Settlements

1. Settlements are places where people live - they can range from single buildings to large cities.

2. The site of a settlement is the land the settlement is built on.

3. The situation is the location of the settlement in relation to its surroundings.

4. When looking for places to settle, people considered: water supply, defence, fuel, building materials, land for farming.

5. Settlements in places where it was easy to meet people and trade did well.

6. Settlements fulfil certain functions for the people living there eg. jobs, housing, shops, schools, hospitals.

7. Isolated settlements are houses or farms which are located at a distance from each other.

8. Dispersed settlements are a scatter of farms or houses across an area with no focal point.

9. Nucleated settlements are where buildings have grouped together around a specific point, such as a church or crossroads.

10. Linear or ribbon settlements are where the buildings are strung out along a road, coast or river valley.

11. Urban settlements have a wide range of jobs to offer.

12. They also have many shops, schools and hospitals and are on good transport routes.

13. Rural settlements are smaller and provide only basic services.

14. As settlements grew, they began to develop specific functions such as industrial towns, ports, seaside towns etc.

15. A hamlet consists of between three and twenty houses and has no church, pub or shop.

16. A village is a small settlement of at least twenty buildings with a church and maybe a shop, post office, school or pub.

17. A town was a place that had been given a charter to hold a market or fair.

18. Towns grew as people moved to them in search of jobs.

19. Towns usually have shops, businesses and services such as banks and hospitals.

20. Suburbs are residential areas close to cities.

21. Buildings in suburbs tend to be newer and have gardens as land is cheaper than in the town.

22. There are more open spaces and parks in suburbs and less pollution.

23. Suburbs are popular with commuters who live there and travel to work.

24. Cities have large populations, shops, industrial and business areas and good transport links.

25. In the UK a town can only become a city by order of the king or queen.

26. Many cities have a cathedral or a university.

27. Conurbations are urban areas comprising of a number of towns or cities that have joined together because they have grown.

28. Megacities have populations of more than ten million people and are formed when two very large cities merge together.

29. Because they grow so quickly, they often have problems of homelessness and crime.

30. Tokyo, Mexico City, New York City and Mumbai all have populations over ten million.