Settlement Patterns & Survey Methods (College Board AP® Human Geography)

Agriculture & Rural Land-Use Patterns

• Agricultural production practices determine the way land is used in rural areas

  • The type of agriculture produced affects the physical landscape through things like: 

    • deforestation

    • terraced farming

    • irrigation practices

• The amount of land devoted to agriculture determines where and how people live

Rural Settlement Patterns

• Rural settlement patterns are described as:

  • clustered

  • dispersed

  • linear

Clustered settlement patterns

• Clustered settlement patterns are characterized by nucleated settlements

  • Homes and businesses are tightly packed together around a central point

• Clustered settlements are characteristic of villages in less developed countries (LDCs) with intensive agricultural practices

• Clustered settlements are also characteristic of 17th and 18th-century European villages

Dispersed settlement patterns

• Dispersed settlement patterns are characterized by individual farmhouses far apart from one another 

• Dispersed settlement patterns tend to occur with extensive agriculture and large farms

  • Machinery makes intensive harvesting over large areas possible

• The western United States is typical of dispersed settlement patterns

Linear settlement patterns

• Linear settlement patterns follow major roads or canals

• They are characterized by homes and businesses arranged along transportation routes, such as rivers or main roads

Image: Rendering of clustered, dispersed, and linear settlements

Rural Survey Methods

• How rural land used for agriculture is divided generally depends on who first settled the area and for what purpose 

  • Survey methods refers to how the land is divided

• There are three main types of survey methods: 

  • metes and bounds

  • township and range 

  • long lots

Metes and bounds

• Metes and bounds is a British system that uses the land’s physical features to identify property lines

  • A farm might be described as being between the river, barn, and oak tree

• Metes and bounds survey methods are most commonly found in medieval Europe and the Northeastern United States

• Land surveyed using metes and bounds tends to have irregularly shaped borders

Township and range

• The township and range survey method was used by American settlers moving west

• Settlers divided the land into roughly equal square segments 

• Township and range settlement areas are characterized by regular, generally square, property segments

• The prime example of township and range surveying is in the western and midwestern United States

Long lots

• Long lots are characterized by narrow plots of land that extend back from a river or other major transportation route

• This survey method allows the maximum number of people possible to both farm and access trade via the river or road

• An example of long lots can be found in Louisiana along the Mississippi River
  

  Image: Land Survey Patterns