« Cotes » are the structural elements of the first settlement patterns on Montréal Island. Nowhere else in Québec have they reached such importance as a System of settlement. They appeared as such about 1665 along the banks of the Saint-Laurent and in the inner part of the island at the turn of the century. Their development can be traced through diverse documents until 1834, when Jobin produced a map showing the System of « cotes » in their heyday.