Social Geography - Group 1

Download High Quality Study Material: www.instamojo.
com/nextgenias
SOCIAL GEOGRAPHY
Racial Groups
 As a part of Human geography, Cultural geography deals with the socio-cultural aspect of
various human groups based upon their geographic location which includes their habitat,
clothing, food, shelter, skills, tools, language, religions, social organization and life style.
 Basing upon the above criteria each continent has some unique ethnic groups which are
otherwise called as Human Race, who are confident to a particular region of that continent
only.
Race
 Race is biologically defined as a geographically isolated population of organisms that differs

from other populations of the same species in certain heritable traits.
 As to clarify it further it is a characteristics such as skin colour, stature, head form, face, hair,
eye, nose, body type, blood group etc along with regional variations.
 Accordingly 3 major human races are identified which are distributed across the world. They
are Caucasoid, Mongoloid and Negroid which further sub divided into geographically viable
groups.
Racial Groups and Their Distribution Pattern

Continents Major Ethnic Distribution Remark
Group/Race
Asia Arabian (Middle East) Bahrain, State of This is major Pan
Palestine, Lebanon, ethnic Group which is
Comoros, Kuwait, primarily habited in
Qatar, Syria, United Western Asia. The
Arab Emirates, primary language
Morocco, Egypt, spoken by Arabian
Jordan, Iraq, Tunisia, group is Arabic.
Yemen, Djibouti, Besides 15 other
Sudan, Algeria, languages are spoken
Somalia, Saudi Arabia, among Arabians in
Oman, Libya, different parts of the
Mauritania world
Indian (Indo-Aryan & Most part of Indian On the basis of ethno
Dravidian) Sub continents (India, linguistic composition
Pakistan and the group is highly
Bangladesh) diversified, still the
majority of population
is restricted within two
SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/appsctspsclectures

Download High Quality Study Material: www.instamojo.com/nextgenias
major linguistic groups

such as Indo-Aryan and
Dravidian.
Mongoloids This group is primarily They speak mainly the
concentrated in Inner dialect of Atlantic
Mongolia Autonomous Language family. The
Region and gradually major three of them
spreading towards are Inner Mongolian,
Liaoning, Jilin, Barag-Buryat and Uirad
Heilongjiang, Xinjiang, Largest populated race
Qinghai, Gansu, of the world.
Ningxia, Hebei, Henan,
Sichuan, Yannan and
Beijing
Africa Pygmies Rwanda, Burundi, A short height tribal
Uganda, the group who lives on
Democratic Republic of hunting, gathering
the Congo (DRC), the fruits, nuts and honey
Republic of Congo from dense jungles and
(ROC), the Central they are primarily
African Republic, confined to rain forests
Cameroon, the only. Most primitives
Equatorial Guinea, Tribe of Africa
Gabon, Angola,
Botswana, Namibia,
Madagascar, and
Zambia are populated
by these group
Bushmen They are the huge They are basically
inhabitant of Kalahari yellow-skinned nomads
desert. Other than this whose primary food
they spread along intake in plant
Botswana, Namibia, products collected
South Africa, Zambia, from jungles which
Zimbabwe and Angola, accounts for 70% of
with loosely related their diet and for the
groups in Tanzania. rest 20%-30% they
depend on hunting.
Zulus They are mainly They are the
concentrated in descendants of Nguni-
KwaZulu-Natal speaking people and
Province of South best known African
Africa. Some are also tribes who were
scattered throughout exploited by Britishers
the other provinces. during the late 1800s.
KwaZulu-Natal borders the most spoken
on Mozambique in the languages are Zulu and
north. Eastern Cape in English.
the south, the Indian
Ocean in the east, and
Lesotho in the west.

They are highly

concentrated in South
Africa.
Massai They are mainly They commonly use
concentrated in Kenya and Tanzania,
KwaZulu-Natal Swahili and English
Province of South language for
Africa. Some are also communication as well
scattered throughout as education.
the other provinces.
kwaZulu-Natal borders
on Mozambique in the
north. Eastern Cape in
the south, the Indian
Ocean in the east, and
Lesotho in the west.
They are highly
concentrated in South
Africa
Bantus The Bantus are As these tribes are
primarily found in highly resourceful and
Rwanda. Angola, adaptable their
Burundi, Zimbabwe, occupancy in the total
and South Africa, with continent is also the
some among other highest. They mainly
nations in the speak bantu language
Southern part of which gave them their
Africa. nomenclature. They
live on agriculture and
metal working which
give opportunity to
adopt colonization.
North America Groups of Indigenous They mostly confined The indigenous people
peoples to Canada and some of the Americas are the
part of U.S.A. descendants of the
pre-Columbian
inhabitants of North
and South America.
Native Hawaiians Most Native Hawaiians Native Hawaiians are
resides in State of the indigenous
Hawaii and the Polynesian people of
American and No. of the Hawaiian Islands or
Island) their descendants.
South America Mestijo Mainly concentrated in They emerged dur to
Latin America. extensive intermixing
(Mexico, central between Europeans
America and No. of and Native Americans
Island) early in the colonial
period
Mullatto Brazil is home to Latin Mulattoes are people
America’s largest of mixture of European

mulatto population. and African.

Other than Brazil they
spread in Dominican
Republic, Cuba,
Panama, Costa Rica,
Colombia, Puerto Rico,
and Ecuador.
Zambol Zambos are the small This is a small yet
minorities in the noticeable group
northwestern South resulting from unions
American countries of Amerindian women
such as Colombia, to Afro-Ecuadorian
Venezuela, Guyana men are not
and Ecuador. uncommon in major
coastal cities of
Ecuador.
Europe Nordic The Nordics are As a sub group of
inhabited in the Caucasian race this
countries around group is a set of people
North and Baltic Seas. having distinct physical
characteristics such as
concurrence of fair,
colour, comewhat
wavy hair, light eyes,
reddish skin, tall
stature and a
dolichocephalic skull
Mediterranean They are mostly This is a relatively
concentrated in small, light boned, long
Afghanistan, skulled race, of burnet
Baluchistan, and color becoming even
Hindustan, with swarthy in certain
perhaps a southward portions of its range
extension into Ceylon. and possibly emerged
during Neolithic times
Alpine They acquire all central The Alpines have their
and eastern Europe, special physical
and extending through characteristic of round
Asia Minor to the skull, medium height
Hindu Kush and the and sturdy build, both
Pamirs. as to skeleton and
muscles. The color of
both hair and eyes was
originally very dark and
still tends strongly in
that direction, but
many light colored
eyes especially gray,
are now found in the
Alpine populations of
western Europe.

Australia Aborigines and Torres They contribute only Upto 2010-2012 the
Strait Islanders 3% of the total average life expectancy
population thought of Aboriginal and
they are the original Torres Strait Islander
inhabitant of Australia people was
and the rest 7% are approximately ten
contributed by rates of years (10.6 years for
Asiatic origin. men and 9.5 years for
women) which is must
below the race of
Asiatic origin, the
leading causes of death
are being heart
disease, diabetes,
respiratory disease and
cancer.
Origin of Races
 Generally Race is defined as a biological inbred group possessing a distinctive combination of

physical traits that tend to breed true from generation to generation.
 A Race is a great division of Mankind, the members of which through individually varying are
characterized as a group by a certain combination of morphological and metrical features,
principally non-adaptive, which have been derived from their common descent (E. A.
Hootan, 1926).
 Race is a division of species which differs from other divisions by the frequency with which
certain hereditary traits appear among its members (Braes, 1977). Among these traits are
features of external appearance that make it possible to recognise members of different
populations by visual inspection with greater or less accuracy. Members of such division of a
species share ancestry with one another to a greater degree than they share it with
individuals of other races. Finally, Races are usually associated with particular geographic
areas.
 Anthropologists and other evolutionists accept the ample evidence that the Homo sapiens
are also the products of evolution like plants and animals. Evolution means, that the living
forms are ultimately related through shared ancestry and that they have changed from their
ancestral forms. Some changes take place rapidly. Some slowly and evidence exists for both
types of evolution.
 The great Euro-Asiatic continent and its enormous plateau extending from Persia(Iran) right
across Tibet and Siberia to Manchuria offered suitable conditions in late Miocene or early
Pliocene times, for the development of ancestral man.
 It is in this area that we still find that type of mankind the Mongolian - which retains a colour
of the skin Midway between the black or brown black of the Negro and the olive white of
the Caucasian types, a colour, which still prevails over all Northern Asia, over the American
continents and overmuch of Polynesia [Triangle drawn by connecting the points of Hawaii,
Newzealand and Eastern Island].

 This zone is sufficiently extensive and varied to admit primitive man having attained a
considerable population and having developed his full human characteristics both physical
and mental, before there was entirely any need for him to migrate beyond its limits.
 One of his earliest important migrations was probably into Africa, where spreading
westwards, he became modified in colour and hair in correlation with physiological changes,
adapted him to the climate of the Equatorial lowlands.
 In another migration, spreading north-westwards into Europe, the moist and cool climate
led to a modification of an opposite character, and this may have arisen ‘the three great
human types' which still exist. Later, probably, they spread eastward into North-West
America and all this may have occurred in early or middle Pliocene times
 Thereafter, successive waves of migration carried him into every part of the habitable world,
and by consequent and intermixture, led ultimately to the puzzling gradation of types which
the Anthropologist or ethnologist seeks to unravel in Vain.
Theories of Evolution of Races
Several theories were proposed by the scientists regarding to the Evolution of Races. Few
among them are discussed here.
Agassiz’s Theory: The eminent naturalist attempted to divide the entire globe into eight kingdoms or
centres of appearance of particular species of Vegetation and animal forms. They are, the Polynesian
kingdom, Australian kingdom, Malay or Indian kingdom, African kingdom, European kingdom, Asiatic
kingdom, American kingdom and the Arctic kingdom. He attached a particular human race to every
centre as a local product of that kingdom.
Klaatsch’s Intermediate Theory: Klaatsch of Heidelberg attempted a novel polygenetic, solution to

the origin of man and his races based on a variety of morphological and other considerations.
According to this theory, the starting point of the evolutionary pedigree of human being is named
by him as pro- pithecanthropi or pre-apeman, who are said to be the common progenitors of both
Ape and Man. As their number increased, they migrated in successive waves along the different
available land routes. The remarkable resemblances of these Palaeolithic and pre Palaeolithic
implements in different regions would appear to afford some presumptive evidence in favour of the
migration of a definite type of humanity.
"Polygenism" is a theory of human origins positing that the human races are of different origins
(Polygenesis). This is opposite to the idea of monogenism which posits a single origin of humanity.
"Pedigree" is the record of descent of an animal (or) the recorded ancestry or lineage of a person or
family.
Taylor’s Migration Zone theory
Griffith Taylor, a renowned geographer contributed a lot to the development of Raciology.

According to his Migration zone theory of race Evolution, there are five principles as follows:
 The first principle states that, “the most primitive races are found pushed to the periphery
like in Tasmania, Greenland, Brazil, Andaman & Nicobar Islands etc.”

 The second principle of race evolution quotes that, “the last evolved races are found in the
centre, where stimuli leading to evolution have been greatest throughout the ages”.
 The third principle of race evolution is that, “Where the racial evolution has progressed
farthest, the burned strata of more primitive tribes will be most numerous”. [The burned
evidence includes skeletons, artefacts, place names, folklore etc].
 The fourth principle is that, “the order of evolution is the same, whether we move outwards
from the centre of evolution across the zones or downwards from the centre of evolution
through the strata”.
 The fifth principle states that, “the primitive races are found alive precisely, where they did
not originate”.
Classification of Races and Characteristics
 Although all races share over 99% of the same genetic material, the classification and
division of races is largely subjective, and all races belong to the same species— Homo
sapiens.
 Scientifically, races are defined as a group of people that are separated and grouped
together due to the fact that they have common inherited traits that distinguishes them
from other groups.
 The notion of race is also divided based on geographic separation, social and cultural
differences and distinguished physical differences.
 Any classification of the human species must be based upon observable or measurable
bodily characteristics of a presumably inheritable type.
 The superficial or external characters are usually called descriptive or secondary characters
such as - colour and texture of the skin, the colour, form and position of the eyes, the colour
and character of the hair and the form of face and features.
 The internal or structural characters which are usually called as biological such as—blood
groups, cephalic, nasal and Stature indices.
Colour of the skin
Colour of the skin is one of the most striking characteristics of human divisions. According to it :-
 Caucasoids have-pale reddish white to olive brown skin colour.

 Mongoloids have - saffron to yellow brown and reddish brown colour.
 Negroids have- Brown to brown black or yellow to brown skin colour.
Colour and Texture of Hair:
The colour and Texture of hair among different races is as follows:
 Caucasoids - hair colour is light brown to dark brown, texture is fine to medium, and the
form is straight to wavy. The body hair among the Caucasoids is moderate to profuse.
 Mongoloids- The colour of hair is brown to brown black, texture is coarse, and the form is
straight. The body hair is sparse among Mongoloids.

 Negroids - Hair colour is brown black,Texture is coarse, and the form is wooly or frizzly.The
body hair is sparse among Negroids.
GR. Gyayor used the following terminology regarding the form of hair.
 Leiotrichi - straight hair
 Cymotrichi-Wavy hair
 Ulotrichi-Frizzly hair
as the chief basis of classification, Haddon in 1924. Classified die world people using the Gyayor’s
hair types.
Colour and Shape of Eyes
The pigment scattered through the Iris give colour to eyes. According to the colour of the pigment
the following is the classification of races.
 Caucasoids - the colour of eyes is light blue to dark brown, while the lateral eye fold is
occasional.
 Mongoloids - The eye colour is dark brown and the medial epicanthic fold* is very common.
 Negroids - eye colour is brown to brown black and vertical eye fold is common.
Epicanthic fold: Epicanthal fold, epicanthus or eye fold are the names for a skin fold of the upper
eyelid, covering the inner corner (medial canthus) of the eye.
Stature
The person’s natural height is known as Stature. Topinard’s classification of stature, which is
generally accepted comprises 4 groups -
a) Tall Stature — 170 cm and above.

b) Above Average -165 cm -170 cm
c) Below Average -160 cm-165 cm
d) Small Stature - below 160 cm.
Probably 95% people of the world range from 150 cms to 165 cms.
 Caucasoids are - Medium to tall stature.

 Mongoloids are-Medium tall to medium short.
 Negroids are - Tall to very short.
Face
The anterior surface of the head of the humans is known as Face.
 Among Caucasoids - Face is narrow to medium broad and tends to be high, with prognathism.
 Among Mongoloids - It is medium broad to very broad and medium high.
 Among Negroids - The face is medium broad to narrow and tends towards medium high with
strong prognathism among Negroids.
Prognathism : Lower Jaw or chin having projection.

Head Form (or) Head Index
The form of Head is ascertained by measuring the greatest length from a definite point on the
forehead to the back of the head, and the greatest breadth a little above the ears. This proportion is
expressed as Cephalic Index (Cl). The formula for measuring Cenhalic Index is as follows:
CI= Maximum Breadth/Maximum Length x 100
On the basis of the Cephalic Index, the head shape has been arbitrarily classified into three
categories as follows for both the living head and dry skull.
S.No Category CI of Living Head CI of Dry Skull

A Dolicocephalic (or) Long Headed 76.99 and below 74.99 and below
B Mesocephalic (or) Medium Headed 77-81.99 75-79.99
C Brachycephalic (or) Round Headed 82 and above 80 and above
 Generally Caucasoids are Brachycephalic

 Mongoloids are mostly Mesocephalic
 Negroids are usually Dolicocephalic
Nose
 Among the Caucasoids-the nasal bridge is usually high and the form is narrow to medium
broad.
 Among Mongoloids-the nasal bridge is usually low to medium and the form is medium
broad.
 Among Negroids - the nasal bridge is usually low and the form is medium broad to very
broad.
Blood Groups
 Among the caucasoids - frequency of A is more than that of B group.

 While the Mongoldids-have more B than Aand,
 The Negroids have both A and B groups.
Body Build or Shape
 Among the Caucasoids - It is linear to lateral and slender to rugged.

 Among the Mongoloids, it tends to be lateral with some linearity.
 Among the Negroids, the body shape is lateral and muscular.

Characteristics of Major Races
S.no Trait Caucosoid Mongoloid Negroid

1 Skin colour Pale reddish white Saffron to Yellow Brown to brown-
to olive brown. Brown, some black , some
reddish brown. yellow brown.
2 Stature Medium to Tall. Medium tall to Tall to very
Medium Short Short.
3 Head Form Long to broad and Predominantly Predominantly
Short, Medium broad, height long, height low
high to very high. medium to medium
4 Face Narrow to medium Medium broad to Medium broad to
broad, tends to very broad, narrow, tends to
high, no malars high and medium high,
prognathism flat, tends to strong
medium high prognathism
5 Hair Head hair, colour, Head hair:
light blonde to colour, brown to Head hair,
dark brown, brown black; colour, brown
texture, fine to texture, coarse; black; texture
medium; form, form, coarse; coarse; form,
straight to wavy. form, Sparse fight curl to
Body hair: wooly or hair
Moderate to frizzly body hair.
profuse Slight
6 Eye Colour light blue Colour: brown to Colour: brown to
to dark brown; dark brown, Colour: brown to
lateral eye-fold medial x black, vertical
occasional epicanthic fold eye-fold
very common common
7 Nose Bridge: Usually Bridge: usually Bridge: usually
high; form; narrow low to medium; low, form;
to medium board form; medium medium broad to
broad very broad
8 Body Build Linear to lateral Tends to be Tends to
Slender to rugged lateral, some belateral and
linearity evident muscular
9 Blood Group More A than B High in B High in A&B

Races and Subraces
S.no Primary Race / Region Sub-races Composite Races Residual Mixed

Type
1 Caucasoid-White European, Mediterranean Armenojd Nordic Alpine
Euro- Africo-Asian Ainu Dinaric Nordic-
Celtic Predominantly Mediterranean
Nordic white
Alpine Australian
East Baltic Indo-Dravidian
Polynesian
Predominantly
Negroid
2 Negroid (Africa, Asia, Pacific African Negro Predominantly
Islands) Nilotic Negro Negroid
Negrito Malanesians
Puans
Secondary
subrace
Bushman
Hottentot
3. Mongoloid ( Asia, Pacific Classic Mongoloid Predominantly

Islands, North and South Arctic Mongoloid Mongoloid
Americas) (Eskimos) Malaya
Mongoloid
Indonesian
Mongoloid
American Indians
Distribution of Race
The spatial distribution and concentration of human races is very distinct and clear. Generally
speaking,
 Caucasoids concentrated in Europe.

 Mongoloids in Asia, and
 Negroids in Africa.
It does not mean that, these races are confined to the given continents! only. For example,
 Caucasoid race which is found mostly in Europe, also seen along the northern belt of Africa,
Asia Minor(Turkey), Afghanistan, Iran to Baluchistan and Northern India.
The Mongoloid race is mainly found in the central, eastern and South-Eastern parts of Asia and the
Western parts of Americas (Red Indians and others], Arctic region [Eskimos m Canada, Greenland
and Yakuts in Siberia]. In other words, the Mongoloids are clustering around the Pacific and the
Arctic Oceans.

