Coste

Coste was an Indigenous town at the meeting of the Little Tennessee and Tennessee rivers, associated with an island later known as Bussell Island. It lay within a region of Mississippian towns whose political ties extended southward toward Coosa. River channels surrounded the island and connected it with neighbouring settlements along the valleys.

Hernando de Soto's expedition reached Coste in July 1540 after spending several weeks at Chiaha. The chief met the Spaniards and escorted them to a town, but relations soon deteriorated when the soldiers plundered houses and stores of maize. De Soto seized the chief as a hostage to secure guides and porters. Men left behind at Chiaha rejoined the expedition by canoe before it continued south through Tali toward Coosa.