Human settlement
Topic: Human Settlements and Urbanisation in India · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 2 "Human Settlements"
Meaning
A human settlement is a group of houses of any type or size where people live. It also includes the land around it that people use to earn a living. Settling means two things: people group together, and they divide up the land. Settlements range from a tiny hamlet to a huge metropolitan city. As a settlement grows, its economy, society, ecology (its link with nature) and technology all change.
Example
A village on the Ganga plain in Uttar Pradesh and the city of Mumbai in Maharashtra are both human settlements. They sit at opposite ends of the size range. Census 2011 counted 6,40,867 villages and 7,935 towns in India.
Don't confuse with
- Site of settlement: a settlement is the whole place where people live and work, but its site is only the ground it stands on.