Red Indians: Indigenous people of Americas are the pre-columbian peoples Sfthe Americans and
their descendents. Indigenous in the sense, descendants of non- immigrants may also be called as
Aboriginal peoples.
 The Negroids have main concentration to the sooth of Sahara desert in Africa, but they are
also found in Indonesia (Pygmis), New Guinea, Papua of Melenesia*.
Melenesia is a sub-region of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the
Arafura Sea and eastward to Fiji. The region includes the four countries of Vanuatu, Solomon Islands,
Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
 The Australoids-abreed of Negroids and Dravidians (Southern India) are largely concentrated
in Australia, especially in the northern and western parts of the continent
Average Differences Among Blacks, Whites and Orientals

Trait Blacks Whites Orientals
Brain Size
Cranial capacity 1,267 1,347 1,364
Cortical neurons (millions) 13,185 13,665 13,767
Intelligence
IQ test scores 85 100 106
Cultural achievements Low High High
Reproduction
2-egg twinning (per 1000 births 16 8 4
Hormone levels Higher Intermediate Lower
Sex characteristics Larger Intermediate Smaller
Intercourse frequencies Higher Intermediate Lower
Permissive attitudes Higher Intermediate Lower
Sexually transmitted diseases Higher Intermediate Lower
Sex characteristics Larger Intermediate Smaller
Personality
Aggressiveness Higher Intermediate Lower
Cautiousness Lower Intermediate Higher
Impulsivity Higher Intermediate Lower
Self-concept Higher Intermediate Lower
Sociability Higher Intermediate Lower
Aggressiveness Higher Intermediate Lower
Cautiousness Lower Intermediate Higher
Maturation
Gestation time Shorter Longer, Longer
Skeletal development Earlier Intermediate Later
Motor development Earlier Intermediate Later
Dental development Earlier Intermediate Later
Age of first intercourse Earlier Intermediate Later
Age of first pregnancy Earlier Intermediate Later

Life-Span Shortest Intermediate Longest

Social organization
Marital stability Lower Intermediate Higher
Law abidingness Lower Intermediate Higher
Mental health Low Intermediate Higher

Tribal Groups
TRIBES OF THE WORLD
PYGMIES
 The pygmies are the most simple people of mankind.

 The most primitives as they have been frequently called and in the opinion of early
evolutionists they are the nearest approximation of man to animal.
 The best Known pygmy groups are those who live in tropical Africa.
 They are classified into the eastern, central and western groups.
 The eastern pygmies-the Mabuti live in the Ituri forest of Zaire, the central pygmies are
scattered in the Congo republic and the western pygmies such as Bongo are found in Gabon.
 Pygmies stature varies from 1.33 meters (52 inches) to 1.49 meters (58 inches) averaging
1.46 meters (57 inches), for male and 1.38 meters (54 inches) to females.
 The Skin colour ranges from yellowish or reddish brown to very dark brown, having
prognathic jaws, broad flat nose, large eyes and dark wolly hair. Culturally as well as racially
they differ from Negro.
 They are food gatherer and hunter and live in small groups in the dense forest of Congo
basin.
 They live in areas of isolation and relative isolation and more about continually.
 They hunt with bows and poisoned arrows, their food supplies often derived mainly from
trees, plants, nuts, birds, insects, depend mainly on vegetable food hunting and occasional
fishing.
 Due to warm humid and damp climate, they live without clothes, many of them in complete
nakedness, The wearing cloth is a covering of bark strip or vegetable fibers which is more or
less wide and run more or less around the hips.
BORO
 The life style, economy, society, religion, beliefs and the cultural ethos of food gathering and
pastoral communities of Amazon Basin and other Latin American regions are also largely
controlled by the climate and natural vegetation.
 The Boro is a sub-group of Red Indians of the Western Amazon forests.
 Due to high temperature and moisture throughout the year. It is covered with vast
equatorial forests.
 Due to this harsh environment the Boro occupy small clearings in forests, made by
laboriously burning down the trees in same relatively open tract.
 They have no domestic animals.
 Their main dependence is on agriculture (root crops, tubers, cassava, coca, tobacco).
 These people acquire a remarkable tolerance for the drug, which enables them, when taken
in large quantities to go for several days.

 Without sleep, food or drink. Boro eat certain earth’s (scraped from the heart) to make
deficiency, clothes are made of bark and paint their bodies and the lips and wear, wood ear
lobes Boro are not organized and unite.
SEMANG
 The hill dwellers of Malaysian Peninsula resembles in stature and colour to pygmies of
Congo Basin.
 Owing to their resemblance with Negros, they are often referred as Negritoes.
 The Semang do not practice agriculture nor have domestic animals and are almost
exclusively dependent on product of forests.
 They migrate continuously, save for short natural harvests and rarely stay more than three
or four days at one place.
 Their individual groups are small, a band of twenty to thirty persons including children is
considered large.
 The over dependence of Semang on vegetable, food, hunting and fishing is owed in the
environmental compulsions.
 They have to gather wide verities of berries, nuts, pith, leaves, shoots, and especially roots
tubers and wild yams, in hot and equatorial climatic little may be stored or preserved.
 Their clothes are made of vegetation and surrounding forests, especially of leaves and barks.
SAKAIS
 They are living in the lower attitudes and valleys in Malaya, having dense forest.
 They are long stature, white in colour and lean and thin, with elongated their head having
black curly hair.
 Sakais use vegetation (grass) to cover their body.
 They depend upon primitive agriculture and grow maize, rice, pumpkin, melon. Beside
agriculture fishing and fruit.
 Cultivation is their main occupation.
 Sakais built rectangular huts at tree steams and branches which are walled with bark strips
and plaited palm and roofed with palm leaves.
 The entire house construction materials are obtained from with in their surroundings.
 These are the typical examples of man’s adjustment to his environment.
PAPUAN
 The Aboriginies of New-guine Island in Pacific ocean are called Papuan.

 They have resemblance with pygmies.
 They are short stature, with dark brown skin colour, ugly looking.
 Their clothes are made of thin animal skin which they wear from waist till knee.
 The Papuan widens remove their hairs and use mud at the head.
 They hang the skull of their dead husband covered with a net (Jail).
 The main economy of Papuan is agriculture.

 They grow sugarcane and papaya. Some Papuan are pastoral pig is their pet animal.
 They gather their food from forest, sometimes hunting is also practiced.
 They have law circular houses, their roofs are covered with grass.
 Their houses are covered with met.
 Papuan are rough, fry hearted and superstitions. They believe in dead soul.
BUSHMEN
 Bushmen are also known as San.

 There are about 62 thousands Bushmen in Kalahari desert of Africa.
 Traditionally they live and move in groups of twenty of less, encamping for only a few weeks
at one place and hunting and gathering over an area of upto 600 sq. km around the camp.
 Today Bushmen are mainly confined in the barren inhospitable environment of the desert of
Kalahari (Namibia, Botswana, Angola) and adjacent sub tropical grasslands of S. West Africa,
Formerly Bushmen group have extended for north eastwards into Basutoland, Natal and
Zimbabwe.
 They have resemblance to the Negritoes.
 Bushmen live in a great plateau, about 2000 meter above the sea level.
 With massive range in the east; having subtropical climate.
 The abundance rainfall has resulted into dense forests on the eastern margin, while the
stony desert in the west.
 It is land of ephemeral streams with permanent water only in depressions of the stream
beds.
 Bushmen are basically hunters, than plant gathers.
 Their territory contain permanent water sources on which both beast and man depend.
 The women collect roots, berries, grubs, insects, tortoises, frogs and lizards. Water is
collected and brought into the camp in ostrich egg.
 Men almost daily go for hunt. Each hunts of gather for his own immediate family.
 The clothing of Bushmen is scanty, men wear a triangle lion cloth whose, point is drawn
backward between the legs while women wear squarish front apron, hanging from a waist
belt, while old women same time wear an apron at back as well and suspended it from
shoulder. But the most important item of a female dress is the clock locally known as Kross.
BEDOUINS
 The nomadic pastoralism extensively carried out in arid and semi-arid harsh climate.
 There are numerous tribes in south-west Asia and North Africa who practice pastoral
nomadism.
 The northern parts of the Peninsula of Arabia is occupied by Bedouins who exclusively
dependent on camel breeding and more from place to place in search of fodder and water.
 They occupy fairly well defined tracts of coarse grassland (hamad) which affords permanent
vegetation and water holes in the hollows.
 Bedouins are the mixture of South-west Asia and Mediterranean races and resemble with
very much to the Egyptian and Syrian peasants.

 They are five feet and four inches in height and lightly built.
 They have a long, narrow face with prominent nose, dark eyes and hair with pale
complexion.
 They adopt circular pattern in their migration. In September they leave the villages in the
West to pass the winter moving slowly in scattered groups over the pastures of Hamada, in
spring migrate southward to the fringes of the sandy desert of the Nefud.
 In early summer they again travel along the water holes in the Sirhan depression.
 Camel food is the main food of the Bedouins Bread and meat are only used when guests
arrive due to prevailing poverty, monotony and unreliability of subsistence in desert, as well
as low industrial development, necessitates trade with the bordering agricultural lands.
 The Bedouins buy flour, barley, coffe and clothing, paying for them largely with butter and
male colts. They also sell lambs, raw meat and goats.
MASAI
 Masai belong to the pastoral society, Masai are the mixture of the Mediterranean and
Negroid peoples, known as the best and most typical cattle herders of East Africa.
 They occupy the equatorial plateau of Africa to the east of Lake Victoria, extending from
North to South 800 km and east to west 550 km, including the part of Kenya, Northern
Tanganyika and Eastern Uganda.
 They live in Swampy grasslands of the uppernile.
 Thought they are dark in skin colour, clearly distinct from Negroid surrounded them on
south and east.
 They are tall and slender with long small limb bones, narrow feet and hands and long
fingers. The colour of their skin varies from light chocolate to very dark brown. The head is
high and narrow, the face is thin and many of them have fine curt features.
 Pastoralism is a cultural pursuit than the economic activity. Cattle are kept not only for sold
and consumed but also for immolated in religious rites and magical ceremonies. Cow, lamb
and goats are common.
 Among Masai nobody is allowed to kill the domestic animals. But as regards cow it may be
slaughted and its flesh may be eaten.
 Masai clothes are simple and made of skin.
 The young women and warriors wear elaborate ornaments, especially on ceremonial
occasions.
 Masai huts are 4 to 5 meters long and 4 meters wide, walled and roofed with layers of long
grass well set with poles and ropes and plastered with mud of cow dung.
 A number of these huts from about twenty to fifty, constitute one kraal, made of nearly
closed circle of huts, projected by an outer ring of thick thorn fence with two entrances at
the opposite sides for the cattle.
 The circular plan of Kraal is particularly suited for defence.
 Masai religious leader is known as Taibon.

KHIRGHIZ
 Khirghiz are the dwellers of Southern Tien-shan and the Pamirs, who are closely related to
Kazaks in race, colour, language, speech, custom and the way of life.
 Russians often call Kazaks also as Khirghiz.
 Tien-shan is a vast series of elongated mountains.
 Many perennial rivers descend from the snow copped peaks of about 6000 meters above
the sea level.
 In summer there are good grasses in the high altitude pastures while in winter low attitude
provide good grazing grounds.
 There are about one million Khirghiz who live mainly in the Republic of Khirghizia.
 They are strongly Mongoloid in appearance; short in stature, heavily built with yellow skin
and coarse black hair. They are mixture of Mangols and Tukrish tribes.
 The winter camps of Khirghiz are often very large and the whole tribes is found concentrated
at one spot. Near these camping sites are their fields which are cultivated by the people who
stay behind in the summer season. In fields they grow barley, millet and wheat. But in spring
season they go for hunting. Moral deer is a precious hunt. Yak is their main animal.
 The tent of Khirghiz is generally circular in shape with vertical walls and domed shaped roof.
The wall frame consists of a collapsible trellis set up right in a circle and standing about four
feet high, constructed of willow rods held together with teather thongs. The floor is covered
with felting. The erection and dismanting of the tent is the work of women and poor
dependents. Two or three camels are needed to carry a large tent when packed for
migration.
 Khirghiz are Muslim by faith. Their food, clothing and life style are considerably influenced
by their faith.
 They barter horse and sheep for cereals, barley, tea and coffee.
THE ESKIMOS
 The Eskimos are generally confined in the Arctic Tundra region, which extends over the
Aleutian Islands, Alaska, Northern Canada, Victoria, Melville, Baffin islands, Greenland,
Northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russian Article islands (Novaya, Zomlaya,
Severny a Zemlya etc.) and the Northern and eastern part of Siberia upto the Bering strait.
 The dominant ethnic groups who oscillate in the Tundra region are Eskimos in Alaska,
Canada, Greenland and Eastern Yukaghir and Yakuts in Siberia Saami in Norway, Sweden,
Finland and Russia.
 They are short statured people, flat but narrow face, small snub nose, yellow brown skin
colour and coarse, straight black hair.
 In Tundra region the elements of weather and factors of climate impose special conditions
on the life of men, animals and plants.
 In Tundra region, especially in the Arctic zone, the long northern winter of shrunken days
and prolonged darkness is followed by a brief summer by which the ice floes melt and open
water flanks the shore, causes hardy northern trees, stone pine, larch, birch and alder, cloth

the mountain slopes, over greater part occur sedge, grasses, mosses lichens and low berry
bearing bushes.
 Eskimos wear reindeer and other furs clothes. A sack like coat of reindeer hide reaching to
the knees, with long sleeves and tail is a main garments, during the colder spells two or
more than two hide fur coats are warm one above the other. A long front apron of hide also
hangs down from the neck, the various colours, fur and hair.
 The travelling of Eskimos is sledge, drawn by dog team (5 to 6) built of whale-bone of r of
wood, which is normally five metre in length.
SAMOYEDS
 The northern part of the Tundra region in western Siberia, in between ob and Pichora basin
is the home of Samoyeds, belong to Mongoloid.
 They are short statured, having yellow to light brown colour, with small, snub nose with flat
and narrow face. Samoyeds wear reindeer’s hide and fur clothes. They wear sack like coat of
reindeer hide reaching to the knee. With long sleeves and tail in a main garments. A long
front apron of hide also hangdown from the neck.
 The main occupation of Samoyed is hunting and pastoralism.
 Fish is the main economic activity of hunting, they hunt wild animals and eat their meat.
Besides this they eat macro as well as micro consumer.
 They are migratory hunters, do not have permanent house, live in tent made of reindeer
hide. They burn flesh inside the tent inorder to keep it warm. They are socially as well as
culturally backward.
YUKAGHIR
 They are the resident of the land in between Varkhoyanask and Stanovay mountain in
North-East Siberia.
 They also belong to Mongoloid race, having yellow and brown colour, short statured, with
small snub nose, flat and narrow face, with black and straight hairs.
 Like Eskimos they wear sack like coat of reindeer hide, reaching to the knee, with long
sleeves and tail in a main garments. A long front apron of hide also hangs down from the
neck.
 Hunting and fishing is the main occupation of Yukaghir. They hunt wild reindeer. Fishing is
done from small lakes and rivers. Their food is based on meat and fish. Beside this.
MAORI
 The Polynesians aborigines of New Zealand are known as Maori.

 Normally they were hunters. Now they are agriculturalists and food gatherer from forests.
 They are stone as well as wooden carvers.
AFRIDI
 Pakthuni aboriginies, live in between Safdeh-koh to Peshawar.

 They are courageous and warriors.

 In 16th century, Ahmad Shah Durrani, the ruler of Afghanistan, got them employed in his
army for battle against the Mughal Emperors
ZULU
 They are the resident of Netal republic, speak Nugi language.

 They have resemblance in religious and cultural with those of Bantoo.
 They are agriculturalist as well as pastoral. Now-a-days some of Zulu work in English farms.
KOSSACKS
 They are the native of northern part of Caspian and Black sea.
 These people have their own views.
 The Russian government had given them assurance of preference for admission in their
army.
 They are the agriculturalists of Poland and Lithuania. They are brave and warriors.
TRIBES IN INDIA
THARU
 Tharus are the resident of Uttranchal as well as Uttar Pradesh.

 They are the residents of Nainital to Gorakhpur as well as tarai area of Uttar Pradesh.
 They belong to Kirat genus and are divided in sub-clans. Some of the sociologists are of the
opinion that the world Thar means liquor, and Tharu means those people who drink liquor.
 They are the migrated people from Thar desert of Rajasthan.
 Men wear Dhoti lik Loangoth and have long Shikha at head, a symbol of Hinduism. Women
wear colour Lengha, choli and embroided Kurta along with Duppatta. They also wear
ornaments and punetate their body.
 Tharu’s house are made of mud and bricks. They use wooden rods and thatch in them.
 They construct their houses from North to South and their entrance is towards the east.
There are a few roams in their house with a worship room.
 Tharu live in joint family system. The number of their family members same time exceeds to
500 as in the case of tarai region of Nepal. The head of the family is the oldest man of the
family who distributes the work to the other members according to their ability who are
responsible for their work. After the fornight the nature of work assigned to the members is
changed.
 Rice is the main food of Tharu. Beside rice they use fish, pulses, milk, curd and meat of
hunting animals in their food. They pet pig and hen and use its egg. They have fixed time for
their food; in the morning they have breakfast known as Kaleba, in the noon lunch known as
Mizhni and in the evening dinner known as Beri.
 Liquor is their main drink and make liquor from rice known as Zad.
 Tharus are Hindus, they Worship God and Goddess.
 They believe in Jadoo-Tonnas.

 They worship Goddes Kali, Bhairon and Mahadeo are their reverend God.
 They worship Pipals tree, Ram and Krishna, beside this they also worship cow, monkey and
snake.
 Being Hindu, they celebrate all the Hindus festivals, Makar-Sankranti, Holi, Janamasthmi,
Dushera and Bajhar are the their main festivals. At Holiday men and women drink liquor and
dance, this festival is celebrated at least for a week.
 Bajhar festival they celebrated either in Jeth and Baisakh (march to May).
 Agriculture is their main economy
 They grow dhan, pulses, oilseeds, wheat, vegetables (potato, brinjal, cauliflower, tomato,
onion etc.) Beside this they are pastoral, wood cutter, hunter, food gathered also some of
the educated Tharus are in service.
TODA
 Toda’s are known as the classic example of Polyandry.

