Settlement FAQs

how the land shaped settlements in social studies

by Bart Kub Published 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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Based on shape, the settlements are classified as − Compact or Nucleated Settlements − Under such type of settlements, the houses are built very close to each other. Normally, plain fertile land regions have such compact or nucleated settlements.

Full Answer

What is the function of settlement in geography?

/SOCIAL STUDIES The function of a settlement refers to the economic or social activities which are predominant in the area. This is also referred to as land use. The function of a settlement can also help us to identify if the area is rural or urban. There are four main types of functions in a settlement

What are the settlement patterns in the United States?

Settlement patterns. Although the land that now constitutes the United States was occupied and much affected by diverse Indian cultures over many millennia, these pre-European settlement patterns have had virtually no impact upon the contemporary nation—except locally, as in parts of New Mexico.

What is an archaeological settlement pattern study?

Conducting regional survey means you can investigate the evolution of communities, and that's what archaeological settlement pattern studies do today. Archaeologists refer to both settlement pattern studies and settlement system studies, sometimes interchangeably.

What do patterns of rural settlement indicate about rural settlement?

Patterns of rural settlement indicate much about the history, economy, society, and minds of those who created them as well as about the land itself.

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How are land shaped settlements?

The shapes of early settlements were influenced by the surrounding landscape. They were also shaped by other factors such as who owned the land and whether the land was good for building on or not. Some examples of settlement patterns include, nucleated settlements, linear settlements and dispersed settlements.

What factors determine the shape of settlement?

In order to better categorize which factors ultimately affect settlement, geographers have generally accepted four umbrella terms to describe these elements: climatic, economic, physical, and traditional.

What is settlement in social studies?

A settlement is a colony or any small community of people. If a bunch of people build houses on the moon together, they'll have the first lunar settlement. A settlement is also the resolution of something such as a lawsuit. One kind of settlement is a place where people live.

What are the 4 types of settlement?

The four main types of settlements are urban, rural, compact, and dispersed.

What are the 5 settlement factors?

Factors can be push or pull....Physical FeaturesBody of water (transportation routes, water for drinking and farming)Flat land (easy to build)Fertile soil (for crops)Forests (timber and housing)

What are the 3 types of settlement?

Settlement Types There are generally three types of settlements: compact, semi-compact, and dispersed. Each is based on its population density.

What is meant by land settlement?

Strictly speaking, the term Settlement has two meanings : (i) the allotment of unoccupied land at a revenue assessment calculated at fixed rates, and (ii) the modification of the rates at which occupied land has been assessed, and at which unoccupied land will be assessed.

What are the two types of settlements?

The villages are rural settlement where people are engaged in activities like agriculture, fishing, forestry, crafts work and trading etc. Rural settlements can be compact or scattered. A compact settlement is a closely built area of dwellings, wherever flat land is available (Fig. 7.2).

How did settlements Begin?

The oldest remains that have been found of constructed dwellings are remains of huts that were made of mud and branches around 17,000 BC at the Ohalo site (now underwater) near the edge of the Sea of Galilee. The Natufians built houses, also in the Levant, around 10,000 BC.

What are the characteristics of settlements?

Characteristics that define human settlements are their site, location, size, function, form, and structure.Site refers to the exact location of where a settlement first started. ... Situation refers to the location of a settlement in relation to the surrounding area.More items...

What is importance of settlement?

The function of a settlement helps to identify the economic and social development of a place and can show its main activity. Most large settlements have more than one function though in the past one function was maybe the most important in defining the success and growth in importance of the settlement.

What is an example of a settlement?

An example of a settlement is when divorcing parties agree on how to split up their assets. An example of a settlement is when you buy a house and you and the sellers sign all the documents to officially transfer the property. An example of settlement is when the colonists came to America.

What are the factors for the evolution of settlement?

Answer. The magnitude of the influence of human factors on the development of settlements can be viewed from four supporting sub-variables, namely age, population, human growth and activity.

What are 3 factors that affect rural settlement patterns?

Studies show that there are three sets of factors that affect the sites and location of rural settlements. They are-physical factors, socio-cultural factors and economic factors.

What factors help to select the site of settlement?

