Human Settlements Class 12 Important Extra Questions Geography Chapter 10

Here we are providing Class 12 Geography Important Extra Questions and Answers Chapter 10 Human Settlements. Geography Class 12 Important Questions are the best resource for students which helps in class 12 board exams.

Class 12 Geography Chapter 10 Important Extra Questions Human Settlements

Human Settlements Important Extra Questions Very Short Answer Type

Question 1.
Give three examples of settlements.
Answer:
A village, a town and a city.

Question 2.
Name two main types of settlements.
Answer:
Rural and Urban.

Question 3.
Upto which population, is a settlement called rural ?
Answer:
Upto 5000 persons.

Question 4.
What is the main occupation of people in rural settlements ?
Answer:
Agriculture.

Question 5.
Where is linear pattern of settlement found ?
Answer:
Along roads.

Question 6.
What should be the density of population in urban settlements ?
Answer:
400 persons per sq km.

Question 7.
Give an example of an administrative town.
Answer:
New Delhi.

Question 8.
How many million towns are there in the world ?
Answer:
438.

Question 9.
What is the average total population of a mega city ?
Answer:
100 lakh.

Question 10.
Which is the largest populated town of the world ?
Answer:
Tokyo.

Question 11.
Where is a sub-urban area ?
Answer:
An area around an urban town.

Question 12.
What are wet settlements ?
Answer:
Water based settlements around rivers, lakes, springs, etc.

Question 13.
Where are dry point settlements ?
Answer:
Settlements on river terraces and levees are called dry point settlements.

Question 14.
Where are linear pattern of villages found? (C.B.S.E. 2017)
Answer:
(i) along a road
(ii) along a railway line
(iii) along a river
(iv) along a canal
(v) along a levee.

Question 15.
Along which water bodies, circular pattern on of villages develop.
Or
Which form of rural settlement pattern develops along roads railway lines, rivers and canals in the world? (C.B.S.E. Delhi 2017)
Answer:
(i) Around Lakes
(ii) Around Tanks.

Question 16.
Where do T-shaped settlements develop ?
Answer:
At Tri-Junctions of roads (T).

Question 17.
Which town was the first urban settlement to reach a population of one million?
Answer:
London in 1810.

Question 18.
How much population of world lives in urban areas ?
Answer:
52.6 percent.

Question 19.
Where is the population of an urban area in India ?
Answer:
5000 persons.

Question 20.
Name any four places of religious pilgrimage.
Answer:
Jerusalem, Macca, Puri and Varanasi.

Question 21.
Where is Addis Ababa located ? When was it established ?
Answer:
Capital of Ethiopia. It was established in 1878.

Question 22.
Where is Canberra located ?
Answer:
Canberra is the capital of Australia established in 1912.

Human Settlements Important Extra Questions Short Answer Type

Question 1.
What is the basic difference between towns and villages ?
Answer:
On the basis of population size, a village is different from a town. But the basic difference between towns and villages is that in towns the main occupation of the people is related to secondary and tertiary sectors, while in villages, most of the people are engaged in primary occupations.

Question 2.
What are suburbs ? Why do people shift to suburbs ?
Answer:
Smaller towns around the congested towns are called suburbs. People move away from the congested area to cleaner areas outside the city in search of a better quality of living.

Question 3.
Describe the building materials used for dwellings in different areas.
Answer:
(i) In Loess areas of China, cave dwellings were important.
(ii) In Africa, Savanna mud bricks were used as building material.
(iii) In polar regions, Eskimos used ice blocks to construct Igloos.

Question 4.
What are canal colonies ? Give one example.
Answer:
Planned settlements constructed by government by providing shelter water and infrastructure are called canal colonies built along the banks of canals. In India Indira Gandhi Canal Command area has such colonies.

Question 5.
What factors influence the pattern of Rural settlements ?
Answer:

• The way houses are sited in relation to each other.
• The site of the villages.
• The surrounding topography.
• The terrain.
• Shape and size of a village.

Question 6.
State the types of villages on the basis of shapes.
Or
Which are the two major types of settlements according to their shape found in the world? (C.B.S.E. Delhi 2017)
Answer:

• Linear
• Rectangular
• Circular
• Star-like
• T-shaped
• Double villages
• Cross-shaped villages.