 Most of them inhabit Nilgiri hills of South India which fall under Oottacamund and Kunoor
districts of Tamil Nadu while the remaining inhabit the contagious Kollegal taluk of South
Kanara of Karnataka State.
 Apart from Polyandry they are also famous for their pastoral economy.
 Toda call themselves ‘Tora’ and are known to their neighbours as the same.
 Four primitives tribes- the Badaga, the Kota, the Kurumba and Irula, are their closest
neighbor Todas share the highest social status with Bagadas followed by the Kota, the
Kurumba and Irula, are their closest neighbor Todas share the highest social status with
Bagadas followed by the Kotas, the Kurumba and Irulas which play significant role in
economic life of Toda.
 The Niligiri-their principal area is very rich in Fauna and Flora.
 Elephant, tiger, leopard, sambhar, bison, pigs and wild dogs are important animals while
white cedar, satinwood, rose wood, ebony, silver oak, eucalyptus are varieties of important
trees.
 Toda have their dialect but no script of their own. It exhibits similarities with Tamil language,
but the presence of same archaic words in it suggests some sort of previous connection with
Brahuis of Baluchistan.
 The word Toda has been derived from the word tudra, which is a sacred tree of the Toda and
is worshipped by Toda.
 A Toda village usually consists of about six huts meant for Individual families, located at a
slight elevation near a wood and a stream.
 A typical Toda hut is a semi-barrel in shape and barrel being split longitudinally. It consists of
a big room, with provision of several beds. Bamboo and thatch are the basic material used in
the construction of these huts. Its entrance is low and narrow as one has to literally crawl
while entering.
 Todas economy life rotates around buffalo and they have remained static.
 They practice neither agriculture, nor horticulture nor any craft interestingly they are
Vegetarian in their food along with a little bit of food gathering which they occasionally

indulge into is related with collection of same edible roots, fruits, and tubers as a
supplement to their predominant milk diet.
CHENCHU
 The chenchu represent that segment of tribes population of India whose economy does not
seem to have changed in any significant manner for the last few thousand years.
 Concentrated in a small pocket situated in the heart of Andhra Pradesh, the chenchus live on
either side of the famous river Krishna with the Nallamalai forests on the southern side and
rugged and densely wooded plateau on the northern side.
 District-wise they are settled in scattered from in Mahboobnagar, Kurnool and Prakasham.
 They are one of the largest food gathering tribes belonging to the pre-agricultural level of
living depending upon wild roots, tubers, fruits, honey, yam carrying, digging stick and bow
and arrow they are clinging desperately to the outmoded food gathering economy.
 It is said that the food gathering economy of southern India gave way to the food producing
economy and tribal groups were transformed into village settlement, the majority of
chenchus faithfully resisted this change
 The Chenchus depend mostly on what nature provide them.
 Their economic system is essentially that of a tribe of hunter and food gathers.
 The changing season witness quick changes in a chenchus life. In one part of the year they go
on digging out edible roots, in other the collection of edible fruits is resorted to while in yet
another all the emphasis is laid on hunting and their life all the year round rotates round
gathering and hunting.
 Chenchus are divided into exogamous clans with animals totems whose killing or eating are
taboo for the members of the clan.
 Nuclear family containing the husband, wife and unmarried children is the most popular
made of family. In mundane affairs of life husband and wife enjoy equal rights but in the
scheme of ownership, usually husband owns all the property. The authority and succession
are patriarchal.
 Child marriage is not popular among them. In most of the cases spouse is sought from
outside one’s own clan, but among some selected one’s life partner is usually selected from
mother’s clan and preference is given to mothers brother’s daughter. Thought marriage is an
arranged affair but the care is taken to as certain the wishes of the bride and groom before
finalizing, girls are also allowed to express their views freely in matrimonial affairs.
KHASIS
 The Khasis tribe holds the distinction of being one of the few remaining matriarchal tribes of
the world.
 They are one of the most advanced tribal communities in India having an economy now
diversified.
 With substantial commerce, industry and urbanization, Educationally they enjoy substantial
representation in higher All Indian Services.
 Khasis live in the Khasi-Jaintia hills, a part of Meghalaya state, which belong to Mon-Khmer
group of the Indo-Chinese family of tribes, the only survivors of this group.
 Khasi men by and large discarded their traditional costume and have adopted western dress.

 Many Khasi gentlemen, especially persons of the older generation with social standing have
stuck to their traditional head gear i.e., large pugree (turban) tied in Assamese style only in
interior village, can be seen the ancient Khasi coat, it is a longish sleeveless without collar or
lapels with a fringe at the bottom and a row of tassels across the chest. It is called Jymphong
and is fastened by frogs in front. A dhothi of coloured or white silk material, kept in position
by the ornamental waist band, and a pugree of coloured of white cloth with feathers of
hornbill or. Bhimraj or cock stuck into it. Round the neck they wear necklaces of large
spheres of gold and coral adorned with filigree work and on the waist a silver chain. Gold
Pendants if circular or oval shape hang from both ears.
 The women dress is artistically design and graceful they warp up the body so much the
bodily contours are not at all thrown into relief, thus giving the body a cylindrical shape.
They wear more or less same jewellery as men.
 They take all kind of meat, espically pork and beef. The hog’s head is a delicary. Besides
these rat, monkey, green frogs and caterpillars are also used.
 The main occupation of the Khasis are industrious skilled agriculturalists.
 Rice is their main crop.
 Dry rice cultivation or high lands and slopes is practiced by following the jhumming
cultivation. They also grow potatoes and fifferent type of oranges at lower attitudes.
KUKIS
 Kuki is a generic term covering a number of tribes, sub-tribes and clans with varying customs
and manners, with certain common characteristics which mark them off other tribes of the
region such as Naga from the similarities in language.
 Customs and social organization, their can be little about the Kukis-Lushais and Chins
originally lived in the same land (Chin hills of Myanmar) are related to one another.
 The half of the Kukis population belong to Hmars a subtribe of kuki.
 According to legend the Kukis originally belonged to a place called Sinlung in South-West
China. Some natural calamity compelled them to migrate to the Shon Country to the North-
east of Assam, when they migrate to the Chin hills of Myanmar, from China hills they moved
in search of more fertile lands into the Lushai Hills. When Lusai tribe started making the
same movement from Burma (Myanmar) into Assam the Kukis were gradually driven
towards the lower and hotter northern region of the present Mizo district and came to be
known as Hmars. Which consisting of two tribes i.e., Rangkhos and the Bietes while originally
Kukis were Jansens and Thadous were also compelled to shelter into the North Cachar hills,
known as New Kukis.
 Now Kukis were scattered into China hills, Lushai hills, Tripura, Cachar, Manipur, Nagaland,
Khasi and Jainitia hills. Their villages are administered by a group of village officials, the
headman, the assistant head man and their subordinate.

THE NAGAS
 Nagas are found at various degree of concentration in North-East India, they predominatly
occupy the territory of Nagaland.
 The immigration of the Nagas into Nagaland is shrouded in obscurity.
 There has been a debate among the anthropologists about the origin of the term Naga.
 According to Hutton the word Naga means the dwellers of the Nagas hills. The word Naga
was the corruption of Assamese ‘naga’ meaning a mountaineering. According to Ptolemy
and Shyahb-al-din Talish ‘Naga means ‘Nanga’ or naked. In the opinion of Gait the word
Naga has been derived from the ‘Lok’ or ‘Nok’, which means ‘folk’ or people in Hindi
language.
 Some of the Naga tribe believes that they are immigrated from Phillipinies where there uis
still a place called Naga.
 The naga tribe belongs to Indo-Mongoloid race. It is believed that they moved south-east
from Sinkiang. Some of the trekked along Brahampura into the present Arunchal Pradesh
and some of them pushed to Myanmar and Indonesia. They have same relationship with the
native of Borneo.
 The habitat of Naga is mountainous, with elevated ridges, spurs and peaks of Naga and
Patkoi hills a southward extension of Himalayan folded mountains. Barring a few hundred
square kilometers of plain around Dinapur, the entire state of Nagaland is hilly and
mountainous, having its elevation from 914 metre to 3840 metres above the sea level. The
terrain is highly complex.
 The general climate of Nagaland is monsoonic. The hot and humid conditions with mild
winter provide a conductive environment for the growth and development of a large variety
of flora and fauna.
 The Nagas are known as ferocious eaters. Excepting food which is forbidden, Ngas may eat
almost everything. Rice with fish curry, pork, mutton, vegetables, chilies, salt and tree
leaves, beef, game, dogs, fowls, birds, fish, crabs, beetles, ants and spiders’ are also eaten.
Meat and skin are often hard dried over the fire and kept for a considerable time for future.
 The Whole of an animal including skin, blood, intestine and even the eyes are invariable
eaten. The dog meat is a specialty.
 But Naga generally do not eat tiger, leopard, gibbon, wild dog, wild cat, squirrel, mole,
eagles, owls, cows etc.
 Milk and Milk products are still considered as a taboo among most of the Naga tribes. Cows
and Mithuns are not mulched, because they are considered impure food. Butter, curd,
Butter milk and cheese are avoided.
 They prefer to drink Yi or Madhu. Tea is also consumed without milk. They also use Tobacco
 Naga wear a plain white cloth, known as Subsu. The female skirt consists of a piece of cloth,
wrapped round the waist. Generally women wear tsongtein (Puttees).
 Naga men wear tribe has its own favourite colour. Nagas are very much fond of wearing
ornaments, skull cap of bear skin, hats of red goats hair are among the ceremonial wearings.
Ornaments and feathers are worn in the ears by the males while females normally wear
brass rings. Now they have started wearing skirts and blouses. Many have given up their
traditional Mekhala (Shawl) and the teenagers may be seen in slacks and Jeans.

 The Naga economy is essentially agrarian in character. They largely depend upon Jhum land
and forest for their sustenance. Shifting cultivation of Jhum is wide spread. They also keep
pigs and swines which feed on the vegetable wastes and interior grains. Thus swine
husbandry, the integral part of Jhuming helps the society in becoming self reliant in the
matter of food. Mixed cropping is a common practice.
 Thought they are engaged in agriculture and forestry, followed by tertiary and secondary
activities. Most of the Nagas have their special handicrafts. They have developed great skull
in Bamboo work, wood work, blacksmithy and pottery making.
BHILS
 Bhils constitute the third largest group of India, after Santhal and Gonds.
 They are found in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
 Their major concentration being in the districts of Panchmahal and Vadodra (Gujarat);
Ahmadnagar, Aurangabad, Dhule, Jalgaon and Nasik in Maharashtra; Dhar, Jhabua, Ratlam
and Khargaon in Madhya Pradesh; Banswara, Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Dungarpur, Kota and
Udaipur in Rajasthan.
 Maize is a staple food of the Bhils throughout the year. The small millet like Kodra, Koori and
bathi are seldom taken during the lean years. Rice (Sokha) is taken at the festival and feast
occasion. The wheat distributed throughout the fair price shops becomes popular in the
tribals.
 Guests are invariable entertained with the food prepared of wheat, Rabdi is a common
preparation which is made by boiling flour in butter milk. Pulses of gram, urad, moong and
vegetables are also taken.
 By customs and traditions they are non-vegetarian. They eat mutton, flesh or hare, deer and
other animals, in rainy season they may go for fishing.
 On festivals like Rakhi, Diwali and Holi special food in prepared. They are much addicted to
liquor, distilled from the flowers of mahuva tree or from the back of babul or molasses.
 A male Bhil ordinarily covers head with a turban (feta) of white colour length of six to seven
metre, but the younger generation however does not wear any turban.
 They cover upper portion of their body with a shirt, made of coarse textile (Khadi). The
younger people have now begun to put on tee-shirts and suits of synthetic cloth. Lower
portion of the body is covered with Dhoti, the old fashion Bhils keep a shawl or a cloth on
their shoulders.
 The female dress is mainly consists of Petticote (Ghanghra), a bodice Kapda and a sari, a
typical Bhil woman dress. Bhils ornaments of silver, brass, zinc and nickel. They are found of
ear rings. They have hasali on their chest.
 The Bhils are largely depend or forests and agriculture land, while they gather fruits, leaves,
nuts and roots for the forests and hunt wild animals and birds for their sustenance, they
grow cereals, vegetables and fodder crops.
 The agriculture is practiced with primitive and indigenous technology. Now-a-days Bhils have
moved to market orientation economy. In recent years theirs economy has been diversified.
 Marriage among the Bhils is not sacrament. For a Bhil both male and female getting married
is a mark of adulthood and maturity. A Bhil must have a wife obtain either through a
arranged marriage or through elopement.

 Widow marriage is in vague. Traditionally they are polygamy.

 The position of women is not very strong, In the selection of her husband, her consent is not
given any weightage. The settlement of marriage entirely depend upon the will of parents.
 Holi and Diwali are their main festival. Holi is also called Jogan Mata. On the Diwali eve,
there is a picturesque dance by men who sometimes dress up as women.
 The Bhils are largely depend or forests and agriculture land, while they gather fruits, leaves,
nuts and roots for the forests and hunt wild animals and birds for their sustenance, they
grow cereals, vegetables and fodder crops.
 The agriculture is practiced with primitive and indigenous technology. Now-a-days Bhils have
moved to market orientation economy. In recent years theirs economy has been diversified.
 Now-a-days Bhils have adopted small scale trading, running small tea-shops, cycle-repairs
workshops, tailoring and small contractorship in mining and collecting tendu leaves. Now-a-
days they are employed as teachers, compounders, nurses, electricians, fitters, drivers and
masons.
Tribes in India: Regional Classification

States Major Tribes No. of Tribes
North East
Mizoram Lusai, Kuki, Garo, Khasi, 15
Jayantia, Mikir etc.
Nagaland Naga, Kuki, Mikir, Garo, etc. 05
Meghalaya Garo, Khasi, Jayantia, etc. 17
Sikkim Lepcha, Bhutia, Limbu and 4
Tamang
Tripura Chakma, Garo, Khasi, Kuki, 19
Lusai, Lusai, Santhal etc.
Arunachal Pradesh Dafla, Khampti, Singpho etc. 16
Assam Boro, Kachari, Mikir (Karbi), 33
Lalung. Hajong etc.
EAST
Odisha Birhor, Gond, Juang, Khond. 62
Korua, Oraon, Tharua,
West Bengal Asur, Birhor, Korwa, Lepcha, 40
Munda, Santhal, etc.
Bihar Asur, Banjara, Birhor, Korwa, 33
Oraon, Santhal, etc.
Jharkhand Biga, banjara Bathudi, Bedia, 30
Bhumij, Chik, Baraik, etc
Central
Madhya Pradesh Bhil, Biroh, Damar, Gond, 21
Kharia, Oraon, Parahi, etc.
Chhattisgarh Gond, Baiga, Korba, Bison Horn 31
Maria, Halba etc.

West
Gujarat Bhil, Dhodia, Gond, Kharia, 31
Oraon, Parahi, etc.
Rajasthan Bhil, Damor, Garasia, Meena, 12
Sahariya etc
Maharashtra Bhil, Bhunjia, Chodhara, 48
Dhodia, Nayaka, Rathwa etc.
Goa Dhodi, and Siddi (Nayaka) 08
Daman & Diu Dubla, Dhodia, Varli, Naikda & 5

Siddi
Dadra & Nagar Dhodia, Dubla, Kathodi, Kokna, 7
Koli, Dhor, and Varli
NORTH
UP & Uttarakhand Bhoti, Buxa, Jaunsari, Tharu and 15

Raji
Himachal Pradesh Gaddi, Gujjar, Lahuala, Swangla, 10
etc
J&K Chddangpa, Garra, Gujjar, 12
Gaddi, etc.
SOUTH
Andhra Pradesh Bhil, Chenchu, Gond, Kondas 34
Lambadis, Sugalis etc
Kerala Adiyam, Kammrar, Kondkappus, 43
Malais, Palliyar, etc. Irular,
Tamilnadu Irular, Kammara, Kondakapus, 36
Kota, Toda etc.
Karanataka Bhil, Chenchu, Goud, Kuruba, 50
Koya, mayaka, Toda
ISLAND
Andaman & Nicobar Island Jarawa, Nicobarese, Onges, 06
Sentinelese, Shompens and
Great Andamanese
Lakshadweep Amindivi, Koyas, Malmis and 0
Malacheries

TRIBES IN ANDHRA PRADESH:
SC/ST Data:
 SC are notified in 31 states and UTs

 ST are notified in 30 states
 There are altogether 1,241 individual ethnic groups etc. notified as SC’s in different states
and UTs
 The number of individual ethnic groups etc. notified as STs is 705
 SC population in India now stands at 201.4 million, which is 20% more than last census
 SC population is 16.6% of the total population
 ST population in India now stands at 104.3 million, which is 23.7% more than last census
 ST population is 8.6% of the total population
State with highest proportion of Scheduled Tribes – Mizoram

State with lowest proportion of Scheduled Tribes – Goa
UT with highest proportion of Scheduled Tribes – Lakshadweep
UT with lowest proportion of Scheduled Tribes – Andaman and Nicobar Islands
District with highest proportion of Scheduled Tribes – Sarchhip, Mizoram
District with lowest proportion of Scheduled Tribes – Hathras, Uttar Pradesh
State with highest proportion of Scheduled Castes – Punjab
State with lowest proportion of Scheduled Castes – Mizoram

UT with highest proportion of Scheduled Castes - Chandigarh

UT with lowest proportion of Scheduled Castes - Dadra and Nagar Haveli
District with highest proportion of Scheduled Castes – Koch, Bihar
District with lowest proportion of Scheduled Castes – Lawntlai, Mizoram
Highest SC populated state – Uttar Pradesh
Highest SC% state – Punjab (31.9)
Highest ST populated state – Madhya Pradesh
Highest ST% – Lakshadweep (94.8)

Linguistic Groups
 There are 22 scheduled languages, 114 other languages, 216 mother tongues, 96 non
specified languages and totally up to 10,000 languages spoken by the people in India
 According to Grierson (Linguistic Survey of India, 1903 – 1928) there were 19 languages and
as many as 544 dialects in the country.
 Among the scheduled languages, the speakers of Hindi have the highest percentage.
 The smallest language groups are Kashmiri and Sanskrit speakers
 The Indo-Aryan and the Dravidian are the dominant groups and together comprises all the
major languages of India.
Broadly the Indian languages can be put into six groups: 1) Indo-Aryan, 2) Dravidian, 3)
Sino-Tibetan, 4) Negroid, 5) Austric and 6) Others

Religious Data
 The distribution is total population by six major religious communities namely,
Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain besides “Other Religions and
Persuasions” and “Religion not stated”.
 The data are released by sex and residence up to sub-districts and towns.
 For the first time “No religion” category was added in 2011 census
 Total Population in 2011 : 121.09 crores
Religion Population
Hindu 96.63 crores (79.8%)
Muslim 12.22 crores (14.2%);
Christian 2.78 crores (2.3%)
Sikh 2.08 crores (1.7%)
Buddhist 0.84 crores (0.7%)
Jain 0.45 crores (0.4%)
Other Religions & Persuasions (ORP) 0.79 crores (0.7%)
Religion Not Stated 0.29 crores (0.2%)

Rural – Urban Components

 68.8% population reside in rural areas
 India has 6,40,867 villages out of which 5,97,608 (93.2%) are Inhabited Villages
 Bihar and Sikkim have very high percentage of Rural Population
 Goa and Maharashtra have only little over half of their total population residing in
villages
 Contrary to rural population, Urban Population (31.16%) in India is quite low but it is
showing a much faster rate of growth rate over previous decades
 In almost all the states and UTs, there has been a considerable increase in urban
population
 This division is based on occupational structure. In India, rural area is defined as one
where 3/4th or more of its population is engaged in primary activities
 According to 2011 Census, 53 cities have more than 1 million each. They are called
Metropolitan or Million Plus Cities
 The proportion of Urban population to the total has been increasing steadily at a
faster pace
 The rate of growth of urban population in the country is higher than the rate of
growth of rural population
 According to Census 2011, there are 7935 towns in the country
 The total population in the urban areas is more than 377 million which constitutes
31.16 % of the total population
 Rural – Urban distribution: 68.84% & 31.16%
 Level of urbanization increased from 27.81% in 2001 Census to 31.16% in 2011
Census
 The proportion of rural population declined from 72.19% to 68.84%



Occupational Structure
 The population of India according to their economic status is divided into 3 groups
1) Main-Workers
2) Marginal-Workers
3) Non-Workers
 The proportion of workers (both main and marginal) is 39.8% (2011 census) leaving
a vast majority of about 60% as non-workers. It indicates an economic status in
which there is large proportion of dependent population exist in the country
 The states with larger percentage of workers are – Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim,
Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and
Meghalaya. Among the Union Territories, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu
have higher participation rate
 The occupational composition of India’s population shows a large proportion of
primary sector workers as compare to secondary and tertiary sectors
 About 54.6% of the total working population are cultivators and agricultural
labourers, whereas only 3.8% workers are engaged in household industries and
41.6% are other workers including non-household industries, trade, commerce,
construction, repair and other services
 The proportion of workers in agricultural sector in India has shown a decline over
the last few decades (58.2% in 2001 to 54.6% in 2011)
 The highly urbanized areas like Delhi, Chandigarh and Puducherry have a very large
proportion of workers, being engaged in other services
Main worker is a person who works for atleast 183 days in a year
Marginal worker is a person who works for less than 183 days in a year

Latest Report:
 Half of India’s working-age population (15 years and above), for the first time, is not
contributing to any economic activity, according to the National Sample Survey
Office’s (NSSO’s) latest jobs survey
 The labour force participation rate (LFPR) stood at 49.8 per cent in 2017-18, falling
sharply from 55.9 per cent in 2011-12
 LFPR is the section of working population in the age group of 16-64 in the economy
currently employed or seeking employment.