Factors such as water supply, building materials, quality of soil, climate, shelter and defence were all considered when settlements were first established.

About This Chapter

Examine this chapter to learn more about different human settlement patterns and how they are impacted by geographical features. These lessons will help you prepare for some of the history questions for the NYSTCE Social Studies exam.

1. Human Settlements: Definition & Functions

Human settlements are organized groups of people living in the same area. Learn more about the definition of human settlements and discover the different types and functions of settlements.

2. Types of Human Settlements: Definitions & Comparisons

There are several types of human settlements in which people live, work, and play. Learn to define and compare these settlements, including rural vs. urban and compacted vs. dispersed settlements.

3. Environmental Influences on Human Settlements & Activities

Environmental factors create either livable or unlivable conditions which influence where humans decide to settle and why. Learn more about the role of Agrarian societies in determining where humans settle, and how resources or events draw people to areas to live.

4. The Push & Pull Factors of Human Migration

The science behind human migration is said to be able to be categorized into either push or pull factors. Learn about human migration, and identify economic, social, or physical reasons for migration.

5. Spatial Association of Culture Regions: Definition, Distinctions & Influences

Spatial association refers to how variables are connected and related by where they are located. Learn about spatial association of cultural regions. Explore the distinctions and influences and how these relate to cultural geography.

How was settlement pattern study conducted?

Settlement pattern studies were first conducted using regional survey, in which archaeologists systematically walked over hectares and hectares of land, typically within a given river valley. But the analysis only truly became feasible after remote sensing was developed, beginning with photographic methods such as those used by Pierre Paris at Oc Eo but now, of course, using satellite imagery and drones.

What is the study of settlement patterns in archaeology?

The study of settlement patterns in archaeology involves a set of techniques and analytical methods to examine the cultural past of a region.

What is the difference between a settlement pattern and a settlement system?

If there is a difference, and you could argue about that, it might be that pattern studies look at the observable distribution of sites, while system studies look at how the people living at those sites interacted: modern archaeology can't really do one with the other.

What is settlement pattern?

In the scientific field of archaeology, the term "settlement pattern" refers to the evidence within a given region of the physical remnants of communities and networks. That evidence is used to interpret the way interdependent local groups of people interacted in the past. People have lived and interacted together ...

What is a regional surface survey?

What led to that was the implementation of a regional surface survey, also called pedestrian survey, archaeological studies not focused on a single site, but rather on an extensive area. Being able to systematically identify all the sites within a given region means archaeologists can look at not just how people lived at any one time, but rather how that pattern changed through time. Conducting regional survey means you can investigate the evolution of communities, and that's what archaeological settlement pattern studies do today.

Where were regional studies performed?

By the end of the 1950s, regional studies had been performed in Mexico, the United States, Europe, and Mesopotamia; but they have since expanded throughout the world.

When was the settlement pattern developed?

Settlement pattern as a concept was developed by social geographers in the late 19th century. The term referred then to how people live across a given landscape, in particular, what resources (water, arable land, transportation networks) they chose to live by and how they connected with one another: and the term is still a current study in geography of all flavors.

What are the characteristics of American settlement?

Another special characteristic of American settlement, one that became obvious only by the mid-20th century, is the convergence of rural and urban modes of life. The farmsteads—and rural folk in general—have become increasingly urbanized, and agricultural operations have become more automated, while the metropolis grows more gelatinous, unfocused, and pseudo-bucolic along its margins.

What are the patterns of rural settlement?

Patterns of rural settlement indicate much about the history, economy, society, and minds of those who created them as well as about the land itself. The essential design of rural activity in the United States bears a strong family resemblance to that of other neo-European lands, such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, or tsarist Siberia —places that have undergone rapid occupation and exploitation by immigrants intent upon short-term development and enrichment. In all such areas, under novel social and political conditions and with a relative abundance of territory and physical resources, ideas and institutions derived from a relatively stable medieval or early modern Europe have undergone major transformation. Further, these are nonpeasant countrysides, alike in having failed to achieve the intimate symbiosis of people and habitat, the humanized rural landscapes characteristic of many relatively dense, stable, earthbound communities in parts of Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America.