Question 7.
Name the different functions of towns.
Answer:
The earliest towns were centres of administration, trade, industry, defence and religious importance. Now towns perform multiple functions as recreational, residential, transport, mining, manufacturing and information technologies.

Question 8.
According to Census of India 1991, what is the definition of an urban settlement ?
Answer:
A town should satisfy the given ahead criteria :

• It should have a municipal or corporation or cantonment board or a notified town area committee.
• A minimum population of 5000 persons.
• 75% people engaged in Non-agricultural activities.
• A density of at least 400 persons per sq. km.

Question 9.
Distinguish between compact (Nucleated) settlements and dispersed settlements.
Or
Explain any three points of distinction between ‘Hamleted rural settlements’ and ‘Dispersed rural settlement of India. (C.B.S.E. Delhi 2017)
Answer:
Settlements may be classified by their shape, pattern types :

1. Compact Settlements (Nucleated settlements). In these settlements, houses are built in close vicinity to each other. Initially, it may begin as a small hamlet at the intersection of two footpaths or near a water body. As new households are added, the hamlet expands in size.

Such settlements are commonly seen in river valleys and fertile plains. The houses are closely spaced and streets are narrow. Socially, the people are closely knit and share common occupations.

2. Dispersed Settlements (Scattered settlements). In these, houses are spaced apart. These are generally, found over hills, plateaus and highlands. They consist of one or two dwelling units knitted together in a common bond by a cultural feature such as a church, a mosque or a temple.

In Africa, scattered settlements of this kind are common. In India such settlements are found in hilly terrain such as northern Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and northern West Bengal. Isolated hamlets are found in mountainous regions of China.

Question 10.
What are ‘wet point’ settlements? State their three advantages.
Answer:
Generally rural settlements are located near water bodies, such as rivers, lake and springs. These are called wet points settlements. Despite some disadvantages, people settle around islands and swampy areas.

Advantages

• They meet the need of water of the people.
• Water for drinking, cooking and washing is obtained.
• Rivers and lakes irrigated farms.
• Fishing is practised in water bodies.
•  Rivers and lakes can be used for water transportation.

Question 11.
What is the difference between cities of developed countries and developing countries ?
Answer:
Towns and cities of developed and developing countries reflect marked differences in planning and development. While most cities in developed countries are planned, most urban settlements of developing countries have grown haphazardly with irregular shapes. For example, Chandigarh and Canberra are planned cities, while smallest town in India have grown haphazardly from walled cities to large towns.

Question 12.
Study the given diagram carefully and answer the questions that follow: (Delhi 2019)

(i) Identify and name the pattern of rural settlement shown in the diagram.
Answer:
Circular pattern.

(ii) Explain any two characteristics of this type of pattern of rural settlement.
Answer:
Circular pattern develop around lakes, tanks and sometimes the village is planned in such a way that the central part remains open and is used for keeping the animals to protect from wild animals.
Or
Study the given diagram carefully and answer the questions that follow. (Delhi 2019)

(i) Identify and name the pattern of rural settlement shown in the diagram.
Answer:
Star like pattern.

(ii) Explain any two characteristics of this type of rural settlement.
Answer:
Where several roads converge, star shaped settlements develop by the houses built along the roads.

Question 13.
‘Rural settlements are a great challenge for planners.’ Discuss highlighting the problems of rural settlement.
Or
Explain the nature of rural settlements. Describe any four problems related to rural settlements of the world. (Sample Paper 2018-19)
Answer:
Rural settlements in the developing countries are large in number and poorly equipped with infrastructure. They represent a great challenge and opportunity for planners.

• Supply of water to rural settlements in developing countries is not adequate
• People in villages, particularly in mountainous and arid areas have to walk long distances to fetch drinking water.
• Water borne diseases tend to be a common problem
• Diseases like cholera and jaundice are common
• The countries of South Asia face conditions of drought and flood very often
• Crop cultivation sequences, in the absence of irrigation, also suffer.

Question 14.
What is a healthy city ?
Answer:
WHO suggests that among other things a healthy city must have :
(i) A clean and safe environment.
(ii) Meets the basic needs of all its inhabitants.
(iii) Involves the community in local government.
(iv) Provides easily accessible health services.

