Factors affecting Settlement

Settlement

Many years ago when people chose to settle in a certain area their choice in location depended on a series of factors:

Water Supply: Fresh water was needed for drinking, washing and cooking. 

                       Settling near a flowing river meant clean and running water                          aswell as somewhere to catch fish. 

Building Materials: To construct buildings wood and stone would have to be found nearby as they were too heavy to carry long distances. 

Fertile Land: This was important for growing crops and providing food. Over time people realised that re-using the same patch of land every year would deplete the soil of nutrients and so they would have to start spreading outwards. Fallow or unused land was left to grow, animals such as cows and pigs were allowed to graze and refertilise the land. 

Defence : well placed settlements took this into account as they were all vulnerable from attack. Many used geographical features to their advantage; tops of hills, near rivers and cliff faces were popular choices due to their good views and reduced area of attack. 

Right: Maiden Castle, Dorset, UK . This picture shows a prime example of how settlers have used the hill to their advantage; a great view of the surrounding land.

Shelter: Protection from prevailing winds and rain. Yet again landscape features such as cliffs and forests were used to shelter settlers from harsh weather.

Trading Centres: Settlements often grown where natural route ways and rivers meet, this led to the development of roads, railways and canals.

Settlement Functions

When settlements first started to grow, for the most part they only had one function, over time as the settlement increased in size and started to establish itself did it start to develop other functions along side.

Examples of Functions 

Market Town - Watford, UK began as a market town where people would meet and trade their goods.
Port - Southampton and Liverpool began as ports but now both are multifunctional.
Resort - Blackpool was a popular Victorian seaside resort, even though this is still a massive part of its function it grown to have several functions now.
Natural Resources - Sheffield developed due to its abundance of iron and steel. Nowadays this demand has declined but it is still a thriving multifunctional city.

In more economically developed countries most large settlements have now become multifunctional