Settlement Pattern of Rural People

The settlement pattern of rural people is based on two aspects and fundamental types. These are grouped or cluster-dwelling forms. There exist different combinations of patterns of settlement exist between them.

According to Karve there are three types of villages: 

1. Tightly Nucleated villages.
2. Villages on two sides of a road.
3. Clustered villages.

According to Tyagi the villages are of the following categories:

1. Shapeless cluster.
2. Linear cluster.
3. Square of the rectangular cluster.
4. Villages formed of isolated homesteads.

According to A.R.Desai, ‘In the history of different people lives in different parts of the world and different types of villages emerged with the rise and spread of agriculture’. This was mainly due to differences in the geographical environments in which those people lived. Further, the early village of a people also underwent changes in time due to its subsequent technical, economic, and social evolution as well as due to the impact of other societies on it.                                

This history of the village, in time and space, reveals such diverse village types as the Saxon village, the German Mark, the Russian Mir, the self-sufficient Indian Gram, the village of feudal Europe which was an integral part of the manor; and finally the modern village, which is an integral part of national and world economic systems, with its variants such as the U.S.A. village, the typical West European village, the village of the backward modern countries of Asia, the village of the Soviet Union based on collectivized agricultural economy and others.

Hence the student of rural society should study the village, the basic unit of rural society as it originated and underwent a constant state of development and change due to the action of its own developing internal forces as also due to its interaction with other societies.’

Pattern of Settlement 

The patterns of settlement identified are as given below:       

1. Isolated Farmstead: In this form, the individual lives on his farm with his farmland surrounding him. “His neighbor may be a few miles from him depending on the size of their respective farms. Adjacent to his dwelling he keeps his livestock, bar, farm equipment, harvested produce, and other parts commodities.”
2. Village: This pattern of settlement comprises dwellings of rural people “concentrated together with their farmland outlying their cluster dwelling of the village. The number of dwellings will vary and will indicate the size of the village. Examples, of the village pattern of settlement due to be found in most of the countries of the East, where such predominates.” 
3. Line Village: In such a type of village houses are located along a road, a waterway, or an artery of transportation, each with adjoining strips of farmland belonging in shape extending away from the road. Residences are thus close and easily accessible to one another and at the same time are located on their respective farms. This pattern of human settlement may be witnessed along canals in “Thailand, in certain parts of Canada along the St. Lawrance River, in French Canadian settlement in Maine and Louisiana in the U.S.A. and is characteristic of the French land tenure pattern, many villages in France and Germany are also of this type.”
4. Round Village or Circular Pattern: In this type “houses are arranged in a circle enclosing a central area with the houses and yard at the apex of the triangular plot. In this way, houses are closer together without creating a corresponding greater length in the tract of farmland.” Such a pattern can easily be seen in some villages in Israel where irrigated land is very limited.”
5. Cross-Roads and Market Center Settlements: This pattern of settlement is common in various places trough out the world. It is “based on economic factors of location for simply and distribution of goods, this settlement provides needed products and commodities, such as prepared foodstuffs, refreshments services such as petrol station, repair shop, etc. market center settlement, therefore, are predominantly is habited by Merchants who handle agricultural products, bankers, shopkeepers and other.” In such centers, farmers usually do not reside unless their farmland is adjacent. Generally, it consists of shops along the line of the road.    
6. Hamlets: Small villages located away from villages or on the fringes of larger villages are called hamlets and they do not possess adequate supplies usually and services that may be more available in the larger village.
7. Other Patterns: In addition to these other types of settlements exist to serve a specific function. For, instance, in India at points of religious pilgrimage or a church is usually built along with dwelling places for those who visit and worship. Similarly, there are historical and other places of tourist interest around which settlements have come to exist.

Reference

Rural Sociology by Dr. G. Das