Question 15.
Distinguish between Administrative ’ towns and Cultural towns.
Answer:
1. Administrative Towns. Headquarters of the administrative departments of central government such as New Delhi, Canberra, Moscow, Beijing, Addis Ababa, Washington D.C., Paris and London are National Capitals. Jaipur, Bhopal, Patna and Bengaluru in India are examples of administrative headquarters of states.

2. Cultural Towns. Cultural towns are either religious, educational or recreational towns. Jerusalem, Mecca, Ayodhya, Hardwar, Madurai and Varanasi have religious importance, hence, they are called religious
towns. Some places are known for educational institutions e.g. Varanasi.

Question 16.
Distinguish between squatter settlements and slums.
Answer:
Squatter settlement is a residential area built on vacant land in an urban locality by the very poor. These suffer from pollution such as Jhuggi-jhopri in India. Slums are residential areas in which satisfactory family life is impossible. It has bad housing, and inadequate light, air and toilet facilities. Dharavi (Mumbai) in India is Asia’s largest slum.

Question 17.
Study the table given below and answer the questions that follow: (C.B.S.E. 2016) Continent-wise distribution of million cities

Continent	Early 1950	Mid 1970s	Mid 2000
Europe	23	30	58
Asia	32	69	206
North and Cental America	16	36	79
South America	8	17	43
Africa	3	8	46
Australia	2	2	6
World Total	2	2	6

(10.1) Name the two continents which have shown the highest growth rate of million cities from 1950 to 2000.
Answer:
Asia, Africa.

(10.2) What could have been the reason for such a growth in million cities?
Answer:
Migration of population from rural areas to urban towns.

(10.3) Give the meaning of a million city.
Answer:
Million city means a town with a population of one million.

Human Settlements Important Extra Questions Long Answer Type

Question 1.
Describe the factors on which the location of rural settlements depend.
Or
Explain factors which affect the location of rural settlements in the world. (Sample Paper 2018-19)
Answer:
Rural settlements Sitting factors of rural settlements
(i) Water Supply. Usually settlements are located near rivers, lakes and springs w’here water can be easily obtained. Sometimes the need for water drives people to settle in otherwise disadvantaged sites such as islands surrounded by swamps or low lying river banks.

Most water based on “wet point’, settlements have many advantages such as drinking water, cooking, washing- rivers and lakes can be used to irrigate farm land-water contains fish which can be caught for diet and navigable rivers and lakes can be used for transportation.

(ii) Land. Farmers choose to settle near fertile lands suitable for agricultures. In Europe, villages grew up near rolling country avoiding swampy, low lying land while people in South East Asia chose to live near low lying river valleys and coastal plains suited for wet rice cultivation.

(iii) Up Land. Up land which is not prone to flooding was chosen to prevent damage to houses and loss of life. Thus in low lying river basins people chose to settle on terraces and levees which are “dry points”. In tropical countries people build their houses on stills near marshy lands to protect themselves from flood insects and animal pests.

(iv) Shelter. The availability of building materials: woods, stone near settlements is another advantage. Most early villages were built in forest clearings where wood was plentiful. In loess areas of China cave dwellings were important and African Savanna’s building materials were mud bricks and the Eskimos, in polar regions, use ice blocks to construct igloos.

(v) Defence. During the times of political instability, war, hostility of neighbouring groups villages were built on defensive hills and islands. In Nigeria, upstanding inselbergs formed good defensive sites. In India most of the forts are located on higher grounds or hills.

(vi) Planned Settlements. Sites that are not spontaneously chosen by villagers themselves planned settlements are constructed by governments by providing water, food and shelter in uninhabited areas.

Question 2.
What is Settlement Pattern ? Describe the different Rural Settlement y patterns on the basis of a number of criteria. (C.B.S.E. 2011, 2014)
Answer:
Rural Settlement Patterns. Patterns of Rural Settlements can be defined as the relationship between one house or building to another. The site of the village, the surrounding topography and terrain influence the shape and size of a village. Rural settlements may be broadly classified into :

(i) On the basis of setting. The main types are plain villages, plateau villages, coastal villages, forest villages and desert villages.