How were townships laid out?

Townships were laid out as blocks, each six by six miles in size, oriented with the compass directions . Thirty-six sections, each one square mile, or 640 acres (260 hectares), in size, were designated within each township; and public roads were established along section lines and, where needed, along half-section lines. At irregular intervals, offsets in survey lines and roads were introduced to allow for the Earth’s curvature. Individual property lines were coincident with, or parallel to, survey lines, and this pervasive rectangularity generally carried over into the geometry of fields and fences or into the townsites later superimposed upon the basic rural survey.

How were farms connected to towns?

Successions of such farms were connected with one another and with the towns by means of a dense, usually rectangular lattice of roads, largely unimproved at the time. The hamlets, villages, and smaller cities were arrayed at relatively regular intervals, with size and affluence determined in large part by the presence and quality of rail service or status as the county seat. But, among people who have been historically rural, individualistic, and antiurban in bias, many services normally located in urban places might be found in rustic settings. Thus, much retail business was transacted by means of itinerant peddlers, while small shops for the fabrication, distribution, or repair of various items were often located in isolated farmsteads, as were many post offices.

How much land did farms have in the 1980s?

By the late 1980s, for example, when the average farm size had surpassed 460 acres, farms containing 2,000 or more acres accounted for almost half of all farmland and 20 percent of the cropland harvested, even though they comprised less than 3 percent of all farms.

What is the impression of the settled portion of the American landscape, rural or urban, is one of disorder and inco?

The overall impression of the settled portion of the American landscape, rural or urban, is one of disorder and incoherence, even in areas of strict geometric survey. The individual landscape unit is seldom in visual harmony with its neighbour, so that, however sound in design or construction the single structure may be, the general effect is untidy. These attributes have been intensified by the acute individualism of the American, vigorous speculation in land and other commodities, a strongly utilitarian attitude toward the land and the treasures above and below it, and government policy and law. The landscape is also remarkable for its extensive transportation facilities, which have greatly influenced the configuration of the land.

How did pre-European settlements affect the United States?

Although the land that now constitutes the United States was occupied and much affected by diverse Indian cultures over many millennia, these pre-European settlement patterns have had virtually no impact upon the contemporary nation—except locally, as in parts of New Mexico. A benign habitat permitted a huge contiguous tract of settled land to materialize across nearly all the eastern half of the United States and within substantial patches of the West. The vastness of the land, the scarcity of labour, and the abundance of migratory opportunities in a land replete with raw physical resources contributed to exceptional human mobility and a quick succession of ephemeral forms of land use and settlement. Human endeavours have greatly transformed the landscape, but such efforts have been largely destructive. Most of the pre-European landscape in the United States was so swiftly and radically altered that it is difficult to conjecture intelligently about its earlier appearance.

What did Europeans think about land?

Europeans thought that individual people could own land . The Native Americans thought the land belonged to everyone at the same time.

Where was the first law-making group in the American colonies?

The first law-making group in the American colonies. It was in Virginia and elected by men who owned land.

What did Massasoit do to help the Pilgrims?

Massasoit's people (Native Americans who lived nearby) helped the Pilgrims start farms and raise food. The Pilgrims promised to protect those Native Americans from their enemies. The groups helped each other and got along.

What did the Dutch trade with the Iroquois?

Some Dutch worked with the Iroquois to trade for furs, but some fought with Native Americans over land.

Did the English and Powhatans get along?

The English and the Powhatans got along for a while, which gave the colony time to grow larger and stronger.

How were hill forts built?

Hill Fort Construction Hill forts were constructed by the addition of ditches and timber palisades, stone- and earth-filled wooden frames or cobble stone structures such as towers, walls and ramparts. As trade expanded and luxury items from the Mediterranean became available to the growing elite classes of Europe, hill forts grew in size and complexity. By Roman times, hill forts (called oppida) were spread throughout the Mediterranean region.

What is the origin of the oppidum?

An oppidum (plural oppida) is a large defended Iron Age settlement. They are associated with the Celtic La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread across Europe, stretching from Britain and Iberia in the west to the edge of the Hungarian plain in the east. They continued in use until the Romans began conquering Europe. North of the River Danube, where the population remained independent from Rome, oppida continued to be used into the 1st century.