 People who are still undergoing studies, housewives and persons above the age of
64 are not factored in the labour force.
 The report says the proportion of the active labour force declined twice for females
between 2011-12 and 2017-18.
 Compared to 2011-12, the LFPR for females fell by 8 percentage points to 23.3 per
cent in 2017-18 whereas the LFPR for males dipped by 4 percentage points to 75.8
per cent. So only a quarter of the females in the country were either working or
seeking jobs.
 According to the report, the fall in LFPR was far more in rural areas, from 67.7% to
58.7%, than in urban areas, from 49.3% to 47.6%. The gap in LFPR has narrowed
between urban and rural areas due to a decline in the active labour force in villages.
 Though the female LFPR in urban areas stayed almost at the same level, at 20.4% in
2017-18, it declined sharply by more than 11 percentage points in rural areas.

Population

Distribution of Population:
 It is clear that India has a highly uneven pattern of population distribution

 The percentage shares of population of the states and Union Territories in the country show
that Uttar Pradesh continues to be the most populous state in the country with 200 million
people (16% of total population) followed by Maharashtra and Bihar







Population Density:
 2011 : 382 persons per sq.km

 Bihar occupied the first position with a density of 1106
 Delhi (11,320) turns out to be the most densely inhabited
 The minimum population density works out in Arunachal Pradesh (17) for both 2001 and
2011 Census.

Highest Populated State/UT – Uttar Pradesh

Lowest Populated State/UT – Lakshadweep
Highest Decadal Growth – Dadra and Nagar Haveli (55.9)
Lowest Decadal Growth – Nagaland (-0.6)
Highest density state – Bihar
Highest density UT – NCR Delhi
Lowest density state – Arunachal Pradesh
Highest urban population – Maharashtra
Highest Urban % state – Goa
Lowest Urban % state – Himachal Pradesh
Literacy:
 Literacy Rate : 74.04%

 The achievement among males has been from 27% to 82% in the 60 yrs
 From less than one in 10 women counted as literate in 1951, today 2 out of 3 women are
enumerated as literate
 Highest literacy rate : Kerala
 Lowest literacy rate: Bihar
 Gender Gap in Literacy – Rajasthan @ 28 percentage points [National Average Gap – 16
percentage points]
Sex ratio:
 2011 Census – 940

 Highest sex ratio – Kerala (1084)
 Lowest sex ratio – Haryana (879)
Child Sex ratio:
 2011 census – 914

 Child sex ratio has steadily declined from 927 in 2001
Decline in Child Population:
 2011 census is first one in many decades which counted less absolute number of children
in 0-6 age group
 Share of children in the total population declined from 16% in 2001 to 13.1% in 2011

 In the initial phase of human history and pre-history, the human population, grew at a snail
speed.
 The hazardous climatic conditions, the migratory character of hunters and gatherers, and
the poor nourishment were all unfavourable for the growth of population.
 During the last about ten thousand years, the growth of world population accelerated at two
distinct times.
 The first time was at about 10,000 years before present (B.P.) when man started the
domestication of plants and animals. This abrupt change in human activity is also known as
Agricultural Revolution. The assured supplies of food from agriculture and settled settlement
life provided better nourishment and the human body became more resistant to the adverse
weather and climate. Consequently, the human population started increasing at a steady
pace. The second time when the population increased fast was in 1779 when man harnessed
fossil fuels and developed steam engine. This development is known as Industrial
Revolution.
 In the world countries, the 20th century witnessed rapid and accelerating population
growth. The decline of population is also noticed in several countries. Such declines are
foreseen to become the rule rather than the exception in some regions of the world, while in
other regions the population will continue to grow, albeit at a more moderate pace.
The term “World Population” means the total number of humans currently living on the planet.
According to UN Population Division, 2015 the world population is estimated 7.4 billions.
Growth of World Population
 The distribution of population prior to the development of agriculture covered only parts of
the old continents. By 8000 B.C., hunters and gatherers had migrated from Africa
throughout Europe and Asia, to Australia and across the Bering Straits and southward the
length of the America. Only Antarctica was totally uninhabited by mankind.

Growth of World Population

Year Population in million No. of years to add one billion people
1A.D 200
1000 A.D 300
1750 800
1850 1000 (1 Billion)
1930 2000 (2 Billion) 80
32
1962 3000 (3 Billion)
13
1975 4000 (4 Billion)
12
1987 5000 (5 Billion)
11
1999 6000 (6 Billion)
12
2012 7000 (7 Billion)
14
2025 8000 (8 Billion) 25
2050 About 10 Billion
 The size of population at various times from the onset of Agricultural Revolution (8000 B.C.)
until the first scanty census data (recorded in the seventeenth century A.D.) has also been
estimated. It is thought that the total human population at the time of Christ was around
200to 300 million and that it has increased to 500 million by 1650A.D.
 In 1850, the world’s population was estimated to be 1,000 million. It means it was doubled
from 500 million in 1650 to 1,000 million in 1850.
 The population doubled again to 2,000 million by 1930. In 1975 it rose to 4,000 million mark,
in 1987 became 5,000 million.
 In 1999 it is 6,000 million and in 2012 it is around 7,000 million (Table 3.6 a). The projected
population for 2025 and2050 is about 8 billion and about 10 billion respectively.
The world population was estimated at 7.4 billions as of August 2016. The United Nations
estimates that it will further increase to 11.2 billion in the year 2100. Six of the Earth’s Seven
Continents are permanently inhabited on a large scale. Asia is the most populous continent, with its
4.43 billion inhabitants accounting for 60% of the World Population. The World’s two most
populated countries alone, China and India, together constitute about 37% of the World’s
population. Africa is the second most populated continent, with around 1.2 billion people or 16.36%
of the World’s population. Europe’s 738 million people makeup 9,93% of the world population,
while, North America primarily consisting of USA, Canada and Mexico has a population of 7.8%,
South America with 422 million accounting for 5.68 and Oceania, the least populated region has
about 39.9 million inhabitants with only 0.54% of World’s population as per 2016 estimates.

Continent Population Population(%) Density Most Most

(millions) (persons/km2) Populous populous
Country city
Asia 4436 59.69 96.4 China Greater

Tokyo
Africa 1216 16.36 36.7 Nigeria Lagos
Europe 738 9.93 72.9 Russia Moscow
North 7.79 22.9 USA Mexico 579

America city
America 422 5.68 22.8 Brazil Sao Paulo
Oceania 39.9 0.54 4.5 Australia Sydney
Total 7430.9 100 - - -
Significant features of World Population Statistics
 It is estimated that the world population reached one billion in 1804. It was another 123
years, before it reached two billion in 1927, but it took only 33 years to reach three billions
in 1960.
 Thereafter, the global population reached four billions in 1974, five billions in 1987, six
billion in 1999 and according to the United States Census Bureau (USCB), seven billion in
March 2012, however United Nations estimated that the world population reached 7 billion
in October 2011.
 According to current projections, the global population will reach 8 billion by 2024 and will
likely reach around Nine billion by 2042.
World Population Milestones in billions (USCB estimates)
Population 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Year 1804 1927 196C 1974 1987 1999 2011 2024 2042
Years --- 123 33 14 13 12 12 13 18
elapsed
Most populous countries
 The world’s 10 most populous countries are representing around 58% of the world
population with more than half of the world’s population 4.3 billion as of March 2016.
 Among these countries, China occupies first place followed by India, USA, Indonesia, Brazil,
Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Russia and Mexico .

World’s 10 most populous countries

Country Population Appx.. % of world Population
China 1380000000 18.5
India 1308000000 17.5
USA 324983000 4.35
Indonesia 261600000 3.5
Brazil 206985000 2.77
Pakistan 194882000 2.61
Nigeria 188500000 2.52
Bangladesh 161469000 2.16
Russia 146400000 1.96
Mexico 129100000 1.7
Total 4,301,919,000 58.0
Density of Population and Distribution
 The spatial distribution of world population is not uniform. There are wide regional
variations in the degree of population concentration.
 Population density is another method to study the distribution of population apart from the
actual numbers.
 Population density is the number of people per unit of area, usually quoted per square
kilometre or square mile.
 According to 1991 population data published by the United Nations, the average density of
the world population is 38 persons per sq. km.
 Asia with a density of 108 persons per sq.km. is the most densely populated continent of the
world.
 Europe got the second rank with a population of 101 persons per sq.km.
 The continent of Latin America with a density of 21 persons per sq.km. has the third rank,
which is followed by Africa, Anglo America and Oceania, having a density of 20, 14 and 3
persons per sq. km. respectively.
 The single most striking feet about the world population is that it is not uniformly
distributed. Moreover, the population distribution has continuously changed in space and
time, with migration and varying rates of population growth.
 In reality, nearly half of the world population is clustered on just 5 per cent of the land, while
about 33 per cent of the total land area is virtually uninhabited.
 The spatial distribution of people with its great unevenness is one of the important
questions of human geography that demands exploration discussion and explanation.
Densely Populated Regions
There are four areas in the world where the average density of population is more than 100 persons
per sq. km. These are:
a. East Asia (China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan)

b. South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal

c. North-West Europe (U.K., France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Belgium,

Luxembourg, Ireland, Denmark, Spain, Portugal and Italy).
d. Eastern North America (North-East United States and South-East Canada).
All these areas of dense population lie in the northern hemisphere and are so placed that
more than 75 per cent of the world’s population is now concentrated between the Tropic of Cancer
and 70° north. Of these, China and the subcontinent of India were having large populations from.
the earliest times. Europe is less ancient and the U.S.A. became densely populated only during the
last two hundred years.
Except in Japan, the population of East and South Asian countries is living mainly in rural
areas. The people are directly or indirectly engaged agriculture. They are largely dependent on
primary activities (agriculture, fisheries, mining) reflect the food-producing potential of the land. In
these countries also, the areas having fertile alluvial soils, gentle slopes and available water (from
surface and undergrounded and rainfall) have the highest densities of population.
In China the valleys of Yangtezekiang, Hawang Ho and Sikiang have great clustering of
population. In India, the Sutlej-Ganga-Brahmaputra plains, MM- the eastern coastal plains and the
valleys of the perennial rivers are densely populated. In Pakistan, the province of Punjab, traversed
by the five rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej) and the delta of Indus are densely populated.
The entire alluvial tracts of Bangladesh, excepting parts of the Chittagong Hills, have high density of
population. The valley of Nepal and the coastal areas of Sri Lanka also have heavy concentrations of
population.
In contrast to the distributional pattern of population is South East Asia, the European and
North American areas of high population densities consist of urban agglomerations. The industrial
development and tertiary activities (service) in cities and towns have drawn people from the villages
and countryside over the last two hundred years or so, so that over three-fourth of die European
and American populations live in cities.
The highest population densities by country occur not in China and India but the highest
urban densities are found in Singapore (100%), Belgium (95%), the Netherlands (88%), and the
United Kingdom (90%). The European and American population agglomerations could become large
because of certain other favourable physical factors. The climate of these regions is mild and
temperate in which a variety of crops can be grown. Wheat, barley, oats, rye, sugerbeet, potatoes,
fodder, maize, fruits, grapes and oilseeds grow well up to Ireland, Scotland, Sweden Norway, Faroes
Islands (Denmark). The rise, development and expansion of large-scale manufacturing enabled
working people to collect masses around factories and caused the growth of cities. The cumulative
improvement of the various kinds of work and consequently of the workers show that the European
population agglomeration is the result of physical and cultural factors. Trade relations and
colonization of the African, Asian and American countries greatly contributed to the increase in
population of Europe. The expansion of British, Dutch, trench, German, Portuguese and Spanish
empires in other continents enabled the imports of food and raw materials. The fast growth of
European population may thus largely be attributed to industrial development and exploitation of
resources of the colonial countries for food and raw materials.

The population of America started growing fast after the Industrial Revolution. The North
American concentration developed as an outlet for the European population. By, 1750 small
numbers of British, Dutch, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian emigrants had settled
along the north-eastern coast of North America. They superseded the Native Americans (Red
Indians) who were displaced west-ward and were decimated by war, disease and other traumatic
effects of cultural contact. The urbanized belt from Boston to Baltimore in the United States and the
areas along the ST. Lawrance river in Canada have.1 remained the main regions of attraction for the
European people. In fact, this belt is the hub of economic, commercial, cultural and political activities
in North America.
Apart from the above described four major regions of dense population, there are isolated
and scattered nuclei of dense population. Among these small centres of dense populations, the
deltas of Mekong, Menam and Irrawaddy rivers as well as the Indonesian island of Java are
noteworthy. Africa’s most densely populated areas include the linear concentration along the Nile
Valley in Egypt, the ring of settlement around Lake Victoria and the coastal areas of Nigeria. The
Latin American areas of high population concentration include the central part of Mexico, where
nearly half the nation’s population lives. In Central Mexico, rural densities exceeds 2,600 persons per
square kilometre and Mexico City (with a population of over 20 million) is one of the leading world
metropolis. The coastal areas of Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina, with cores around the cities of
Caracas, Rio-de-Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires, respectively, are also areas of high population
density.
10 Most densely populated countries(2016)
S.No. Country Population Area(Km2) Density persons/

Km2
1 Singapore 5535000 710 77
2 Bangladesh 161470000 143998 1121
3 Taiwan 23519000 36190 650
4 Lebanon 5988000 10452 573
5 South Korea * 50801405 99538 510
6 Rwanda 11553188 26338 439
7 Burundi 11552561 27816 415
8 Netherlands 17070000 41526 411
9 Haiti 11078033 27065 409
10 India 1308220000 3287240 398
Considering both total population and population density, the top 10 countries of the world
are as follows. Here most of the countries except UK belong to Asian continent. The economies of
these countries are mostly of developing or less developed.

Top 10 countries in both total population and population Density (2016)
S.No. Country Population Area(Km2) Density persons/ Remarks

Km2
1 India 1308220000 3287240 398 Growing
population
2 Pakistan 194880000 803940 242 Growing
population
3 Bangladesh 161470000 143998 1121 Growing
population
4 Japan 127000000 377873 336 Declining
population
5 Phillippines 103350000 300000 345 Growing
population
6 Vietnam 92700000 331689 279 Growing
population
7 UK 65110000 243610 267 Slowly growing
8 South Korea 50801000 99538 510 Slowly growing
9 Taiwan 23519518 36190 650 Steady population
10 Srilanka 21203000 65610 323 Slowly growing
Sparsely Populated Regions
As stated at the outset, over 70 per cent of the land surface is sparsely populated. In general,
the hot, cold, arid and mountainous areas are sparsely populated, which may be classified under the
following categories:
1. The Equatorial dense forests.

2. The lofty and rugged mountains.
3. The polar caps (Tundra and Antarctica)
4. Deserts, arid and semi-arid areas.
The tropical rain forests
The tropical rain forests are also sparsely populated. These are the low-lying areas on both sides of
equator in which rainfall and humidity remain high and the mean monthly temperatures are over
30°C throughout the year. These regions are covered by dense evergreen equatorial forests. The
Amazon basin, the Congo basin, and the islands of South-East Asia, excluding Java, are covered by
such forests. The hot and humid climate, luxurious evergreen forests, infested with insects,
mosquitoes, Tse tse fly, etc, are least conducive for human habitation. Cultivation of crops, keeping
of cattle for ranching and herding are difficult in these areas. Tropical rainforests offer some
prospects for future frontier development. One advantage is the proximity to densely populated
areas.It is difficult to form settlements in equatorial forested regions. At present, the Amazon and
the Congo basins have a very scattered population.

Mountainous Regions
The rugged and folded mountains are also sparsely populated. In fact, on mountains population
becomes sparse with altitude. Lofty mountains are almost uninhabited. In the Himalayas, Alps,
Rockies and Andese mountains, the areas above 2,500 metres are almost uninhabited. In higher
latitudes, sparseness of population descends to much lower levels. In Scotland, Wales, Norway,
Canada and Greenland, sparseness begins only a few score metres above the sea. The areas of
minerals are, however, exceptions. For example, in Peru and Bolivia, mining of precious metals is
done above 4,000 metres. These mining places have quite substantial populations.
In the tropical regions where the climate at lower altitudes is not conducive, most of the towns,
cities and settlements have developed around 2,000 metres above the sea level. Addis Ababa
(Ethiopia), :Kampala (Uganda), Quito (Ecuador), Nairobi (Kenya), Ooty (India) and Kandy (Sri Lanka)
are all situated over 2,000 metres above the mean sea level
Ice Caps and Cold Regions
The second most sparsely populated are the areas of extreme cold, both in the northern and
southern hemispheres. The Arctic region and the Antarctica continent are the regions of severe cold
in which winters are dreaded, gloomy and long. The continent of Antarctica is almost exclusively
uninhabited. In the tundra region of Arctic, the hunting and fishing peoples live, who are few in
number. In fact, only a few seal hunting Eskimo tribes have been able to penetrate northward up to
82° north. Wherever minerals are available men have settled there to exploit them.
Deserts and Arid Lands
All those areas where the rate of evaporation is higher than the rate of precipitation (arid lands) are
most sparsely populated. The main problem with die settling of arid lands is the deficiency and non-
availability of water. The Nile Valley, the Indus Valley the Sonara Desert in Mexico and U.S.A. and
other scattered oases in Eurasia are the main exceptions to die general condition of barrenness and
relative emptiness. Excepting these fertile valleys and oases, the great series of deserts, especially
along die Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn on the western margins of continents, the
population is most sparse.' In the deserts of Libya, Algeria, Niger, Mali* Sudan, Chad and Mauritania
the average density of population is about one person per fifteen square kilo meters, hi such deserts
of hostile climate and scarce water, people deliberately check the number of births by imposing
monogamy or even celibacy on large scale proportions of their numbers, as is done in Ladakh and
Tibet.
In brief, the deserts (both hot and cold) are almost uninhabited or else thinly populated by nomadic
hunters and gatherers (Bushmen of Kalahari), and nomads (Badawins of Arabia and Sahara). In
Central Asia and the peripheries of Australian deserts, the communities keep sheep and goats and
are living at a poor standard of living. There are exceptional cases in which the extraction of precious
metals has attracted men into the heart of desert Many towns have emerged in deserts owing to the
mining of gold and other precious metals. These miners and workers have to get their whole
subsistence and even their drinking water from outside the region.