(ii) On the basis of functions. There may be farming villages, fishermen’s villages, Lumber-jack villages, Pastoral villages, etc.

(iii) On the basis of forms or shapes of the settlements. There may be a number of geometrical forms and shapes such as linear, rectangular, circular, star-like, T-shaped village, double village cross-shaped village.

(a) Linear patterns. In such settlements, houses are located along a road, railway line, river, canal edge of a valley or along a levee.

(b) Rectangular patterns. Such patterns of rural settlements are found in the plain areas or wide inter
montane valleys. The roads are rectangular and cut each other at right angles. (C.B.S.E. Delhi 2017)

(c) Circular pattern. Circular villages develop around lakes, tanks and sometimes the village is planned in such a way that the central part remains open and is used for keeping the animals to protect them from wild animals.

(d) Star-like pattern. Where several roads converge, star-shaped settlements develop by the houses built along the roads.

(e) T-shaped, Y-shaped, Cross-shaped or cruciform settlements. T-shaped settlements develop at tri-junctions of the roads (T) while Y-shaped settlements emerge at the places where two roads converge on the third one and houses are built along these roads. Cruciform settlements develop on the crossroads and houses extend in all the four directions.

(f) Double village. These settlements extend on both sides of a river, where there is a bridge or a ferry.

Question 3.
Give a functional classification MIJ of towns. (C.B.S.E. 2011)
Answer:
Functions and development of a town depends upon its size and site. Towns are classified according to their dominant function. Some towns are commercially important, while in other towns, administration, defence or culture are dominant.

1. Administrative Towns. Public Administration is the major function of such towns. These include capitals of countries and states. These towns have offices, govt, buildings, courts and head offices of many organisations. London, Delhi, Islamabad, Chandigarh are some examples.

2. Defensive Towns. These are towns noted for armies, air force, naval force for the defence of the country. Such towns have barracks and training facilities for armed forces. Jalandhar, Jodhpur and Jammu are some examples of such towns.

3. Cultural Towns. Towns based on the major function of education, religion, culture and art are classified as cultural towns such as :

(a) Educational centres. Most of the educational centres develop on the outskirts of the towns. Such towns have a complex of university, colleges, libraries, hostels, playgrounds and shopping centres. Shanti Niketan, Oxford, Aligarh are educational towns.

(b) Entertainment centres. These towns provide the facilities of entertainment or recreation like theatres, film-making, cultural functions. Hollywood, Stratford are such towns.

(c) Religious centres. Some towns develop as seats of religious leaders of different religions, such as Rome, Lhasa, Varanasi, Amritsar.

4. Collection Towns. In collection centres, raw materials are collected before sending these to factories.
(a) Mining towns. Such towns are based on minerals or fuels like gold, copper, iron, coal and oil, such as Raniganj, Kolar Kalgoorlie,

(b) Fishing ports. Such coastal towns have the facilities of landing, storing, packing and exporting the fish. Halifax, Cochi, Calicut are good examples.

(c) Lumbering towns. Lumbering towns are collecting centres for logs. They have saw mills, pulp plants and paper mills, such as Kathgodam, Nepanagar.

5. Production Centres. Production centres are based on manufacturing activity. These towns have warehouses, godowns, banks and transport networks. Steel centres such as Birmingham, Jamshed Pur are known as ‘Black country’ due to furnaces, but Tokyo, Manchester are neat and clean due to textiles.

6. Distribution Centres. Commercial towns distributing manufactured goods are known as Distribution Centres.
(a) Market towns. These towns consist of banks, stock exchanges, shops, stores and commercial organisations, such as Meerut, Hapur, Moga
.
(b) Port towns. Sea-ports are important for port facilities, docks, warehouses and functions of import, export and international trade such as Tokyo, Mumbai, London, etc.

(c) Financial towns. Such towns have facilities of trade, finance and consist of stock markets, auction rooms, banks, travel agencies. Frankfurt (Germany), Zurich (Switzerland) are good examples.

7. Resorts. Some resort towns develop due to facilities for tourists along sea coast, on the mountains or by the side of an attractive scenery and health giving waters. Srinagar, Shimla, Darjeeling are good examples of such tourist resorts.

