Geography. North Africa has three main geographic features: the Sahara desert in the south, the Atlas Mountains in the west, and the Nile River and delta in the east. The Atlas Mountains extend across much of northern Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.

How did geographic features affect the settlement of Africa? Geographic features affected the settlement of Africa because the deserts influenced the trade routes because they had to pass through the deserts to trade, they always settled around oases and rivers because Africa is really hot.

Geography of the region shaped the way of life of the people living there. The people in the forests could grow taro, yams, and kola and trade it for gold and sold. The people in the desert could move herds of cattle, sheep, and goats to find food and water.

A settlement pattern is the distribution of human activities across the landscape and the spatial relationship between these activities and Access to the complete content on Oxford Reference requires a subscription or purchase.

Population settlement patterns can be separated into to three distinct patterns: Linear. Clustered (or nucleated) Scattered.

All the settlement patterns including linear, nucleated and dispersed.

Settlements take on a range of shapes when they form. Dispersed, linear and nucleated are the most common. A dispersed pattern is where isolated buildings are spread out across an area, usually separated by a few hundred metres with no central focus.

There are 5 types of settlement classified according to their pattern, these are, isolated, dispersed, nucleated, and linear.

Three general factors that affect rural settlement patterns are resources. found in the area, the transportation methods obtainable at the time of settlement and the role played by the government policy.

Where people settle is determined by the main factors such as physical environment,demographic, natural, transportation, economic and social concerns.

The factors that affect the location of rural settlements are as under:

• Water supply: Generally the rural settlements are found near or around water bodies such as lakes, ponds and rivers because of the water supply is easily available.
• Land: The man chooses the land where agriculture is possible.

The pattern of rural settlements is influenced by the physical environment and socio- cultural factors like caste, religion and functional needs of people.

FUNCTIONS OF RURAL SETTLEMENTS: The people living in the rural areas all over the world are engaged and dependent on various primary occupations, viz, agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and mining. Out of these, agriculture is the most important occupation.

Rural areas are characterized by a great diversity of economic activities, including processing and marketing of agricultural products, tourism, mining and services. Ministries of labour should take the lead in ensuring that social and labour issues are effectively reflected in rural policies.

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

four types

An urban area includes the city itself, as well as the surrounding areas. Rural areas are the opposite of urban areas. Rural areas, often called “the country,” have low population density and large amounts of undeveloped land. Usually, the difference between a rural area and an urban area is clear.

• Both the Rural and Urban Societies have an education system.
• Both the Rural and Urban Societies have jobless and poor people.
• Both the Rural and Urban Societies have cheaters.
• Both the Rural and Urban Societies have rich people.
• Both the Rural and Urban Societies have tough jobs.

A rural area is an open swath of land that has few homes or other buildings, and not very many people. Agriculture is the primary industry in most rural areas. Most people live or work on farms or ranches. Hamlets, villages, towns, and other small settlements are in or surrounded by rural areas.

Though villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighborhoods. Villages are normally permanent, with fixed dwellings; however, transient villages can occur.

The Census Bureau defines rural as any population, housing, or territory NOT in an urban area. The green area on the map to the right represents all the area in the United States that is classified as rural based on this definition. The Census Bureau’s rural definition is closely tied to the urban definition.

The National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) defines ‘rural’ as follows: An area with a population density of up to 400 per square kilometer, Villages with clear surveyed boundaries but no municipal board, A minimum of 75% of male working population involved in agriculture and allied activities.

They have many general characteristics, such as:

• A small population size.
• A generally low population density.
• A smaller choice when it comes to shopping, medical services, and so on.
• A lower cost of living.
• Lower wages and more poverty.
• Lots of nature and natural resources, farming, and ranch land; and.
• An aging population.

Households in rural areas have lower incomes than those in urban areas but they are less likely to live in poverty than their urban counterparts. According to the 2015 American Community Survey, median household income for rural households was $52,386, about 4 percent lower than the median for urban households.

metropolitan, urban, city, suburban.

adjective. of, relating to, or characteristic of the country, country life, or country people; rustic: rural tranquillity. living in the country: the rural population. of or relating to agriculture: rural economy.

Rural means “relating to or characteristic of the country or the people who live there.” If you move to a rural area, you won’t see a lot of skyscrapers or taxis — but you’ll probably see a lot of trees. The adjective rural descends from Middle English, from Old French, from Latin rūrālis, from rūs “the country.”

Synonym Study In this page you can discover 51 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for rural, like: country, farm, agrestic, exurban, agronomic, rusticity, georgic, bucolic, campestral, urban and agricultural.