World Settlements

Week 5

 Class:  SS2       

Topic:  World Settlements

Specific Objectives: By the end of this lesson the students should be able to;    

1. Define settlement
2. Identify types of settlement
3. Describe each settlement type in terms of population, economy, administration etc.

WORLD SETTLEMENTS

A settlement is a collection of buildings with people living in them. It is a centre for human activities and it consists of houses, communication network, roads, tracks and railways. It could be one house, a group of houses, a village, a town or a city. For it to be a settlement, features like buildings and people living together must be there.

Conditions for sitting a settlement

1. There must be adequate water supply for human use
2. The soil must be fertile to promote agricultural activities
3. The land must be lowland and well drained for easy erection of buildings
4. There should be good communication network like roads, railways, airport etc.
5. The area should be well protected against invading enemies.

Classification of Settlement According To Types

1. Rural settlements: A rural settlement is a small settlement containing few people usually in a village that are homogenous and are involved in agricultural activities.

Types of rural settlement

1. Homestead: This is a one family residence in a compound that is isolated and separated by farmland and bushes. There is little or no opportunity for social gathering.
2. Farmstead: This consists of two or more homesteads that contain about 50 people usually dispersed and separated by farmlands.
3. Hamlet: It is made up of dispersed, nucleated or linear homesteads containing about 100 people that engage in primary activities such as farming, fishing and hunting.
4. Village: This is a population of homogenous people of about several thousand having a dispersed, nucleated or both settlement patterns and engages in primary activities. It may also have service centres such as schools, post offices, health centres and markets.

Functions of Rural settlement       problems facing Rural Areas

1. Agricultural function                  a. Rural depopulation
2. Lumbering function                    b. Loss of farm labour
3. Small scale shopping                  c. Low agricultural production
4. Fishing function                          d. inadequate social amenities
5. Religious function                       e. inadequate infrastructure

2. Urban settlements: An urban settlement is a relatively large, densely populated settlement with socially heterogeneous people who do not know one another very well and have different cultural background and language. They usually have nucleated settlements with abundance of social amenities and are mainly involved in secondary and tertiary activities such as manufacturing, construction and many other service oriented jobs.

Types or Urban Settlements

1. Town: It has several thousands of people
2. City: This is a large town with greater number of people than a town
3. Metropolis: This is a major city, especially the capital. It is the most important. It contains some millions of people, e.g. Lagos
4. Conurbation: This is made up of several towns joined together but each town still maintains its identity
5. Megalopolis: This is the largest type of urban settlement made up of large cities with several millions of people.

Functions of Urban Settlement    

1. Industrial function
2. Commercial function
3. Administrative function
4. Socio-cultural function
5. Mining function
6. Residential function

Assignment:

State any five differences between rural and urban settlements