HUMAN SETTLEMENTS
Own an apartment or a big mansion.
Settlement refers to an organised colony of
human beings together with the buildings in
which they live or use and the paths and
streets over which they travel. It includes the
temporary camp of the hunters and herders;
the permanent settlements called villages; and
large urban agglomerations. Human
settlements may consist of only a few dwelling
units (hamlets), or they may be as large as
megalopolis with a big cluster of buildings
accommodating millions of people.
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Settlements can be studied in terms of
their site, situation, size buildings, form,
function, internal structure, external linkage,
and roles in the national and global economy.
Site refers to the actual piece of ground on
which the settlement is built. Situation or
Position refers to the location of the village or
town in relation to surrounding areas. The site
and situation of the settlements and the type
of building may be studied in relation to the
physical environment and cultural heritage.
For example, a village may be sited on a hill or
a river bank. Such a site will determine its
access to water and the likely inundation in
rainy season. The form of settlement in any
particular region also reflects human
perception of the natural environment.
The functions, linkages and roles reveal the
nature of hinterland from which the settlement
gets sustenance and the level of overall
development. Settlements have evolved to the
present form over a long period of time.
Throughout history, each new innovation in
agricultural and industrial techniques has had
developing. In the agricultural era, rural
settlements predominated. The Industrial
Revolution gave rise to urban settlements both
small and big. Changing cultural and social
nodes are clearly reflected in the structure and
functions of settlements.
SETTLEMENT TYPES: RURAL AND URBAN
Settlements are most commonly classified on
the basis of size and functions. Accordingly,
settlements are divided into rural and urban
or villages and towns. The terms rural and
urban are relative. There is no universally
acceptable criteria to distinguish rural from
urban. Different countries have evolved their
own criteria to suit their own requirements.
In fact, one finds a continuum of settlement
ranging from hamlets to megalopolises. Rural
settlements, are chiefly concerned with primary
activities, be they agriculture, fishing, mining,
forestry etc. On the other hand urban
settlements are nodal in character having
secondary and tertiary activities.
In Canada, settlements less than 1,000
persons are classified as rural, while in the
United States, the upper limit is 2,500 persons.
In India, a settlement with a population upto
5,000 persons is rural, while in Japan,
settlement having a population upto 30,000
is rural. In some countries, size is not the basis
for differentiating rural from urban rather it
is the economic status or function. The basic
difference is that while in villages most of the
people are engaged in agricultural work, in
towns the chief occupation of the people is nonagricultural
i.e. industry, trade and services.
Some occupations are found in both
villages and towns such as fishing, lumbering
or mining. Such villages can, however, be
distinguished from towns by the smaller scale
of their activities.
The size and functions of settlements are
often related to their sites and situations, which
themselves are also determined by their
functions. Villages dominated by agricultural
or farm workers will grow in fertile agricultural
areas. Towns may grow for several reasons
often closely related to factors of site and
situation, e.g. mining towns are sited near
mineral resources and fishing ports are sited
by sheltered anchorages. Industrial town, on
the other hand, may be situated at nodal points
where all the raw materials for manufacturing
goods can be obtained.
The major functions of towns are trades and
commerce, transport and communication,
mining, manufacturing, defence, administration,
cultural and recreation activities. In
many cases a town may have more than one
major function and it is then said to be a
diversified town.
Rural Settlements
Rural settlements are most closely and directly
related to land. They are dominated by
primary activities such as agriculture, animal
husbandry, fishing etc. Settlements size is
relatively small. As discussed earlier, these
settlements may be studied in terms of form,
internal structure and functions.
Form
Distribution of rural settlements on a world
map reveals two distinct patterns: clustered or
compact and dispersed or scattered.
Compact Settlements : In these settlements,
houses are built in close vicinity to each other.
Initially it may begin as a small hamlet at the
intersection of two footpaths or near a water
body. As new households are added, the
hamlet expands in size. Such settlements are
commonly seen in river valleys and fertile
plains. The houses are closely spaced and
streets are narrow. Socially, the people are
closely knit.
Most of the river plains of monsoon Asia
present compact settlements. In the plains of
India, China and Thailand, large nucleated
village is the prevailing type. In the Irrawaddy
delta, one can see the linear settlements along
with nucleated small villages. The Kwanto plain
of Japan has the largest concentration of
compact settlements. In southern Arabia,
human settlements are concentrated close to
the coast, where water and good soil are
available.
In Europe, compact settlements are typical
in the river valley plains of Volga and Danube.
The Rhine hilltops are also dotted with compact
settlements, leaving plain areas for farming.
Scattered Settlements : These are
generally, found over hills, plateaus and
highlands. They consist of one or two dwelling
units knitted together in a common bond by a
cultural feature such as a church, a mosque
or a temple. In Africa, scattered settlements of
this kind are common. In India such
settlements are found in hilly terrain such as
northern Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh,
Sikkim and northern West Bengal. Isolated
hamlets are found in mountainous regions
of China.
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