Question 4.
Describe the different types of towns on the basis of size of population.
Answer:
Types of Urban Settlements. Depending on the size, services available and functions rendered, urban centres are designated as town, city, million city, conurbation, megalopolis.

(i) Town. The concept of ‘town’ can best be understood with reference to‘ village.’ Population size is not the only criterion. Functional contrasts between towns and villages may not always be clear-cut, but specific functions such as manufacturing, retail and wholesale trade and professional services exist in towns.

(ii) City. A city may be regarded as a leading town, which has outstripped its local or regional rivals. In the words of Lewis Mumford, “the city is in fact the physical form of the highest and most complex types of associative life. ” Cities are much larger than towns and have a greater number of economic functions. They tend to have transport terminal, major financial institutions and regional administrative offices.

(iii) Million City. When the population crosses the one million mark it is designated as a million city.

(iv) Conurbation. The term conurbation was coined by Patrick Geddes in 1915 and applied to a large area of urban development that resulted from the merging of originally separate towns or cities. Greater London, Manchester, Chicago and Tokyo are examples.

(v) Megalopolis. This Greek word meaning “great city”, was popularised by Jean Gottman (1957) and signifies ‘super-metropolitan’region extending, as union of conurbations. The urban landscape stretching from Boston in north to south of Washington in USA is the best known example of a megalopolis.

(vi) Million Cities. The number of million cities in the world has been increasing as never before. The earliest of these was probably in China. London reached that figure in 1800, followed by Paris in 1850, New York in 1860 and by 1950 there were around 80 such cities. The rate of increase in the number of mega cities has been three fold in every three decades around 160 in 1975 to around 438 in 2005.

The Continent-wise Distribution of Million Cities

Continent	Early 1956	Mid 1970	Mid 2000
Europe	23	30	58
Asia (India)	32	69	206 (43)
N. & C. America	16	36	79
South America	8	17	43
Africa	3	8	46
Australia	2	2 –	06
World Total	84	162	438

(vii) Mega Cities. A mega city or megalopolis is a general term for cities together with their sub-urbs with a population in excess of 10 million people. New York was the first to attain the status of a mega city by 1950
with a total population of about 12.5 million. The number of mega cities is now 25. The number of mega cities has increased in developing countries during the last 50 years vis-a-vis the developed countries.

Mega Cities of the World (According to 2012 data)

S. No.	Name of the City	Country	Population
1.	Tokyo	Japan	37,126,000
2.	Jakarta	Indonesia	26.063,000
3.	Seoul	South Korea	22,547,000
4.	Delhi NCR	India	22,242,000
5.	Manila	Philippines	21.951,000
6.	Shanghai	China	‘ 20,860,000
7.	New York	USA	20,464,000
8.	Sao Paulo	Brazil	20,186,000
9.	Mexico City	Mexico	19,463.000
10.	Cairo	Egypt	17,816,000
11.	Beijing	China	17,311,000
12.	Osaka – Kyoto	Japan	17,011,000
13.	Mumbai	India	16,910,000
14.	Guangzhou	China	16,827,000
15.	Moscow	Russia	15,512,000
16.	Dhaka	Bangladesh	15,414,000
17.	Los Angels	USA	14,900,000
18.	Kolkata	India	14,374,000
19.	Karachi	Pakistan	14,198,000
20.	Buenos Aires	Argentina	13,639,000
21.	Istanbul	Turkey	13,576,000
22.	Rio-de-Janeiro	Brazil	12,043.000
23.	Shenzhen	China	11,885,000
24.	Lagos	Nigeria	11,547,000
25.	Paris	France	10,755,000
26.	Nagoya	Japan	10,027,000

Human Settlements Important Extra Questions HOTS

Question 1.
Describe the priorities which have been outlined by the United Nations development programme as part of its urban strategy. (Outside Delhi 2019)
Answer:
United Nations development programme as part of its urban strategy have been outlined following priorities.

• For the urban population increasing shelter.
• UNDP has outlined provisions of the basic urban services for example education facilities.
  Primary health care facilities, sanitation and clean water facilities.
• For the basic services UNDP improve women’s access.
• UNDP has outlined priorities for upgrading energy use and also for the alternative transportation.
• To provide clean and safe environment and reduction of air pollution, etc.