The Geography of Settlement Where You Live The Geography of Settlement

Is Canada’s population evenly distributed across the country?

300 14 000 000 +

600km

close to water transportation warmer agriculture Why close to U.S. resources close to water transportation

Why is our population distributed this way? Settlement Patterns the arrangement of where people live in a country and the factors that influence the arrangement

General Settlement Patterns 3 Basic Patterns

Dispersed Linear Concentrated

Dispersed found in areas that have a strong agricultural base; spread out on farms

found where resources are focused in small areas; towns Concentrated found where resources are focused in small areas; towns

a type of concentrated pattern found along lines (e.g. highway, river) Linear

There are 2 main categories in Canada: Rural and Urban

Rural Canada

Rural Settlement

Factors that Affect the Pattern Type of Resources in area (agriculture, forestry, fishing, etc.. ) Transportation methods available at the time of settlement ( water transport usually preceded roads) Role government policy played in settlement (planning, size and shape of lots, survey system of area)

Types of Rural Settlement Patterns

Long Lots Southern Quebec Settled before railways and good roads and surveys Most important influence is agricultural resources and river transport Long thin farms were built along the St. Lawrence River; each farm had access to the river for transportation Known as long lots; when river lots were taken, a second (& 3rd and 4th) were settled were settled on a road parallel to the river Southern Quebec

Advantages Disadvantages - every owner has access to water or road transport routes - homes are close to each other Disadvantages - lots are inefficient to farm - larger towns are usually farther away

Concession System Southern Ontario Settlement also influenced by agricultural resources Settled after a survey system was in place Access to major water was not as important because roads were already established Roads were typically 2 km apart and farms were 40-80 hectares in size Groupings of concession blocks were called townships and groups of townships were called counties Southern Ontario

Advantages Disadvantages - every owner has access to road or railway transport routes - farms are more efficient to work Disadvantages - houses are farther away from each other

Section System Southern Prairie Surveyed before major settlement occurred using the “Section System” Land was divided into blocks 94 km2 (9.6km2 by 9.6km2 ) in size Each block is divided into 36 sections, each of which is divided into 4 lots called quarter-sections (64 ha in size) Due to low rainfall levels, farms needed to be made bigger in order to survive. This gave rise to “farm consolidation” Southern Prairie

Advantages Disadvantages - every owner has access to road or railway transport routes - farms are very efficient to work, especially with machinery Disadvantages - houses are very isolated from each other

Rural Canada Today Family farms are disappearing Farms are becoming larger Agribusiness-operations that own and farm vast amounts of land Other Industries- industries involving natural resources and tourism

Rural- Urban Migration Urbanization- so many people move into rural areas close to existing cities that these areas become urban Why has this happened? Modern machinery- fewer jobs Interest- young people don’t want to farm Jobs- more jobs available Lifestyle- more things to do and more people to meet

Rural-Urban Fringe Only about 10% of Canada’s land is good for farming and was settled by Europeans early, but as the areas got settled, communities grew outward to a point where now 18% of Class 1 farmland is used for urban purposes Rural-Urban Fringe- where the city and the countryside meet This surrounds every major city in Canada

Land Uses Rural Farming Camping Urban Housing Industry Business

Land Use on the Fringe Uses will be things not usually found in built up areas, but not far from a population centre What do you think could be and example of this? This land use can quickly change as a city grows into it

Loss of Farmland to Cities Urban Sprawl- urban growth that happens quickly What factors effect the development of farmland to urban areas? Interest of developers in land Citizens against development can slow down process Politics- zoning by-laws

Textbook Task Page 125- Questions 14 a and b, 15 a and b, 16 Page 127- Questions 17 a-c, 20