Classwork Series and Exercises { Geography – SS3}: Settlement

Geography, SS 3, Week 3

Topic: Settlement

Contents:

1. Meaning of Settlement
2. Favourable condition for siting a settlement
3. Factors affecting population growth
4. Types of settlement
5. Function of rural and urban settlement

Meaning of Settlement

Settlement is a collection of buildings with people living in them. It is centre of human activities and it consists of houses, communication network, roads, tracks, railways etc. It could be one house, a village, a town or a city.

Favourable conditions for siting a settlement

1. There must be adequate and dependable water supply for man use
2. The soil must be fertile to produce agricultural activities
3. Such lands must be lowland and well drained for easy erection of buildings
4. The presence of good roads, railways, airport etc
5. The area should be well protected against invading enemies

Factors affecting the growth of settlement

1. People are likely to settle in areas that are easily accessible by roads, rails etc nd these tend to increase the growth of settlement
2. Absence of both natural and man made disasters in a place tends to attracts people to such areas, hence the growth of such settlement
3. Favourable climate also tends to attract people to an area which equally leads to the growth of a settlement
4. The presence of low relief or low lands favours settlement unlike rugged relief and highlands which repel settlement of people
5. People also settled in places which are seats of government as social amenities and other facilities are often provided in such areas

Types of settlement

There are two types of settlements. These are (a) Rural settlements (b) Urban settlements

(a) Rural Settlement  

(i)  A rural settlement is a relatively small area with socially homogenous people that know one another

(ii)  It could be nucleated, dispersed or linear

(iv) They have people with the same cultural background and language

(v) They have few social amenities and the life style is important

(vi) They are normally involved in primary activities such as farming, fishing and lumbering

Types of rural settlement

There are three types of rural settlement. These are:

1. Homestead: this is one family residence. These are disperse settlement which are separated from one another by bushes or by geographical barriers and contain few people with little opportunity for social gathering
2. Hamlet: this settlement may be nucleated with few houses, usually less than hundred with many people living in them
3. Village: this is a large nucleated rural settlement formed from the combination of several hamlets. It contains several hundred or thousands of people with limited services

Functions of rural settlement

1. Agriculture is usually the main occupation of rural dwellers, leading o the production of abundant food
2. Most rural areas with forest engage in lumbering activities
3. There are few commercial activities, mostly in petty trades, using their small shops and local markets
4. Most rural areas with rivers are also involved in fishing
5. Rural areas with churches and mosques are involved in religious activities.

(b)  Urban Settlement

An urban settlement is relatively large, densely populated settlement with socially heterogeneous people who do not know one another.

(i) They are usually compact in nature

(ii) They have nucleated settlement

(iii) There is presence of developed infrastructure

(iv) They are usually well built areas

(v) They have centres of innovation and ideas

(vi) They are made of many building; thousands of people live in them

Types of urban settlement

There are four main types of urban settlement and these are:

1. Town: it has several thousands of people
2. City: this is a large town with greater number of people than town
3. Conurbation: this is made up of several towns joined together but, each town still maintains its identity
4. Megalopolis: this is the largest type of urban settlement made up of large cities with several millions of people

Functions of urban settlement

1. Urban centres are involved in the manufacturing of finished goods
2. The presence of markets and banks enables urban dwellers t engage in commercial activities
3. Most urban centres are the seats of government
4. Urban settlements are centres for the establishment of universities, polytechnic, schools, churches, mosques and hotels
5. Where minerals are present in some towns, the inhabitant tend to perform mining function

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