Provisional names for future new settlements or settlement expansions were already assigned. Nicolet's settlement was one of the oldest European permanent settlements in America. Ghettos were also established in hundreds of smaller settlements and villages around the country. Thus they were able to rule an area of several settlements and tribes. A process of land claims settlements is ongoing. Immigrant communities first developed in the riverside settlements. Both later accepted settlements when litigation was threatened. Cossacks served as border guards and protectors of towns, forts, settlements, and trading posts. Many of these coastal settlements served as trading ports. Other attempts at establishing permanent settlements were also failures. The concentrated settlements depended on the agricultural surpluses. Girs was in charge of a diplomacy that featured numerous negotiated settlements, treaties and conventions. Mexican literature has its antecedents in the literature of the indigenous settlements of Mesoamerica. It is one of the coldest permanently inhabited settlements on Earth. This colony proved as troubled as earlier English settlements.