It is believed that at present, the desert areas are expanding and people are leaving, so the dry areas
are being occupied by an increasingly smaller proportion of the world’s population. Gold and
petroleum have, however, made some of the regions of deserts as the areas of great attraction for
labourers and technicians.
All the sparsely populated areas have an irregular and sporadic type of settlement. In these regions,
large areas remain uninhabited, whilst relatively small points swarm with people. The best examples
of dense population are found in the larger oases of Africa and Western Asia, the islands of Java and
Philippines, the isolated towns in the Congo and Amazon basins. The Himalayas and Alps have some
of the large towns and resorts. It is believed that population in the sparsely populated region shall
increase at a faster rate in coming decades, which may create many ecological and demographic
problems.
Population Growth
Throughout the course of human history, and partially as a consequence of high mortality levels,
population growth rates were quite low on an average. It was probably not until the 17th and 18th
centuries that annual growth rates as high as 0.5% were being sustained. From then until the down
of the 20th century, annual population growth at the rate of half a percentage, but improvements in
sanitary measures as well as access to antibiotics during 20th century, led to a reduction in mortality
levels, Consequently, population growth accelerated to unprecedented rates, reaching levels of
around 2 percent annually during 1963-70. Since that historic peak, world population growth has
greatly decelerated to the 0.5 percent rate of growth. The rapid growth of the 20th century may
come to be seen as an extraordinary but historically isolated phenomenon.
In 2000, the United Nations estimated that the world’s population was growing at an annual
rate of 1.14% (equivalent to around 75 million people) down from a peak of 88 million per year in
1989. Globally, the population growth rate has been steadily declining from its peak of 2.19% in
1963, but growth remains high in Latin America, the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa.
During the 2010s, Japan and some countries in Europe began to encounter negative
population growth (i.e., a net decrease in population over time), due to sub-replacement fertility
rates. In2006, the United Nations stated that the rate of population growth was visibly diminishing
due to the ongoing global demographic transition. In this trend countries, the rate of growth may
diminish to zero by2050 concurrent with a world population of 9.2 billion.
An inspection of growth rate trajectories for the major areas of the world shows sharply
distinguishable from the others. Population growth rates in Africa are expected to be the highest
throughout the projection period falling to 1.21 percent in 2045-50, while those for Europe are
projected to be the lowest, reaching -0.37 percent by the end of die projection period. Growth rates
of die other major areas — Asia, Latin America and die Caribbean, Northern America and Oceania
are expected to converge to between 0.19 and 0.45 percent in 2045-50. Noticeably, most of the
convergence in terms of growth rates between these major areas actually occurred between 1950
and 2005, while growth rates from Africa and Europe actually diverged from those of die rest of the
world.

Average Annual Rate Of Population Change, By Development Group And Major Area, Estimate
And Medium Variant, 1950-1955,2000- 2005 and 2014-2015
Development Group And Major Area Average Annual Rate Of change (%)
World 1.81 1.21 0.38
More developed region 1.20 0.30 -0.10
Less developed regions 2.09 1.43 0.45
Least developed countries 1.97 2.40 1.30
Other less developed countries. 2.10 1.27 0.22
Africa 2.21 2.18 1.21
Asia 1.96 1.21 0.19
Europe 0.99 0.00 -0.37
Latin America and the caribbean... 2.65 1.42 0.22
North America 1.71 0.97 0.38
Oceania 2.15 1.32 0.45
Population Projections
As per the 2016 World Population Data sheet from the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), the
population projections indicate that
 The combined population of the world’s least developed countries in the world will double
by 2015 to 1.9 billion. There are 48 least developed countries, based on United Nations
criteria, most of which are in Africa.
 The population in 29 countries will more than double. Nearly all of these countries are in
Africa.
 Forty two countries will register population declines scattered throughout Asia, Latin
America and Europe.
 The population of the USA will be 398 millions, up 23 percent from 324 millions of today.
Salient features of current population
 Over 25% of the World’s population is less than 15 years old. ft is 41% in least developed
countries and 16% in more developed countries.
 Japan has the oldest population profile, with over a quarter of its citizens older than 65.
Qatar and the UAE are at the other end of the spectrum, with each having only 1 percent
over 65 years.
 The top 10 fertility rates in the world are in sub-Saharan African countries, with nearly all
above 6 children per woman and one country topping with 7. In Europe, the average is 1.6
and in USA it is l.8perwoman.
“Replacement ’’fertility is the rate at which the population exactly replaces itself from one
generation to the next, excluding the effects of migration. In USA it is 2.1 children per woman.
 Thirty three countries in Europe and Asia already have more people over age 65 than under
15.

As part of this year’s Data Sheet Theme, “Human Needs and Sustainable Resources”, PRB
compiled statistics that speak to the environmental and resource aspects ofhuman development.
According to it, the key figures are as follows:
 Globally, there was a 60 percent increase in annual carbon emissions between 1992-2013, to
9.8 billion metric tons. China posted fire largest increase by volume over this period, from
735 million metric tons to 2.8 billion metric tons.
 43 countries reduced their carbon emissions over the same period. Thelargest reduction by
volume was in Ukraine, where carbon emissions declined by 98 million metric tons to 74
million tons.
 18% of the World’s energy comes fioru renewable sources, which include hydro electric
power.
 There is an average of526 people per square kilometer of arable land. The number is 238 in
more developed countries and 697 in less developed countries.
Demographic Transition Theory
The Demographic Transition theory is one of the most important population theories which
is best documented by the data and statistics of recent demographic history. In its original form, the
demographic transition theory was put forward by W.S. Thompson (1929) and Frank W. Notestein
(1945). These scholars based their statements and arguments on the trends in fertility and mortality,
being experienced in Europe, America and Australia.
The theory postulates a particular pattern of demographic change from a high fertility and
high mortality to a low fertility and low mortality when a society progresses from a largely rural
agrarian and illiterate society to a dominantly urban, industrial, literate and modem society. The
three very clearly stated hypotheses involved in the process are:
1. That the decline in mortality comes before the decline in fertility;

2. That the fertility eventually declines to Match mortality; and
3. That socio-economic transformation of a society takes place simultaneously with its
demographic transformation.
In the presently world, as would be true of any point in time, different countries of the world
are at different stages of the demographic transition. In the opinion of Trewartha, this is largely due
to die dual natureofman. According to him, biologically, man is same everywhere and is engaged in
the process of reproduction but culturally man differs from one part of the world to another. It is the
cultural diversity of man that gives rise to varying fertility patterns in different 1 areas resulting in
different stages of Demographic Transition.
The Demographic Transition Model (DTM) describes population change 1 over time. It looks
at how birth and death rate affect population levels.
The demographic transition model, in isolation, can be taken to predict that birth rates will
continue to go down as societies grow increasingly wealthy; however, recent data contradict this,
suggesting that beyond a certain level of development birth rates increase again. In addition, in the

very long term, the demographic transition should be reversed via evolutionary pressure for higher
fertility and higher mortality.
The existence of some kind of demographic transition is widely accepted in the social
sciences because of the well-established historical correlation linking dropping fertility to social and
economic development. Scholars debate whether industrialization and higher incomes lead to lower
population, or whether lower populations lead to industrialization and higher incomes. Scholars also
debate to what extent various proposed and sometimes inter-related factors such as higher per-
capita income, higher female income, lower mortality, old-age security, and rise of demand for
human capital are involved.
The Transition model is an idealized, composite picture of population change in

industrialized societies over the past two hundred years or so. This model is a generalization that
applies to these countries as a group and may not accurately describe all individual cases. The
demographic transition theory i$; characterized by conspicuous transition stages. The transition
from high birth and death rates to low rates can be divided into following five stages.
Stage One (High stationary stage)
 This stage is known as pre modern stage or pre industrial stage.

 Here both Birth rates and Death rates are high and roughly in balance.
 Natural increase of population was low Mid stable.
 Population growth is typically very slow.
 This stage is also known as High Stationary Stage-
 Death rates were very high due to outbreaks of infections diseases and lack of knowledge of
disease prevention and cure, Lack of clean drinking water and efficient sewage disposal,
poor hygiene and occasional food shortages etc.
 The high birth rate was due to more number of women of child bearing age without any
family planning measures
 Examples: Burkina Faso (West Africa) and Chad (Northern Central Africa).
Stage Two (Early Expanding stage)
 This stage is known as Urbanizing or Industrializing stage.

 Here the birth rates are high.
 And the Death rate is failing rapidly.
 The decline in the death rate is due to, improvements in food supply and significant
improvements in public Health that reduced mortality, j particularly child mortality.
 Increase in female literacy combined with public health education programmes emerged in
the late 19th and early 20* centuries also helped for these changes.
 Natural increase of population is very rapid.
 Examples: Yemen, Afghanistan, Palestina, Buton, Laos and much of Sub- Saharan Africa:
Stage Three (Late Expanding stage)
 This stage is called as Mature Industrial stage.

 Here the Birth rates are falling.

 And the Death rates are Ming steadily.
 The falling birth rates resulted steady increase in natural increase of population.
 The falling birth rates are due to awareness among parents to lessen limited children, due to
various fertility factors such as a access to contraception, increased wages, urbanization,
changed traditional values, .increased cost of urban living and more over, people begin to
assess more rationally just how many children they desire or need.
 Traditional thinking has been broken and the decline is likely to accelerate.
 Increasing female literacy and employment lower the uncritical acceptance of child bearing
within the family and they became influential in child bearing decisions.
 Examples: India, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Costarica, Panama, Mexico, Philippines,
Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey.
Stage Four (Low stationary stage)
 This stage is known as post Industrial stage.

 Here, both the Birth rates and Death rates are low.
 Natural increase of population is stable or increase is slow.
 In this stage, the population age structure has become older, which happened in countries
like Germany, Italy and Japan leading to shrinking of population, a threat to many industries
that relay on population growth.
 Death rates may remain consistently low or increase slightly due to increase in lifestyle
diseases due to low exercise levels and high obesity and an aging population in developed
countries.
 In some cases, the fertility rate falls well below replacement and population decline sets in
rapidly.
 Examples: USA, UK, Canada, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, China,
Singapore.
Stage Five (Declining stage)
 This is the final stage or most advanced stage of Demographic Transition. Here the Birth rate
is very low and the death rate is low. Stable or slow decrease in the Natural increase of
population.
 The final stage of the Demographic Transition Model suggests that Birth rate may decrease
to a level below death rate and create a natural decrease of population, which ultimately
could cause a total population decrease. Only few countries have reached this stage.
 Examples: Japan and Sweden.
 The developed countries (MDCs) is not uniform. There are some differences and similarities
between these two sets of countries.
Differences:
 Transition from one stage another stage is late in LDCs.

 A fester decline in Death rates in LDCs as Death control measures have been imported from
MDCs and applied rapidly.

 In MDCs, it took almost 150 years to control Death rates after a long research and
development of Death control measures.
 But in LDCs it took only 50 years.
 In most LDCs child mortality remains high, however the most rapid improvements have
occurred in places where female literacy has increased most.
 Therefore, it is not simply the application of modem drugs that is responsible but, rather,
behavioural changes related to hygiene have improved survival rate.
 Relatively longer lag between the decline in death rates and the decline in birth rates. It
means, death rates are lower before decline in birth rate started.
 Because, Fertility change requires a more conscious effort than mortality change.
 It requires social and behavioural changes that conflict more with traditional values.
 Due to economic backwardness in LDGs, particularly in Africa these changes are slower
compared to MDCs.
 Age structures are far younger in LDCs.
Similarities
But the greatest similarity between LDCs and MDCs is the fertility behaviour of both
populations (at different times) with respect to infant mortality. Conclusion
The Demographic transition Model summarizes change in population growth over time.
Another form of transition exists in the world today and is associated with the differences in growth
rates across countries of differing wealth. Moreover, due to the impact of HIV/AIDS in Africa, rising
death rates resulting in slow population growth rates. The demographers have to study the
transition from this kind of angles too.
Transition in India
Recent evidence shows that India too is experiencing transition but with late beginning and
slower pace. The death rate began to fall after 1920 but the birth rate remained high up to 1960s
opening up a gap and consequent population growth. The birth rate began to fall much later, after
1960s but the death rate continued, to decline continuing population growth. The gap seems to have
narrowed in the last decade with a small decline in the population growth rate at present. India is
moving from 2nd stage of transition to 3rd stage of demographic transition.
Limitations of Demographic Transition Model
 The exact nature of stage V is much debated.

 Technological developments and scientific research is likely to have an
 impact on population levels in the 21st century.
 Social changes, such as increased migration play no part in the Demographic Transition, yet
migration can have a profound impact on a country’s birth rate.
 The model does not suggest any time scale and some countries will spend very little time in
some stages compared to other countries.

Even after fertility rates drop to replacement levels, the total population will still grow
Evidence from India’s last Census in 2011, shows that fertility in India is fast approaching
replacement levels. This means that couples will have children who will essentially replace their
number, to stabilise population growth.
In the past decade, the average number of children per family has ) come down from 2.7 to 2.2.
(Replacement fertility 2.1 children per woman).
Even after fertility rates drop to replacement levels, the total population will still grow, and is likely
to reach 1.7 billion by 2050. The thrust of this growth will come from the youth bulge, with 365
million (10-24 years old) already in, or soon to enter, their reproductive ages.
For India as a whole, 75% of population growth in die coming decade will be due to this momentum.
Demand-supply of working population:
When States are clustered in toms of fertility levels, one foresees a predominantly youthful north
and an ageing south. Most of the current and future demographic potential is locked in the northern
States and largely located in Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Uttar
Pradesh. In the south, there will be a dearth of young working people to keep up and expand die
level of economic development
Investing in young people in the north to realise the demographic dividend will be a win-win
situation for all India, north and south.
India’s Soon-to-Recede Demographic Dividend
2016 was a turning point in global demographic trends. It was the first time since 1950that the
combined working age (WA) population (15-59) of the advanced countries declined.
Over die next three decades, die United Nations (UN) projects that China and Russia will each see
their WA populations fell by over 20 percent
India, however, seems to be in a demographic sweet spot with its working-age population projected
to grow by a third ova: the same period.
Studies show that the growth surges in East Asia may have been driven by demographic changes. In
particular, countries with large working age populations relative to the overall population appear to
benefit from greater economic dynamism.
Economic Outlook and Policy Challenges:
Theory suggests that the specific, variable driving the demographic dividend is the ratio of the
working age to non-working age (NWA) j population. A magnitude of ‘ 1 ’ essentially means that
there are as many potential workers as dependents. Both the level and the; growth of the W/NWA
ratio have a positive impact on economic activity

Distinctive Indian Demography:
A comparison the WA/NWA ratio between 1970 and2050 (based on the medium variant population
projections by the UN) for India, Brazil, Korea, and China, reveals three distinct features about the
Indian demographic profile that have key implications for the growth outlook of India and the Indian
states.
1. India's demographic cycle is about 10-30 years behind that of the other countries, indicating
that the next few decades present an opportunity for India to catch up to their per capita
income levels.
2. India’s WA to NWA ratio is likely to peak at 1.7, a much lower level than Brazil and China,
both of which sustained a ratio greater than 1.7 for at least 25 years.
3. India will remain close to its peak for a much longer period than other countries.
A comparison of the TFR of these countries
All these countries started die post-World War II era with roughly the same very high TFR rates. In
China and Korea, TFR then declined rapidly to below-replacement levels (less than 2 children per
female), causing the share of working age population to rise until the early 2000s, then to fell as
ageing began to set in. In India, however, the decline in TFR has been much more gradual.
The growth consequence is the following
Unlike the East Asian successes, India should not expect to see growth surges or growth
decelerations of the magnitudes experienced by the East Asian countries, at least not on account of
the demographic dividend This does not rule out accelerations for other reasons, related to reforms
and strength of domestic institutions. At the same time, India might be able to sustain high levels of
growth (on account of the demographic dividend) for a longer time.
A large heterogeneity among the states in their demographic profile and evolution.
There is a clear divide between peninsular India (West Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and
Andhra Pradesh) and the peninsular states exhibit a pattern that is closer to China and Korea, with
sharp rises and declines in the working age population.
In contrast, the hinterland states will remain relatively young and dynamic, characterized by arising
working age population for some time.
Population Density
Human being is dependent upon the resource provided by nature for living. Suitable climate, fertile
land, favorable environment gives sample of opportunities to grow. Hence the geographical unit
which provides all sorts of facilities to human for it growth has a high pressure of population rather
than the unfavorable ones. In these areas the density of population is also high in comparison to that
of the unfavorable climates.

Population Density refers to the capacity of a piece of land for supporting the population living on it.
In other words it refers to the ratio between the numbers of people to the size of land which is
generally measured in persons per sq. km.
Density of Population = Population/Area
Most density populated sovereign nation is Monaco followed by Singapore.
Factors affecting Population Distribution
The population on the earth surface is very unevenly distributed as result of so many factors which
broadly categorized into three sections.
Geographical factors
 As nature and its resources provide living aids to human being, factors such as land, water,
climate and soil play a major role in influencing the density of population of a particular
locality. Smooth terrain, fertile land, suitable climate and proper provision of water for
irrigation and other basic uses of human being supports comparatively a large of population
the unfavorable natural conditions
 For example Indo-Gangetic plain provides favourable living environment than hilly terrain of
North eastern part of India.
Economic factors
 Something the economic prosperity of a region attracts the population of the surrounding
areas which leads to migration of population from rural to newly built urban area in search
of earning livelihood. The urban agglomeration then gradually increases with further
economic growth.
 On the other hand the areas with huge mineral deposits give rise to industrial development
which again require skilled and semi-skilled labours to work for the industry hence result
into growth of population.
 Canton and Shanghai of China, Tokyo of Japan, Seoul of South Korea, Mumbai and Delhi of
India are the brightest example of such economic growth which attracts maximum
population of the adjacent rural areas.
Socio-cultural Factors
 Besides geographical and economic factors, social aspects also play a vital role in the growth
of population of a particular area. Sometimes regions with religious and cultural back ground
help people find their way in the midst of such places.
 Social and cultural factors in India and China had strongly influence the increase in
population as people sometimes attached to the belief of having large families. In the
developed world, smaller families are the norm.

Trends in Population Growth
 As per the recent statistics of United Nations population, the world population has reached
to 7 billion mark in 2011 which is quite alarming.
 The rate of growth has increased to seven times to that of early years of economic and social
development. The growth was at its peak during 1750.
 The noticeable change occurred due to the massive change in three major social
components of birth, death and migration.
 With technological advancement during the era of industrial development has helped in
reducing the death rate and increasing the fertility rate, decreases in the death rate and
finally increasing urbanization and migration.
Crude Birth rate is the number of live births per year per 1000 persons which is generally estimated
mid-year.
It can be calculated as:
CBR = (Bi/P) * 1000 where Bi= the live births during the year
Crude Death Rate is number of death per 1000 population of specific geographical location, Like CBR
it is also estimated in mid year.
It can be calculated as:
CDR = (D/P) * 1000, where D = no. of death per year P = Estimated mid – year population
Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is the number of deaths of infants under one year old per 1,000 live
births. This rate is often used as an indicator of the level of health in a country.
The rate of population growth is the percentage of population change over a period of time and can
be divided into:
Natural Growth refers to Birth – Death
Actual Growth Refers to birth-death + In migration-Out migration

Human Migration
People move from one place to another for different purposes. The movement maybe from
Residence to college, office etc., or from one village to another, or one town to another or from one
country to another. This activity of human kind is known as mobility which is common all over the
world in general and in developing and underdeveloped countries in particular. Movement of people
from his original/residing place for different proposes can be treated as migration.
International migrants
Studies of UNO show that some 232 million international migrants ate living in the world today
(2013). Since 1990, the number of international migrants in the global North increased by around 53
million (65%), while the migrant population in the global South grew by around 24 million (34%).
Today, about six out of every ten international migrants reside in the developed regions .
Geographical Location 1990 2000 2010 2013

Developed regions 82.3 103.4 129.7 13.56
Developing regions 71.9 71.1 91 95.9
Africa 15.6 15.6 17.1 18.6
Asia 49.9 50.4 67.8 70.8
Europe 49 56.2 69.2 72.4
Latin America and the 7.1 6.5 8.1 8.5
Caribbean
Northern America 27.8 40.4 51.2 53.1
Oceania 4.7 5.4 7.3 7.9
World 154.2 174.5 220.7 231.5
Classification of migrations
Classification of migrations can be done based on different criteria like
1. Administrative divisions involved,

2. Flow and number of people often involved,
3. Reasons for movement,
4. Time spent in migration,
5. The nature of the migration etc. Migration can be temporary or permanent, and it may be
voluntary or forced.
There are two basic types of migrations on the basis of administrative divisions viz.,
1. Internal and 2. International
Internal migration: This refers to a change of residence within national boundaries, such as between
states, districts, cities, municipalities or villages. An internal migrant is someone who moves to a
different administrative territory within a country.

