenbroich, a lordship within the Electorate of Cologne; in the west by Nievenheim, a parish within the Electorate of Cologne; in the north-west by Uedesheim, another lordship within the Electorate of Cologne.On the opposite banks of the Rhine were Urdenbach and Baumberg, "Honschaften" (lowest level administrative units similar to hundreds in England and Wales) within the Duchy of Berg.