SUBJECT: GEOGRAPHY

CLASS:� SS2

DATE:

TERM: 2ND TERM

REFERENCE MATERIAL

Essential Geography for Senior Secondary Schools, O.A. Iwena.

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WEEK NINE AND TEN

TOPIC: WORLD SETTLEMENT

FOR WEEKS NINE AND TEN

A settlement is defined as a place containing one or more buildings with people living in them.� A settlement can be a city, village or a compound.

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Favourable conditions for siting a settlement:

(i)�� Adequate water supply

(ii)�� Fertile soil

(iii)�� Availability of low and well-drained land.

(iv)�� Good communication network

(v)�� Defence/Protection for human habitation.

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Factors Affecting Growth of Settlement

Some of the factors that promote the growth of towns, cities or states and finally lead tourbanization are:

(i)�� Accessibility by road, rails, air etc.

(ii)�� Presence of economic activities such as trading, farming, mining etc.

(iii)�� Good administration /seat of government.

(iv)�� Provision of social amenities like pipe borne water, electricity etc.

(v)�� Good soil condition that encourages intensive agriculture.

(vi)�� Absence of disaster.

(vii)�� Political stability.

(viii)�� Relief and drainage.

(ix)�� Favourable climatic condition.

CLASSIFICATION OF SETTLEMENT ACCORDING TO TYPES

There are two main types of settlements.

(a) Rural settlements�� (b) Urban settlements

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(1)�� Rural Settlements

-�� A rural settlement is relatively a small area with socially homogenous people who know themselves very well.

-�� A rural settlement could be nucleated, dispersed or linear.

-�� They consist of people with the same cultural background and language.

-�� They are normally involved in primary activities such as farming, fishing, hunting and lumbering.

-�� They live a simple life-style with few social amenities.

-�� They are normally made up of few buildings with people ranging from one family to few hundreds.

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TYPES OF RURAL SETTLEMENTS

There are basically, three (3) types of rural settlement.� These are:

(1)�� Homestead: This is one family residence.� They have dispersed settlements which are separated by bushes, called buffer zones.

(2)�� Hamlet: This settlement may be nucleated with few house, usually less than a 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 hundreds or a thousand of people with limited services.

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FUNCTIONS OF RURAL (VILLAGE) SETTLEMENT

A village performs the following functions:

Agricultural function
Lumbering function
Small-scale shopping e.g. Petty shop and local markets
Fishing function
Religions function

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(b)�� Urban Settlements

-�� An urban settlement is a relatively large, densely populated settlement with socially heterogenous people who do not know one another very well.

-�� Urban settlements are nucleated in nature.

-�� They consist of people with different cultural background and different languages.

-�� They consist of many buildings with thousands of people living in them.

-�� They have abundance social amenities.

-�� They are mainly involved in secondary activities such as manufacturing, construction, banking etc.

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TYPES OF URBAN SETTLEMENTS

Four (4) major types of urban settlements exist.� These are:

(1)�� Town: With 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: It is the largest type of urban settlement made up of large cities with several millions of people.� Megalopolis simply means, mega cities joining together to form one big city.

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Functions of Urban Settlement

Most urban settlements perform the following functions:

(1)�� Industrial functions e.g. manufacturing industries.

(2)�� Commercial functions e.g. presence of markets, banks, shopping malls etc.

(3)�� Administrative functions e.g. seats of government, states and federal capitals etc.

(4)�� Socio-Cultural functions e.g. establishment of universities, churches, mosques, cinemas etc.

(5)�� Mining function.

(6)�� Residential functions.

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EVALUATION

Mention any three favourable conditions for siting a settlement.
Briefly differentiate between a rural settlement from an urban settlement.
What is conurbation, and how is it different from megalopolis?

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CLASSIFICATION OF SETTLEMENT ACCORDING TO PATTERN OR SHAPE

The pattern or shape of settlement refers to the arrangement of buildings in a settlement.

There are three main patterns of settlement.� These are:

(1)�� Dispersed��

(2)�� Nucleated

(3)�� Linear settlement

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(1)�� DISPERSED OR SCATTERED SETTLEMENT

Characteristics

-�� Dispersed settlements have buildings scattered or far from each other.

-�� They have few social amenities because they are rural in nature.

-�� They are mainly involved in primary activities like farming, lumbering etc.

-�� Individual buildings are widely spaced from one-another and; behind the buildings, these are family parcels of land.

-�� They live a quiet lifestyle.

-�� The dispersed pattern of settlement reduces conflict among families because individual families are distinctly far apart.

(2)�� LINEAR SETTLEMENT�

Characteristics

-�� The buildings are located along the routes e.g. roads, railways or rivers.

-�� Where two or more routes meet, a sub-linear settlement called nodal town is formed.

-�� When a settlement is formed as a result of the meeting of two rivers; a confluence town or settlement is formed e.g. Lokoja, in Nigeria, Khartoum (Sudan) where the blue Nile and the white Nile meet.

-�� Gardens are located behind houses.

-�� Farmlands may be located behind gardens.

-�� Linear settlements could extend to several kilometers in length.

-�� Some of the reasons for linear settlement are:

(i) �� The need to be closed to a transport network.

(ii)�� For easy accessibility to other areas.

(iii)�� The need to transport farm produce to markets.

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(3)�� NUCLEATED OR DENSE SETTLEMENT�

Characteristics

-�� Here, the buildings are very close to each other or they are concentrated in a small area.

-�� It has many social amenities.

-�� It is a feature of urban settlement.

-�� People are mainly involved in secondary and tertiary activities like manufacturing, construction etc.

-�� The area is well connected with roads.

-�� Farmlands are located outside the settlement.

-�� The level of interaction between the inhabitants is very high.

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REASONS OR NEED FOR NUCLEATED SETTLEMENT

(i)�� The quest to maintain social ties.

(ii)�� It leads to easy development of infrastructure and social amenities.

(iii)�� The need for defence.

(iv)�� There is easy communication.

(v)�� For commercial development.

(vi)�� It enhances a well-defined leadership structure.

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GENERAL EVALUATION QUESTIONS

What is linear settlement?
Mention two reasons for linear settlement.
Mention any four (4) characteristics of a linear settlement.
Briefly explain the three classification of settlement according to pattern or shape.
Outline any four functions of either the rural or the urban settlement.

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READING ASSIGNMENT

Essential Geography pages 198-202.

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WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT�

One of these is not a factor for siting a settlement.

�� (a) Good soil condition �� (b) Good communication network�� (c) To preserve slavery

The smallest type of settlement is called ______

�� (a) Village�� (b) Hamlet�� (c) Homestead

When several towns join together but each town still retains its identity it is called ______

�� (a) conurbation�� (b) nuclear town�� (c) Megalopolis

The type of settlement located along major transportation routes is called ______ settlement.

�� (a) dispersed�� (b) Linear�� (c) Nucleated

One of these is not a major function of a rural settlement?

�� (a) Agricultural function�� (b) Industrial function�� (c) Religious function

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THEORY

What is a settlement?
Outline any four factors affecting the growth of settlement.

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Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term - Senior Secondary School 2