The internal migration streams can be classified as follows based on the place of origin and
destination.
1. Rural to Rural
2. Rural to Urban
3. Urban to Urban
4. Urban to Rural.
International migration: This refers to change of residence over national boundaries. An

international migrant is someone who moves to a different country. International migrants are
further classified as legal immigrants, illegal immigrants, and refugees. Legal immigrants are those
who moved with the legal permission of the receiver nation, illegal immigrants are those who moved
without legal permission, and refugees are those crossed an international boundary to escape
persecution.
A. On the basis of time concept, migration may be
1. Temporary (seasonal) or 2. Permanent.
B. On the basis of distance, migration maybe
1. Long distance or 2. Short distance.
C. On the basis of number, migration may be
1. Individual or 2. Mass migration.
D.On the basis of causes, migration may be
1. Economic, 2. Social, 3. Political, or 4.Religious etc.
E. On the basis of nature or circumstances leading to migration, migrations maybe
1. Voluntary 2. Forced or 3. Reluctant/Impelled.
Forced Migration
People either chooses to migrate (voluntary), are made to move involuntary (forced), or are
put in situations that encourages relocation (reluctant).
Forced migration exists when a person is moved against their will (slaves), or when the move is
initiated because of external factors (natural disaster or civil war). Forced Migrants and Refugees,
the two are not the same they are distinctly separate.
Forced international migration historically occurred two main cultural reasons: Slavery and political
instability.
 Forced international migration increased because of political instability resulting from

cultural diversity.
 Wars also forced large-scale migration of ethnic groups in the20th century especially in
Europe, the Middle East, and some regions of Africa.

 There are people who have been forced to migrate from their home and cannot return for
fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, and possibly their
membership in a social group and political organization, these are known as refugees.
 Cultural push factors include political instability from cultural diversity.
 Boundaries of newly independent states often have been drawn to segregate two ethnic
groups.
 Forced migration is a negative form of migration, often caused by persecution,
development, or exploitation.
The largest and most devastating forced migration in human history was the African slave
trade, which carried 12 to 30 million Africans from their homes and transported them to various
parts of North America, Latin America, and the Middle East Those Africans were taken against their
will and forced to relocate.
Following the Indian Removal Act of 1830, tens of thousands of Native Americans living in
the Southeast were forced to migrate to parts of contemporary Oklahoma (“Land of the Red People”
in Choctaw). Many tribes traversed across as many as nine states on foot, resulting in many deaths.
Forced migration is not always violent. One of the largest involuntary migrations in history
was caused by development. The construction of China’s Three Gorges Dam displaced nearly 1.5
million people and put 13 cities, 140 towns and 1,350 villages underwater.
Although new housing was provided for those forced to move, many people were not
compensated fairly. Some of the new designated areas were also less ideal geographically, not
foundationally secure, or lacked agriculturally productive soil.
Reluctant Migration/Impelled Migration
Here, no one is forced to migrate but due to some push factors such as war, hunger and
other difficult conditions, people decide to leave.
Reluctant migration is a form of migration in which individuals are not forced to move, but
do so because of an unfavourable situation at their current location.
The large wave of Cubans who legally and illegally immigrated to the United States following
the 1959 Cuban Revolution is considered a form of : reluctant migration. After the arrival of Fidel
Castro, many Cubans sought asylum L overseas due to fear of an impending communist government
With the exception of Castro s political opponents, most of the Cuban exiles were never forced to
leave, but many decided it was in their best interest to do so. As of today, over a million Cubans
reside in the United States, with the majority living in Florida and New Jersey.
Another form of reluctant migration is the internal relocation of many Louisiana residents
following Hurricane Katrina. After the calamity caused by the hurricane, many people decided to
either move further from the coast or out-of-state. With their homes destroyed the state’s economy
in ruin, and sea levels continuing to rise, many people reluctantly left.
At the local level, a change in ethnic or socioeconomic conditions usually brought on by

migrants, can also cause individuals to reluctantly relocate. A white neighbourhood that has turned

predominately black or a poor neighbourhood turned sophisticated can have a personal, social, and
economic impact on long time residents.
Voluntary Migration
Voluntary migration is migration based on one’s free will and initiative. People move for a
variety of reasons, and it involves weighing options and choices. Individuals who are interested in
moving will often analyze the push and pull factors of two locations before making their decision.
The strongest factors influencing people to voluntarily move are the desire to live in a better home
and employment opportunities. Other factors contributing to voluntary migration includes change in
life’s course (getting married retirement, etc), politics (from a liberal state to a conservative state,
etc.), and individual personality (suburban life to city life).
The following are some of types of voluntary migration:
Rural-Rural, Rural to Urban, Urban to Urban, Urban to Rural Migrations: This involves the
movement of people from one place to another place of the same country in search of new
opportunities and lifestyles.
Seasonal Migration: Sometimes people move during specific seasons such as crop harvesting and
climate to work and then go back when the season is over.
Return Migration: This involves the voluntary return of migrants to their original place after they
outlive the reasons for which they left. E.g. People loving back after retirement.
Long and short-term migration: People may consider migrating for good if the condition in their
home is one that is threatening. For example, people Rove for better health care, studies etc for a
short-term and return.
Flow chart of classification of Migration
In general, during beginning of the 21st century, International migrations Increased

tremendously due to increased job opportunities in IT, Technical and Service fields. At the same
time, all kinds of short and long internal migrations (rural-rural, rural-urban, urban-urban, and
urban-rural) occurred on a large scale, in search of livelihood necessitated due to political and social
unrests, natural and man induced disasters.

Rural to urban migration is very common in developing (e.g. India) as well as under
developed countries (e.g several Africa countries). Urban to urban Migration is usually observed in
developed countries like USA, Japan and some European countries. Rural to Rural migration could be
seen in agriculturally sound (areas and vice. In olden days Rural to Rural migration was very
dominant in (Indian context from low potential agricultural areas to comparatively higher potential
agricultural areas. Urban to rural migration is observed on certain [occasions and circumstances.
Causes for Migration
People migrate for a number of causes which may fall broadly into 3 groups viz
1. Environmental
2. Economic
3. Cultural and Socio-political
Within each of these categories, the reasons may be 'push' or ' pull factors.
Push Factors: Push factors are those that force the individual to move voluntarily, and in many
cases, they are forced because the individual risk something if they stay. Push factors may include
conflict, drought, famine, or extreme religious activity.
Poor economic activity and lack of job opportunities are also strong push factors for
migration. Other strong push factors include race and discriminating cultures, political intolerance
and persecution of people who question foe status quo.
Pull Factors: Pull factors are those factors in the destination country that attract the individual or
group to leave their home. Those factors are known as place utility, which is the desirability of a
place that attracts people. Better economic opportunities, more jobs, and the promise of a better
life often pull people into new locations.
Very often, people consider and prefer opportunities closer to their location than similar
opportunities farther away, Similarly, people often like to move to places with better cultural,
political, climatic and general terrain in closer locations than locations farther away. It is rare to find
people move over very long distances to settle in places that they have little knowledge of.
Migration: Push and Pull Factors
Factors of Migration Push Factors Pull Factors

Economic People think about emigrating People immigrate to places where the jobs
from places that have few job seem to be available. An area that has
opportunities. Because of valuable natural resources, such as
economic restructuring, job petroleum or uranium, may attract miners
prospects often vary from one and engineers. Anew industry may lure
country to another and within factory workers, technicians, and scientists.
regions of the same country.
Cultural /Social/ Forced international migration Political conditions can also operate as pull
Political has historically occurred for factors, especially the lure of freedom.
two main cultural reasons: People are attracted to democratic
slavery and political instability. countries that encourage individual choice
Wars have also forced large- in education, career, and place of residence.

scale migration of ethnic After Communists gained control of Eastern

groups in the 20th and 21st Europe in the late 1940s, many people in
centuries in Europe and . that region were pulled toward the
Africa, Fear of prosecution democracies in Western Europe and North
leading to refugees: people America.
who have been forced to
migrate from their homes and
cannot return for fear of
persecution.
Environmental Migrants are pushed from Attractive environments for migrants
their homes by adverse include mountains, seaside, and warm
physical - Conditions. Many climates. Cool climate of Benguluru attracts
people are forced to move by people from even neighbouring states fro
water-related disasters settlement. Regions with warm winters
because they live in a attract migrants from harsher climates.
vulnerable area, such as a
flood plain. A lack of water
pushed others from their land.
Hundreds of thousands have
been forced to move from the
Sahel region of northern Africa
because of their drought
conditions.
There are several push and pull factors of Migration (like over population, natural calamities,
droughts and famines, social and political unrests, better employment opportunities, etc). In modern
days over population leads to migration from developing and under developed areas/countries. The
recent trends show that levels of technology and economic opportunities also causes large scale
migration.
Over population: An excess of population in an area in relation to resources and available

technology can be considered as over population. We can observe over population at local, regional
and even national levels. Due to over population in developing and under developing countries of
Asia, Africa and Latin America the people of these countries are migrating to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,
Oman, Yemen, UAE, Canada, Greek, France, Germany, Australia and New Zeeland. The migrants
include domestic servants, agricultural Labours, technicians, un skilled workers, engineers, doctors
and even academicians.
Major Net Migration Flow In India
Lead source states Key destination States

Andhra Pradesh Delhi
Bihar Gujarath
Chhattisgarh Haryana
Jharkhand Karnataka
Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra
Odisha Punjab
Rajasthan Tamil Nadu
Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand

Every year, from India alone more than 8 Lakh skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled people are out
migrating. From drought prone Rayalaseema regions of Andhra Pradesh, several people are
migrating to Gulf countries as domestic servants and unskilled labourers especially from Anantapur,
Kadapa and Chittoor districts.
Economic reasons
 Most of the studies indicate that migration is primarily motivated by economic factors. In
developing countries, low agricultural income, agricultural unemployment and
underemployment are considered basic factors pushing the migrants towards developed
area with greater job opportunities. Thus, almost all studies indicate that most of migrants
have moved in search of better economic opportunities.
 The basic economic factors which motivate migration may be further classified as ‘Push
Factors’ and ‘Pull Factors’.
 The common push factors are low productivity, unemployment and underdevelopment,
poor economic conditions, lack of opportunities for advancement, exhaustion of natural
resources and natural calamities. Introduction of capital intensive methods of production
into agricultural sector, and mechanization of certain processes reduce labour requirement
in rural areas. The non-availability of alternative sources of income in rural area is also
important factor for migration.
 The Pull Factors are opportunities for better employment, higher wages, facilities, better
working conditions and attractive amenities.
 During 17th and 18th centuries, a large number of people from various European countries
migrated and settled in the prairies of USA and Canada as about 20 to 40 hectares of land
was given free of cost to the migrants (immigrants) in USA. The attraction to have land
became a great magnetic force for the Europeans to settle in USA and Canada.
Pressure on the Land Resources:
 Heavy pressure on the Land resources in the motherland, also forces people to migrate and
settle in areas/countries where there is less pressure on the Land resources. The best
example is, in the medieval period, the pastoral people and nomads of Central Asia
(Mongols, tartars , Uzbeks, Yakuts and Kurds) invaded the territories of sedentary people
and settled in the fertile valleys of Afghanistan, Russia, America and Caucasus mountains.
Social and Religious Causes:
 In human history on several occasions, social factors led to large-scale

migration/emigrations as people like to stay, work and enjoy life with the people of their
culture, Social and religious affinity. Many Muslims are migrating from Hindu/other
religious majority areas to Muslim majority areas. Muslims are out migrating from Myanmar
to Bangladesh, and other Muslim majority areas/countries. This kind of religion-related
migrations occurred in several regions of India. The feeling of insecurity completed many of
the Kashmiri Pandits and Punjabi Hindus to migrate from Jammu &Kashmir and Punjab
respectively during periods of unrest.

Political causes:
 There lead to forced migrations influenced by political reasons. The forced and compulsory
migration is observed in human history.
 During India and Pakistan partition, in 1947, large scale mass migration/exchange of
minorities by nations, had occurred. Several Muslims and HL Hindus changed their
residences i.e., Muslims from India to Pakistan m ^Hindus from Pakistan.
Demographic Causes:
 Several demographic factors are also recognized as important reasons for migrations.
Among the demographic factors, age is an important factor within the potential migrants.
Usually adults are more migratory than other age groups. Adults, in search of] better
employment opportunities, tend to migrate from densely populated areas to sparsely
populated areas. India is a good example for this,| where a large scale outmigration is
occurring from densely populated states like Orissa, West Bengal, Kerala, Bihar, to other
parts of the I country.
Spreading of Information:
 Migration also depends on the availability of information, through education, cultural

contacts and spatial infraction. The cultural contacts and information network increases the
size of job opportunities. Therefore Information stimulates the migration volume. In Indian
context, the Sikhs and Keralites are the most informative and adventurous people, who have
been migrating even to the less developed and less attractive areas like a number Of African
and Central American Countries.
Rise in the Level of ambitions:
 Now-a-days, better human comforts and luxuries are available as a result of advances in
science and technology. Human tendency in general,, and among educated particular, is to
seek for better standard of living. Due this, in most off die developing countries like India,
the professionals in young generation are migrating to countries like USA, Canada, Australia
and many j European countries. A large number of skilled and unskilled people are also
migrating to Arab and Gulf countries.
Wars:
 War is a major cause of migration inhuman history, irrespective of time and region. People
were forced to move to avoid political and religious persecutions. Human migrations take
place before, during and after the conflicts.

Migrations during wars
Name of the wars People migrated Country

First world war 6miHions Russian & Europe
Second world war 60 millions Russian & Europe
Turkey-Greek war 0.35 million (Turkeys) Turkey
USA -Afghanistan 2001 2 millions Greek lran, Pak, Syriya
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan
USA-Iraq (2004), 1.5 millions Iran, Pak, Syriya, Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan
Government Policy:
 Migration patterns both positive (in- migration) negative (out- migration) are influenced by
government policies. Some countries’ discourage immigration, where as some others
encourage. With their policies, countries like Britain, France, Germany, Russia, are
discouraging immigration at present. In USSR, during early 1950s, a large number of people
migrated from rural to urban areas as a result of collective farming Policies of political
dictators in USSR, resulted the migration of people from their home land at the time of
Bolshevik Revolution which is popularly known as Great October 1917 Revolution. Before
Indian Independence, due to British government policies, several Indians migrated to South
Africa, Thailand, Malaysia as agricultural labours. After Indian Independence, due to Indian
government policies, several Indians migrated to Gulf countries, USA, Canada, Thailand,
Malaysia and even Africa countries in search of better employment opportunities.
Consequences of Migration
Migration may occur domestically or internationally, and can affect population densities, culture,
and politics.
Together with Fertility and mortality, migration is fundamental element determining population
growth and population structure in an area. Migrants, whatever may be the reason or cause, affects
the area of out-migration, the area of in-migration and even migrants themselves. Thus the
consequences of migration are no less significant than the causes of migration. The following are the
important consequences.
1. Change in Demographic Structure: Due to population movement, in both out-migration and

in-migration, a quantitative and qualitative change takes place in the demographic structure
of the population. Demographic elements like number, density, growth, mortality, age,
literacy, workforce etc undergo a quantitative as well as qualitative change in their
expressions.
2. Re-allocation of Human Resources: Wherever people out migrate from over populated
areas to sparsely populated areas, it changes the human resource bases of both the areas.
Thus, it leads to re-allocation of human resources with strong resource base and to achieve a
better balance between human resources and physical resources.

3. Over burden on Resources: In-migration to a particular region increases the density of

population in that region. In some cases the impact is negative as it increases the region’s
burden upon its resources and in some cases the impact is positive as it enhances the
capacity to exploit the resource potential of the region.
4. Imbalance between Human Resources and Physical Human Resources: Population
movements are the expression of reallocation of Human resources in both the areas (in-
migrated and out-migrated areas). Thus in in-migrated areas experience higher pressure on
physical resources, like land, water and minerals and people may feel the shortage of
resources. On the other hand, in out-migrated areas, acute shortage of human
power/resources is felt.
5. Adaptation problem: Migration also causes severe adaptation problems. Migrants moving
from rural to urban areas in general, and to industrial areas in particular, reside in areas of
with poor living conditions (uncomfortable weather, lack of open spaces, small houses,
inadequate or lack of water and sanitation facilities, polluted air etc). This leads to severe
health problems in migrants
6. Cultural Diversity: Whenever large immigration takes place, the cultural values of the two
groups of people undergo transformation. For example during island 18 and 19 centuries
there was mass emigration with high cultural diversity from different European countries to
America and Canada, leading to unrest between diverse cultural groups. The unrest between
migrant Tamils and the native Sinhalese in Sri Lanka is another typical example of problems
arising due cultural diversity.
7. Religious Influences: Whenever, migrants arrive in groups, they also bring with them their
language and religion. In some cases, it leads to healthy enrichment of the native culture,
but in some cases it leads to fear of suppression! in native people. The migration of different
religious groups from Europe and Asia to different parts of the world, lead to healthy
enrichment of the native culture The case of Jews and Arabs in west Asia is clear example of
fear of suppression in native people.
8. Dietary Influences: Food habits of people at both the ends also are influenced due the
influence of migrants. Indians and Chinese who have migrated to UK, USA, UAE and other
countries are best examples. The Indians and Chinese opened restaurants and hotels in
which they serve the dishes of their countries. Indian dishes like Idly, Dosa, Biriyani, Tandori,
etc., are increasingly becoming popular in U.K. France, Germany and other European
countries and North American countries like US A Canada and a few African countries.
Similarly the Chinese dishes gained popularity in other parts of the world including India The
life western continental breakfast (Bread, butter,-toast and eggs) is very popular in Urban
India, Bangladesh, Pakistan
9. Social Enrichment: Migration also provides opportunities for the interaction of people of
different ethnic and cultural backgrounds when they live together and thus lead to
enrichment of civilization and social integration.
Migration
 The third most important component of change in population is Migration. It’s the
movement of people from one place in the world to another for the purpose of taking up
permanent or semi permanent residence, usually across a political boundary. The place

people move from is known as Place of Origin and the place they move to is known as
Place of Destination.
 Basing upon the duration of stay the migration is of the three types permanent, temporary
and seasonal.
 There are two sets of factors which greatly influence migration,
1. Push factor are the reasons such as unemployment, poor living condition, political
turmoil, unsuitable climate, natural disasters and socio-economic backwardness etc
compels the dweller of a particular region to leave the place. This is somewhat less
attractive. The resultant migration is called Emigration.
2. Pull factors seem like interesting as they attract the migrants with opportunities like
better jobs, living condition, peace of mind and social stability and the resultant
migration is called Immigration.
World Migration Report 2018:
 Current estimates are that there are 244 million international migrants globally (or 3.3% of
the world’s population).
 While the vast majority of people in the world continue to live in the country in which they
were born, more people are migrating to other countries, especially those within their
region.
 Many others are migrating to high-income countries that are further afield. Work is the
major reason that people migrate internationally, and migrant workers constitute a large
majority of the world’s international migrants, with most living in high-income countries and
many engaged in the service sector.
 Global displacement is at a record high, with the number of internally displaced at over 40
million and the number of refugees more than 22 million.