What was the significance of Hallstatt C?

By the time of the Hallstatt D period, these increasingly extravagant burial mounds were clustered around a few major hillforts to the southwest of the region. This suggests a development and a concentration of wealth of social power, possibly based on the development of Massilia (present-day Marseilles) as a Greek trading port. The expansion of luxury trade brought greater opportunities for profit and helped to create an increasingly stratified society, with the development of a wealthy nobility (James, 2005: 21).

What are hill forts?

Hill forts are what archaeologists call single households, elite residences, whole villages, or urban settlements built on the tops of hills and/or with defensive structures such as enclosures, moats, or ramparts--not all "hill forts" were built on hills.

What were the two important trade goods that were used to accumulate wealth and influence?

Control of these two crucial trade goods - iron and salt - provided the basis for the accumulation of wealth and influence. From 800 BC, some burials of rich people can be identified,in central Europe, with grave goods such as wheeled wagons and iron swords.

When did hillforts appear?

Many hill forts appeared at the end of the late Bronze Age, around 1100-1300 BC, when people lived in small separate communities with differing levels of wealth and status. During the early Iron Age (ca 600-450 BC), several hillforts in central Europe were the residences of a select elite.

When were fortified cities built?

Many hill forts appeared at the end of the late Bronze Age, around 1100-1300 BC, when people lived in small separate communities with differing levels of wealth and status. During the early Iron Age (ca 600-450 BC), several hillforts in central Europe were the residences of a select elite. Trade throughout Europe was established and some of these individuals were buried in graves with lots of fancy, imported goods; differential wealth and status may well have been one of the reasons for the building of defensive structures.

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Anthropological Underpinnings

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Settlement pattern as a concept was developed by social geographers in the late 19th century. The term referred then to how people live across a given landscape, in particular, what resources (water, arable land, transportation networks) they chose to live by and how they connected with one another: and the term is still a …
See more on thoughtco.com

Patterns Versus Systems

  • Archaeologists refer to both settlement pattern studies and settlement system studies, sometimes interchangeably. If there is a difference, and you could argue about that, it might be that pattern studies look at the observable distribution of sites, while system studies look at how the people living at those sites interacted: modern archaeology can't really do one with the other.
See more on thoughtco.com

History of Settlement Pattern Studies

  • Settlement pattern studies were first conducted using regional survey, in which archaeologists systematically walked over hectares and hectares of land, typically within a given river valley. But the analysis only truly became feasible after remote sensing was developed, beginning with photographic methods such as those used by Pierre Paris at Oc Eobut now, of course, using sat…
See more on thoughtco.com

New Technologies

  • Although systematic settlement patterns and landscape studies are practiced in many diverse environments, before modern imaging systems, archaeologists attempting to study heavily vegetated areas were not as successful as they might have been. A variety of means to penetrate the gloom have been identified, including the use of high definition aerial photography, subsurfa…
See more on thoughtco.com

Selected Sources

  1. Curley, Daniel, John Flynn, and Kevin Barton. "Bouncing Beams Reveal Hidden Archaeology." Archaeology Ireland32.2 (2018): 24–29.
  2. Feinman, Gary M. "Settlement and Landscape Archaeology." International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences(Second Edition). Ed. Wright, James D. Oxford: Elsevier, 2015. 654–58, doi:10....
  1. Curley, Daniel, John Flynn, and Kevin Barton. "Bouncing Beams Reveal Hidden Archaeology." Archaeology Ireland32.2 (2018): 24–29.
  2. Feinman, Gary M. "Settlement and Landscape Archaeology." International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences(Second Edition). Ed. Wright, James D. Oxford: Elsevier, 2015. 654–58, doi:10....
  3. Golden, Charles, et al. "Reanalyzing Environmental Lidar Data for Archaeology: Mesoamerican Applications and Implications." Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports9 (2016): 293–308, doi:10.1016/...
  4. Grosman, Leore. "Reaching the Point of No Return: The Computational Revolution in Archaeology." Annual Review of Anthropology45.1 (2016): 129–45, doi:10.1146/annurev-anth…

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