Urbanisation
Among the essential needs of man, shelter occupies an important place, along
with food and cloths. In the beginning of human civilization, when man started settled life, the
importance of shelter had become part and parcel of human kind. In olden days, men used to live in
groups to protect themselves from weather, wild animals and enemies. This process lead to
construction of houses at suitable/favourable locations which ultimately transformed into
settlements and became an important means of adoption to the physical environment.
In general, a settlement can be termed as a group of houses or an

inhabitation. In some contexts, a single house also comes under the category of settlement.
Though we use this term very frequently, but when it comes for defining, it is very difficult to give a
clear cut definition. In simpler term we can define settlement as any form of human habitation
which ranges from a single dowelling to a large city. The word settlement has another connotation
as well. It is a process of opening up and settling of a previously uninhabited area by the people. In
geography this process is also known as occupancy. Therefore, we can say settlement is a process of
grouping of people and acquiring of some territory to build houses as well as for their economic
support.
Majority people of the world reside in some form of a settlement. Though

settlements occupy a very small percentage of area on the earth surface, they show a great
influence on the world’s culture and development. Since olden days, the settlements are treasure
centres of cultural heritage, where as in modem days settlements became innovative centres for
Economic, Social and Political patterns. Generally, a settlement of any region reflects man’s
relationship with his natural environment.
Origin and Evolution of Settlements
Since the origin of settlements took place before the recorded history, the events which lead to their
formation are not exactly known. There are only reasonable conjectures on where and why the
permanent settlements originated.
According to these assumptions, they originated prior to the cultivation of crops and domestication
of animals by man. During those times, the human beings were nomads, engaged in food gathering
and hunting.
In the absence of recorded evidences, Historians and Cultural Anthropologists have given several
explanations for the development of settlements. According to them, perhaps the main reasons are
Religious, Cultural, Military, Political and Economic.
1. Religious: In formation of settlements, religious rituals related to dead, might have been the
main reason. Nomads in tribes used to meet at one particular place to perform rituals
honouring the dead, most likely on the death anniversaries. In this process, the tribe would
have installed priests at the site to perform the suitable rituals. In course of time, the place

of worship (might be a temple) became a place of frequent assemblage for the tribe, and
helped to develop in to a settlement.
2. Culture: As the tribal men folk have to go out in search of food, the settlements might have
served as sheltering places for women and children who stayed back at suitable locations.
During this period women engaged themselves in activities like pot making, basket making,
stitching of cloths, using the materials gathered by men.
3. Political/Military: The children, women, teachers and priests were soft targets of attack for
other nomadic tribes. To protect them from the attacks, youth (soldiers) were stationed in
the settlement. The settlements situated in a strategic location, were the strong hold bases
for tribal heads and rulers, from where, they defended the tribal territory. The settlements
were fortified with walls, to protect the rulers, religious heads, and other members of the
community. Thus some settlements evolved into citadel centres of military power.
4. Economic: The settlements thus formed, became very popular as collective habitation came
handy to manage difficult situations like floods and droughts, and to defend themselves
from the attacks of enemies. They also served as storage places of surplus food materials,
and use them during times of necessity and emergency. In course of time settlements
became nodal centres of socio-economic and administrative activities.
These are different presumed reasons for development of settlements in course of time, due to the
advantages associated with collective habitation
The Site and Situation of Settlements:
The location and growth of any settlement depends upon its site and situation. The site is the actual
place where settlement is located. The growth of that settlement then depends upon its situation in
relation to accessibility and availability of natural resources. The situation of a settlement is its
position in relation to the surrounding human and physical features, many of which will have an
impact on the settlement’s type, size and function Important site factors are Reliable water supply,
Away from flood risks, High ground (for defence), Building materials (stone or wood), Fertile land,
Shelter from cold winds, Fuel supply (wood), Sun-facing slope (aspect) particularly in middle and high
latitudes, Flat land, Easy to build on, Natural harbour etc.
In the case of modem settlements, decisions about location and situation have been made by
planners. Their priorities may differ from those that determined the location of a historical
settlement. For example, a modem settlement need not be close to a river, because, drinking water
is now supplied to the settlements through pipes from far off distances and waterways Ore no
longer as important in the past, as a means of transportation.
Depending on die nature and quality of resources, the settlements may be

temporary or permanent, and from the rural settlements they may acquire the status of urban
settlements.
Rural settlements
The rural settlements are dominated by open country side, extensive land uses, relatively low
population density and simple mode of life. Majority inhabitants are engaged in primary activities
like agriculture, animal husbandry, mining, fishing etc. All these characteristics are quite opposite in

the case of urban settlements. The rural settlements are mainly of two types viz., Unstable or
Temporary and Stable or Permanent. In the world, a majority of the rural settlements are stable and
permanent.
Unstable or Temporary settlements
These settlements are popular among nomadic population. Hunters, pastoralists, transhumant and
the shifting cultivator have essentially movable dwellings. Nomads/tribes place their tents with in a
small radius and make very close settlements. The nomads of North East India, who practice shifting
-cultivation (Jhumias), Jammu and Kashmir cattle sheds of the Gujjars and Bakerwals (bandis) are
some Indian examples for unstable or temporary settlements.
Some nomads/tribes follow the season wise unstable settlements and they follow social
dependence. Eskimos decide on the site of their settlement according to the seasonal appearances.
In winter Igloos are stable settlement with grouped residents. Whereas in summer, at the time of
movement, the Eskimos disperse in small nomadic family groups and consists of only a few tents. In
the same manner the Gujjars and Bakarwals of Jammu and Kashmir also have double structure of
settlements and residents. During winter they reside in stable settlements situated in Himalayan
valleys, since pastures are available close-by for their flocks. Whereas, during summer they move
along with their goats and animals up to Middle Himalayas situated about 200 kms away from their
winter residences. In course of upward and downward journey, Gujjars and Bakarwals halt at least at
10 to 12 conventional camping (unstable settlements) places. The unstable settlements are mostly
found in arid and semi-arid areas, tundra, equatorial forest and mountainous areas with less than 2
percent of the total world population.
Stable or Permanent Rural Settlements
The settlements in which the majority inhabitants are engaged in primary activities like agriculture,
animal husbandry, mining, fishing etc., are called as rural settlements. Most of the rural settlements
are stable and permanent in nature as their primary activities are strongly bonded with the
surrounding lands. Their forms and patterns and morphology and structure are determined by local
physiographic characteristics and socio-economic and cultural characteristics of the people.
Types, Forms and Pattern of Settlements
Settlements having some similar properties are grouped under one ‘type’ e.g rural settlements,
mining settlements, recreation centres, towns etc. ‘Form’ refers to the characteristics of individual
settlements and ‘Pattern’ refers spatial arrangement of settlements in a given geographical region.
However, the terms ‘form’ and ‘pattern’ are being used as substitutes for one another, by many
scholars.
'Type' 'Pattern' and 'Form' of Settlements
Type refers to a category of things having some common features e.g Rural
and Urban Settlements or Temporary and Permanent settlements etc. Pattern refers to a regular
form or order in which a series of things occur. When we say settlement pattern, the term is strictly
applied to the spatial arrangement or distribution of settlements within a given area. It differs from
settlement form. Settlement form relates more to the spatial characteristics of an individual

settlement. However, sometimes the terms ‘form’ and ‘pattern’ are used interchangeably. As far as
‘type of rural settlements’ is concerned, it implies the degree of dispersion of the dwellings.
Generally the settlements are categorised in to four types: 1 .Compact/clustered/ nucleated
settlements 2. Semi-compact/Semi-clustered/fragmented settlements 3. Hamleted settlements and
4. Dispersed settlements.
Types of Settlements
Settlements can be classified based on different criteria like site, function etc. Depending on the
degree of dispersion of dwellings in the settlements, they are classified into four types viz.,
1. l.Compact/clustered/nucleated settlements
2. Semi-compact/Semi-clustered/fragmented settlements
3. Hamleted settlements and
4. Dispersed settlements.
1.Compact or Nucleated settlements: This type of rural settlements based on farming comprises
houses, farm structures and other buildings like religious centres, closely located, amidst crop lands
and grazing fields. Most of the settlements in highly productive areas like river valleys, settlements
in hilly areas and planned villages newly developed irrigational areas are falling in this type.
Agricultural communities with ancient primitive techniques of cultivation often needed to unite in
order to overcome difficulties such as protection from wildlife, to cooperate in tilling the soil.
Apart from agriculture locations, compact settlements are also found in many of hunting and fishing
communities. The American Red Indians, and people Siwaliks and in the states of Meghalaya,
Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura and Mizoram are the Indian examples where compact settlements come
into existence to defend against wild animals and enemies.
In some newly irrigated areas of Ferozpur of Punjab and Ganganagar of Rajasthan we find planned
compact villages.
2. Semi compact Settlements: These settlements are in a transitional phase from Dispersed Phase to
the Compact Phase of the settlements. Due to new technology and increasing population, in the
course of time, the scattered settlements start taking the shape of semi compact settlement. The
reasons differ from region to region for the emergence of semi -compact settlements. In fertile and
productive lands population increase causes transformation of small nucleated and un-patterned
settlement first to semi-compact settlement which ultimately acquires the form of a compact
settlement. One may observe several semi-compact settlements to the east of Aravalis (Rajasthan),
in the valley tracts of Madhya Pradesh, Telengana, Andhra, Tamil Nadu, and river valley regions.
3.Hamleted Settlements: In the case most of the Indian villages, the main settlement is the centre of
revenue-cum-administrative unit, and the revenue unit generally consists of several aggregates of
scattered residences. The built-up area consisting of clusters of houses (called Hamlets) is
surrounded by cultivated fields and linked with kachcha and pucca roads or village footpaths. These
are called ‘hamleted’ settlements.

4.Dispersed Settlements: Generally this type of settlements are found in extreme hot and cold
climates hilly tracks, thick forests, grass lands, poor agricultural lands, areas of extensive cultivation
and the areas where it is essential that the farmer should live in his agricultural field rather than in a
distant village. The most important factor of these settlements is that they are relatively recent in
origin.
Most of these types of settlements came into existence in the Me J the early 20u'century. Several
areas in east of the Ural mountains like Steppe grass lands (Russia) the Prairies of USA and Canada,
the Pampas of Argentina, the Veldts of south Africa, and Downs of Australia are good examples. In
India the places are known for dispersed settlements such are Desert and semi desert areas of
Rajasthan, the forest land of North - Eastern India, the side valleys of Jammu and Kashmir, the higher
altitudes of Himalayas and in forest and semi-arid parts of south India,
Patterns of Settlements
The relationship between one house and another can be defined as pattern of
settlements. The Forms and Patterns of settlements can be studied with help of large scale maps.
The rural settlements have different patterns based on the shape, size and arrangement of their
streets and houses. The pattern of rural settlements is the result of a series of adjustments to the
environment which include physical and cultural factors. The following are the main types of
patterns.
Rural Patterns:
1.Linear Pattern: In the Linear settlements, houses are arranged along either side of a road, rail way
line, river or canal, edge of a valley and along a coast. Such a pattern is easily recognised by the
simple arrangement of houses along a line or series of lines. The linear settlement along an Ox-bow
lake is termed as ‘horse -shoe pattern’. In Indian context this pattern is mostly found along river,
canal, coast and valley edges rather than along roads, because roads are younger than the majority
rural villages.
2. Rectangular or square pattern: Most of the rural settlements are in rectangular pattern. Such
settlements enjoy universal square shape with almost straight lanes meeting each other at right
angles. In India they are the heritage of our ancient past when the villages were mostly planned on a
rectangular pattern. These villages develop in productive alluvial plains and wide intermontane
valleys.
3. Circular or Oval, and Semi circular patterns: The circular settlements may develop around
temples, mosques, social institutions like schools and colleges, and natural bodies and geomorphic
forms like ponds, lakes, ox-bow lakes and river meanders. People build their dwellings on the coasts
of water bodies, to have easy access to a water source and due this these settlements acquire the
somewhat circular or semi-circular forms. Sometimes semi circular plan may develop into a crescent
shape or horse-shoe shape along a meander Sometimes, circular patterns are the remains of the
ancient walled villages. In cases it developed in past, as a result of agglomeration of dwellings
around that of a landlord or chief, to whom the village looked for protection.

4. Star like pattern: This pattern develops on the sites and places where several metalled or
unmetalled roads converge. In this pattern, the houses spread out along the sides of roads in all
directions. This pattern is common in both rural and urban settlements and caused mostly by recent
constructions spreading out along the major roads.
5. Triangular pattern: This type of rural settlements generally develops at the confluence of the
rivers. The lateral expansion of houses at the confluence is constrained by the rivers; hence, the
settlements acquire a triangular shape.
6. Planned Villages/Settlements: In recent times, attempts are being made to develop planned rural
settlements. The planned rural settlements have several socio-economic and environmental
advantages. In Rajahstan-Suratgarh is example for such type rural settlements.
Urban Patterns
The urban settlement patterns are a product of several processes and factors like the site and
situation of the original nucleus, functional structure, road network, demographic profile and urban
planning. The traditional cities and town in India and China developed different patterns which have
been transformed during the post-Independence period in to diverse patterns. Some of the
important patterns of urban settlements are as follows.
1. Irregular pattern:These settlements generally are the result of natural growth without a definite
layout of streets, width or direction. India has many small and medium urban settlements with
irregular pattern.
2.Radial pattern : This type of settlement grows from centre along radial roads which are connected
with concentric circular roads and these settlements may be of star shaped or of circular pattern.
3.Rectangular or grid pattern: In urban settlements with these patterns, every street crosses the
other at right angles resulting into a rectangular pattern. In Allahabad city, the civil lines has a
distinctive grid plan.
Urban Settlements
‘Urban’ relates to cities and towns in which most of the people are engaged in secondary, tertiary
and quaternary activities. Sometimes, ‘urban’ also relates to population size and density. Population
size, Population density, and Occupations are the criteria considered in urban definitions given by
Census Authority.
Origin of Towns
For the origin and development of towns, Historical, Socio-cultural and Economic reasons are the
major factors. But it is very difficult to say that which factor is more important. As per urban
geographers and town planning experts, transportation is the most important and oldest factor
responsible for the origin and growth of towns. In real conditions, trade and commerce gives rise to
all the advantages determined by geographical position of a site in relation to natural routes. The
following are some important factors for origin and development of towns.

1. Trade and Commerce Routes: Since olden days, the traders used to stay at night at a
convenient point which leads to the development of towns. Along every route there are numerous
sites which have special advantages. The halting places along the main roads in the olden days were
marked by shelter and shops, around which sometimes developed the houses of skilled manual
workers, carpenters and other servicemen. Such towns still are found in the deserts of Sahara, south
west Asia, central Asia, China etc.
In India such type of towns are found in Rajasthan and Ladakh regions . Big towns have developed at
points where either mountains have come into contact with plains or where routes have converged
in deserts near some source of water. Vienna, Baghdad, Jaipur, Jodhapur and Ajmer are examples
for such towns. Many modem towns developed at big railway junctions. In India Mughalsarai,
Tundla, (UP), Siliguri (WB) Itarsi, Bina are best examples for railway junction towns,
2.Navigable Rivers: The Rivers which were used for navigation also helped in the origin and
development of towns. In olden days rivers were the important routes of trade and still even today,
some rivers, like Rhine, Volga, Danube, Brahmaputra are busy navigable rivers. Many towns based
on navigation have developed at confluence of large rivers. Belgrade in Europe and Allahabad,
Patna, Mangalore and Bhagalpur in India are good examples of such river based towns.
3.Sea Routes: Sea routes also are suitable locations favourable to town growth. The straits, a§
converging points of sea routes, offer most favourable sites for growth and development of urban
settlements. Many straits have a large town and sometimes even twin cities, facing each other. The
urban centres of Istanbul and Scutari (Turkey) Gibraltar (Spain) and Tangiers (Morocco) have
developed across the Gibraltar strait, Dover (England) and Calais (France) across English Channel are
the best examples for strait based towns. The modem towns such as Port-Said, Ismailia and Suez on
the Suez canal, Cristobl and Balboa on the Panama Canal are also situated on the sea routes. The
cities of Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Alexandria, Aden, Singapore, Colombo, Hang Kong also
developed due their location on international sea routes.
4.Places of Transhipment: Towns develop along routes of water transport, where transhipment is
necessary because of geographical conditions. Earlier rivers were crossed using ferries. The bridges
built in the recent times over wide rivers, are providing a good opportunity for the traders of both
sides and towns/settlements started growing on both the ends of the bridges. London, Paris,
Singapore, Vienna, Budapest Orleans, Frankfurt are some of bridge towns at international level and
Narora, Srinagar, Hoshingabad, Surat and Howrah are some examples for Indian bridge towns.
5. Places of Mountain Crossing: Mountain crossing by traders and travellers also helped in the
development of towns and cities. The mode of transportation used to be changed at the foot hills
and the mountain passes which is a favourable situation for the development of settlements.
Peshawar, Karakoram, Kabul, Salta (Argentina), Santiago (Chile) are a few examples outside India.
Pathankot, Jammu, Pune, Palghat are Indian examples of such towns.
6.Oasis: The Oasis towns in deserts are necessary stages on a desert journey and have similar
situation like a mountain crossing, as traders and travellers must pass through them to obtain fresh
water and food. The Oases of Samarkhand, Bukhara, Medina, Kufra, Tumma are some the examples
of such urban settlements.

7.Navigation ends/Tranship Points: The Navigation end places also become an ideal place for the
origin of a town. At such places, Cargoes are transferred from ship to train or trucks . The cities of
Buffalo and Cleveland in USA, Lyon in France and Hardwar, Sadiya and Tezpur in India are good
examples of such towns.
8.Harbours: The location of harbours where sea ways meet inland routes to the interior of the
country, are also favourable spots for the origin and development of towns. Aden, Hong Kong,
Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Rio de Janeiro, Melbourne, Karachi and Tokyo are the examples of
harbour towns.
9.Places of Mining and Fishing: Mining sources have helped in the development of towns. Number
of large towns have developed within short period even in unfavourable areas/regions, such as
deserts, tundra, equatorial forest, undulating mountain areas etc, when minerals such as gold, silver,
copper and precious stones were discovered. The towns of Dawson city, Yellow Knife and Port
Radium in Canada, Kalgoorlie and Koolgardie in Australian desert and Norlisk on Yenisey river in
Northern Siberia are some examples of such towns. Raniganj, Jheria and Daltonganj in India,
Philadelphia and Baltimore in USA and Magnitogorsk, Denetz, Kuznet and Uralosk in Russia are
examples of mineral based towns.
10.Tourist places: Urban settlements also develop in areas of natural beauty, visited by tourists. Hill
stations in India (Shimla, Manali, Daijeeling, Mussoorie, Nainital), hot water springs, beach
resorts.(Goa) also promote growth of towns.
11.Religious and cultural places: Man has a strong desire to visit the holy and religious places of his
cultural groups. For example a temple, a gurdwara or a church, built at a certain place which has
religious significance, may become a pilgrimage centre. Jerusalem, Vatican city Mecca, Madina,
Amritsar, Bodh-gaya, Hardwar, Puri, Tirupati are examples of such towns. Educational centres like
universities (e.g. Harvard in USA, Oxford in UK, Shantiniketan, Pilani in India are some examples) are
also favourable sites to develop into cities.
12.Difensive cities: Safety and defence are other most important factors responsible for the
development of towns. The traders, business man and crafts men need protection against enemies.
Hill tops provide a convenient site to keep an eye on the enemies and are also difficult to approach.
Edinburgh, Athens, Ibadan are some examples outside India and Chittorgarh, Jaipur, Gwalior and
Jhansi are the examples in India.
Islands are also suitable as defence sites because they are difficult to approach. There are many
cities (Hamburg, Paris, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mumbai, Kolkata, Cochin, and Kandla)
which developed into urban centres because of their insular or swampy locations or river bank
locations.
There are some micro-geographical features (fiords, .lagoons, estuaries, promontories, straits
between off-shore islands and main land etc.) which provide shelter from waves and tides and help
in the development of natural harbours fishing towns and Urban Settlements. (e.g. Visakhapatnam,
Oslo, Rio de Janeiro)

Functions of Rural Settlements
Rural settlements perform various primary activities like agriculture, and its
allied functions, forestry, fishing and mining. Out of these functions agriculture is the most important
function. Apart from cultivation of crops and domestication of animals, the rural settlements have
religious and social activities. The Gram Panchayats and Village Councils discharge some
administrative and political functions. In socialist countries like Russia, Ukraine, Poland, North Korea
and China the village councils decide where and when certain crops should be sown, irrigated or
harvested.
The fishing mining or lumbering villages are like agricultural settlements in

which there are a few shops and some small scale administrative functions. In the rural settlements
where fishermen live, the main activity is fishing. Although the main occupation of these villages is
fishing, it may be combined with some agricultural activity
There are numerous rural settlements in the forest areas in which the
dominant economic activity is gathering of forest products and lumbering. Such villages are generally
small in size and may be found in the Taiga region, forest areas of the sub-Himalayan region and hilly
tracts like North-East India.
In the forests where lumbering is on a large scale and timber industry has
developed, urban rather than rural settlements are found.
In rural settlements, due to their lack of commercial and industrial development, die functions and
activities would be of narrow range.
Functions of Urban Settlements
Trade and business is a common function of all urban centres. But most of the
urban centres perform some additional functions, Which give them aj distinctive characteristic.
Towns are classified based on their dominant function^ which maybe trade, administration, defence,
manufacturing, entertainment etc.
1. Administrative Functions :The important function of administrative! urban centres is to

administer the territory under its jurisdiction. There are a hierarchy of administrative urban centres
in a country starting from the national capital ( e.g.New Delhi) at the highest level. The other
administrative centres in descending order are state capitals (e.g.Hyderabad), district headquarters
(e.g.,Nalgonda), mandal/taluk head quarters (e g. Kazipet) and other revenue division head quarters.
Some national capitals are quite large in size such as Mexico city (16.6 million), Buenos Aires (11.8
million), Seoul(11.6million), Beijing(l 1.3 million),New Delhi (10.2 million), Cairo (9,7million), Jakarta
(8.b million), Paris (8.5 millions) London (7.4 million) etc.
There are several province/state capitals with large population. Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata,
Hyderabad, Lucknow and Jaipur are some of Indian examples for such large provincial/capital towns.
As public administration is foe basic function of administrative cities, government offices, public
buildings, royal palaces, residences of presidents, governors, prime ministers, other cabinet
ministers,. bureaucrats and other officers will be located here.

2.Defensive function: Defence has been an important function of towns in the past as well as at
present. Their main purpose is to provide necessary security and preserve the territorial integrity
and sovereignty of the country. Fort towns, garrison towns, air bases, naval bases and cantonments
come under this type of towns. Secunderabad, Visakhapatnam, (India), Peshawar (Pakistan) Play
mouth and Portsmouth (England), are some examples for defence function towns.
The defensive urban centres show a clear division of land use between civil and military authorities.
For security reasons, the military installations are often located some distance away from the town
or are grouped together in one part of the town.
3.Cultural functions: Most of these Towns are well known centres of Educational, Religious, Fine
arts activities. Typical examples are Tirupati, Bhadrachalam, Varanasi, Rameswaram , Mecca,
Medina, Rome, Jerusalem, (religious Centres) Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Aligarh, Varanasi, Pilani,
Roorke, ( educational towns). There are other cultural function cities like cathedral towns (Vatican
City), Art centres (Viswabharathi,) cinema centres (Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai). But now most the
towns are having several types of cultural functions, in addition to the main function.
4.Production function: Some kind of manufacturing industry is the major function in production
centers / towns. The type and scale of production by the industries, determine the size and structure
of the city. Jamshedpur, Bhilai, Kanpur, Ahmadabad, Surath (India), Pittsburg (USA), Milan (Italy)
Magnitogorsk (Russia) and Osaka (Japan) are important examples for production function cities.
5.Collection function: This function is mainly connected with activities like Mining, Fishing,
Lumbering etc. Under this function products/ commodities are collected and transported to their
markets. Raniganj, Hazaribagh, Khammam, Nalgonda (India), Ipoh in the Tin Rich kinta valley of
Malaysia, Kuwait and Abadan are examples of mining function cities. Port cities undertake fishing
functions. Kotdward (UP), Dimaper (Nagaland), Sabah (Malaysia), New Found land and Grand Falls
(Canada) are examples of Lumbering towns.
6.Transfer and distribution functions: The functions of these centres are trade, commerce, and
services but the main function is trade. Sea ports, market towns, and financial towns figure in this
category.
A wide range of shops, stores, warehouses, godowns, cold storages, and wholesale markets are
typical features of these towns. In addition to these, they also will have banks, insurance companies
and other financial organizations. Kanpur, Anmadabad, Vadodara, Hyderabd, Visakhapatnam,
Guntur, Vijayawada are the some of the examples of such towns.
7.Resorts: These are towns and cities which cater to the recreation needs of people. These may be
based on hot-springs, seaside recreation, mountain climbing and trekking, sports facilities, national
parks and attractive scenery. Srinagar, Shimla, Kulu Manali, Araku, Ooty, Kodaikenal, Mussorie, Mt
Abu, Darjeeling are some Indian examples of such type.
8.Residential functions: The chief function of these towns is simply to house a concentration of
population. In such areas most of the land is devoted to houses, parks, and hospitals. The towns are
well connected with die major cities, which enables the commuters to travel easily, to the workplace
located in the main city. The towns which fall under this category are the suburbs and small towns
and villages around metropolitan cities like Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay, Chennai, Hyderabad etc.

9. Towns of Diversified Functions: Towns are classified according to their major functions. If all
those functions or many of those functions are found in some urban centres, they are categorised as
Diversified Cities ( e.g., Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai)
Morphology and Structure of Human Settlements
Settlement morphology is primarily concerned with the lay-out, plan and internal structure of the
settlements. It examines the areal extent of different activities. It relates various components in the
layout plan and structure of the settlements to socio-economic space (social groups, social
institutions, economic activities) and functional characteristics of settlements in general.
Some Terms Related to Socio-Economic Space:
Social Groups: Individual, Group, Organisation, Team, Community, Network;
Social Institutions: e.g. Schools, Shops, Post offices, Police forces, Asylums and Monarchy
Community: A group of people residing in the same locality and under the same government or a
group or class having common interests.
Community Service Organizations: Non-profit, charitable organizations dedicated to assisting others

meet basic needs, resolve personal or family problems, or improving their community. This includes,
Rotary clubs, Women’s Organizations, Boys and Girls Clubs, Scouts, etc.
Educational Institutions: Social organizations dedicated to teaching skills and knowledge to

individuals.
Ethnic or Cultural Groups: Asocial organization consisting of many extended family groups related
by a distant, common ancestry.
Extended Family: A social organization consisting of several nuclear family groups related by
common ancestry.
Families and Households: A fundamental social group consisting especially of a man and a women
and their offspring; a domestic establishment including the members of a family and others who live
under the same roof.
Institutions can either be formal, in that they are designed to govern behaviour, (e.g. Legislature,
administrative, judiciary), or informal, in that they govern behaviour by socialization rather than
overt practices (Religious Institutions)
Institutions can also be abstract, such as the institution of marriage.
Governments and Legal Institutions: The office, function, authority, or organization that sets forth
and administer public policy and the affairs.
A government consists of a legislative branch which writes law and policy, executive branch which
executes law and policy, and judicial branch which enforces law and policy. This includes local, state,
and national governments. This also includes all branches of the military.

Health Care Institutions: Social institutions that specialize in monitoring !? public health, providing
health maintenance, and treating illness and injury.
Intellectual and Cultural Organizations: Social organizations j dedicated to search for new
knowledge or the development and preservation of art.
Market Institutions: Social organizations dedicated to barter and trade.This includes all corporations
and businesses
Political and Non Government Organizations: Social organizations dedicated to influencing the
processes of government; political parties. This includes non-governmental organizations and groups
of people with common goals, interests, or ideals formally bound together by a common set of rules
or by-laws that influence public policy.
Religious Organizations: Groups of people who share a common, codified belief in and reverence for
a supernatural power accepted as the creator and governor of the universe.
Economic Institutions: Institutions connected with various Economic ; Activities
Morphology of Rural Settlements
The study of morphology and structure of rural settlements helps in understanding the socio-cultural
structure of the villages, their economic and sanitary conditions as well as their re-sponse to new
innovations.
The morphology of settlement has two main components-
(a) ground plan, and
(b) built-up area.
The ground plan mainly includes street patterns, arrangement of buildings and cultural artifacts like
temple, fort, residence of village head-man and market place etc. Here the process of change is
comparatively slow. On the contrary, built-up area undergoes frequent changes.
There are four main parts within the morphological structure of a settlement
These are (a) homogeneous part consisting of fields, grazing laid etc.(b) circulatory part consisting of
village roads, sheets and lanes etc, (c) central part provided by the built- up area of the village, and
(d) special part marked with temple, school, Panchayat office.
India village, though defined as the smallest revenue cum-administrative nit, generally consists of
aggregates of residences, the inhabitants of which certain relations, and some kind of union or bond
of common government The built-up area consisting of clusters of houses is surrounded by
cultivated 5dds and linked with kachcha and pucca roads or village footpaths.
Some times there are more than one inhabited sites within the territorial limits of one revenue
village interspersed with cultivated fields, pastures and village groves, etc..

The general pattern of land use includes multi- cropped best soil zone aroud the inhabited site
followed by less fertile and low irrigated single cropped zone m the periphery. In ancient days the
inter-village transition area was occupied by the forests, pasture lands and barren areas but owing to
the growth of population it has now been largely brought under cultivation. Similarly, early inhabited
sites consisted of compact houses with less development of lanes and streets, etc, but some are now
being replaced by open residential sites with lanes and narrow winding streets.
Urban morphology
It is the study of the physical form of a city, which consists of street patterns, building sizes and
shapes, architecture, population density and patterns of residential, commercial, industrial and
other uses, among other things. Special attention is given to how the physical form of a city changes
over time and to how different cities compare with each other. In brief urban morphology is the
distribution of different functions in a city.
Urbanisation
Urbanisation is a worldwide phenomenon and is the process of becoming urban. As urban centres
have special role to play in its development, socio economic structure can be indicated very clearly.
Urban centres being nodes of settlements, are the real centres of social contacts and economic
growth performing a number of important activities (Mauiya, S.D. andGDevi, 1984). Urban centres
are totally different nature, types when compared to the function^ of rural areas.
The concept of urbanisation
The word urbanisation is used by sociologists, economists, urban planners and geographers from
different viewpoints. ‘Urbanisation is the process whereby land and inhabitants become urban. It
refers to a change in both place and people’ (Smiles (1975). Lampard (1965) opines that there are
three concepts of urbanisation they are Social, Economic and Demographic.
Therefore, a combined set of socio-economic and demographic factors i should be used in measuring
the process of urbanisation. In Indian context, Rakesh Rao (1973) referred three urbanisation
process such as the metropolitanization, the commercialization and the rural urbanisation or j
subsistence urbanisation. By the process of metropolitanization, the large cities like Kolkata,
Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Ahmadabad etc., are emerging into metropolitan areas
because of heavy migration of people from rural as well as from small and medium size towns. In
the commercialization, small towns are growing into medium towns and large size towns into cities.
The third process-rural urbanisation means the formation of new towns either by natural growth of
villages or by administrative or political decisions.
Origin and growth of Urbanization
Urbanization process has long history in the entire world. Within the origin and growth of
Urbanization, some periods have been more favourable than others for the rise of urban centres.
The origin of urban centres has been traced to about 5000 B.C. when the growth and development
of several river valleys civilizations in world led to the origin of towns at favourable locations as
permanent human settlements. The origin and growth of urbanisation can be divided into three
periods.

1. The Ancient Period

2. The Medieval Period
3. The Modem Period.
1.The ancient period: In prehistoric and historic periods, numerous permanent settlements were
established in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Indus valley, China and Central America. Agrarian
committees eventually gave rise to urban communities and urban centres. The excess production of
food grains was perhaps, the main reason for the development of Urbanization.
Prehistoric Urban Centre
Ur and Babylon in Mesopotamia, Thebes and Alexandria in Egypt. Athens in Greece, Harappa and
Mohenjo-Daro in India Were noted prehistoric urban centres of the world.
Greeks and Roman colonisations are the two periods in ancient times which
witnessed urban growth. But When Roman Empire collapsed, many cities and urban centres were
deserted in Western Europe due administration and security problems.
2.The Medieval period: The Urbanization in Europe re-emerged in- medieval period. At the end of
thirteenth century Paris, London, Geneva, Milan, Venice and Cologne' cities were important
additions to Urbanization
3.Modern period: This period forms a third period in the history of Urbanization. The economic
development of the world has steadily favoured the growth of Urbanisation and strengthened urban
functions.
Rapid spread of industrial revolution mid large scale production of machinery and equipment in
nineteenth century lead to further urbanization in European and Western countries
In modem period, the accelerating Urbanization is effecting a redistribution of population

throughout the world. In general every country of die world is experiencing an increasing trend of
Urbanization. The number of millions cities is growing continuously.
Rank Name Est. Population

1. Tokyo, Japan 36,932,780
2. Delhi, India 21,935,142
3. Mexico City, Mexico 20,142,334
4. New York, United States of 20,104,369
America
5. Sao Paulo, Brazil 19,649,366
6. Shanghai, China 19,554,059
7. Bombay, India 19,421,983
8. Beijing, China J4,999,554
9. Dacca, Bangladesh 14,929,647
10. Calcutta, India 14,283,096

Urban Indicators
The stage of urbanisation can be indentified with the help of some identified indicators. The
following indicators are used in measuring the stage/level of urbanization,
1.Increase in the Number of Towns/Urban centres: Increase in the number of urban centres either
by origin of new towns or by rural urbanisation is a simple and important indicator of urbanization in
any country.
2. Increase in the proportion of Urban Population to Total Population: Over a period of time, an
increase in the proportion of urban population to the total population is considered as urbanisation.
It indicates level of urbanization in a particular region. The increase in the proportion of urban
population may be the result of (a) natural growth (b) increase in the number of towns and (c)
migration of population from rural to urban areas.
3.Increase in urban population: Another indicator of urbanization is increase in total urban

population over a period of time.
4. Proportional increase of population of different urban classes: The average size of urban centres
has been used as a measure of degree of urbanisation at various spatial levels i.e. at national level,
state level, district level. The average size of an urban centre maybe computed by dividing the total
urban population of the country by the total number of urban centres.
5. Urban population Density: The status of urbanization is also denoted by urban population
density. Urban density is calculated by dividing the total urban population by the total area of the
concerned region. In this way the average number of urban people per square kilometre is generally
calculated.
Factors of Urbanization
Social and Economic changes that takes place through time, are the major
factors in urbanization. Development of Technology and Transportation communication facilities,
also plays significant role in promoting urbanization in any area. The various factors that promote
urbanization are discussed under I the following heads.
1.Population migration: Rural to Urban migration is by far the major component of Urbanization.
The process of Urbanization is closely related to rural to urban migration of population. Because the
nature of natural increase and reproductive change is not very different in rural and urban areas,
population migration is high in the developing countries. The urban centres are centres of
opportunity for better living standards. In the countries like India where agriculture is a gamble with
monsoons, failure of monsoon severely affects agricultural activities creating ,unemployment in
rural areas which pushes rural people to urban areas.
2. Industrialization: Urbanization is directly influenced by industrialization, which provides a number

of employment opportunities. Thus the rural population is attracted towards urban centres and this
promotes Urbanization. This trend is very high in developed countries like USA, Russia, Germany,
England, Japan, France etc., and seen to a large extent in developing countries like India also.

3.Growth of services and facilities: Like industrialization, services and facilities are also an
important promoting factor for further Urbanization in an area. Education, health, banking,
insurance, financing, recreation etc., are the important service sectors, which play an important role
in further promoting Urbanization.
4. Stage of economic development: Type of economy, commercialization and mechanisation of

agriculture, the stage of economic advancement and the means of transport and communication are
the major indicators of Economic development which stimulates Urbanization.
5. Transport and communication: Transport and communication plays a dominant role in the origin
and expansion of Urbanization. Transportation and communicative facilities improve the mobility of
the people, marketing and trade which as a pull factor, leads to Urbanization.
6. Government policies: The process of Urbanization is also influenced by government policies and
decisions. When a government decides to j establish industries and industrial plants in backward
rural area, it initiates and promotes Urbanization. On special occasions for example when a new
state is formed, a new administration centre is constructed, (e.g. Amaravathi for Andhra Pradesh
Naya Rayapur for Chattisgarh) which attracts other functions also in due course, promoting
urbanization.
Urbanization in India
It is the most significant phenomenon of the twentieth century in India is second most populous
country in the world after China. India’s fast growing urban phenomenon has a regional as well as
worldwide impact. At present India stands in third place among the countries of the world, after
China and USA, in terms of absolute size of urban population. In India about 286.12 million people
live in urban centres.
In India Urbanization process has been going on since 3000 B.C i.e from the
times of Indus valley civilization. The cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa are the examples of
prehistoric urban development in India.
Trends of Urbanization in India since 1901
According to 2011 census, 377.11 million people are living in urban places of India, which is 31.80
percent of total population. Three distinct phases maybe identified, in Urbanization history of India,
since 1901.
(a)Slow Urbanization period: The three decadal period i.e., 1901-31 is considered as slow
Urbanization period of India, The urban growth during this period was between 10.8 and 11.99
percent, to total population. The annual growth rate of urban population is very low (only 0.35%)
(during this period. In 1931, about 33.46 million people lived in 2049 urban centres of India.
(b)Medium Urbanization period: The 1931-61 period is considered as medium Urbanization period
of India. During this period, the share of urban population in total population, rose from 11.99
percent in 1931 to 17.97 percent in 1961. During this period the urban population growth rate
increased from 19.12 percent to 26.41 percent. Within this period, there are wide variations in

decadal growth rates. The growth rate is only 31.97% during 1931-41 but it is 41.43%during 1941-51.
The number of towns rose from 2049 to 2330 during this period (1931-61).
(c) Rapid Urbanization period: The period from 1961 to present day, is considered as Rapid
Urbanization period of India. After 1961, India has shown momentum due to rapid economic
development and industrial growth. Consequently the urban population of India increased from
78.94 million in 1961 to 377.11 million in 2011 and recorded tremendous growth of262 percent in
50 years. The number of towns increased to 7935.
According to Census of India guidelines, the following are the population sizes of different urban
classes.
Urban Class-Population Ranges

Urban Class Population Range
Class - 1 1,00,000 above
Class - 2 50,000-99,999
Class - 3 20,000 - 49,999
Class - 4 10,000-19,999
Class - 5 5,000 - 9,999
Class - 6 less than -5,000
Impact of Urbanization
Urbanization can yield positive effects if it takes place up to a desirable' limit. Extensive
urbanisation or indiscriminate growth of cities may result in adverse effects. Thus urbanisation has
its own merits and de-merits. The impacts broadly fall into two categories
1. Social Impacts and

2. Economic Impacts
Social Impacts
1. Social and cultural integration: Due to urbanisation, there is greater cultural development
and integration of the people, which ultimately] enhances social background and linkages of
the urban community.
2. Contact with the labour market: Established in urban areas, migrant population adjusts to
match the labour market, by developing suitable skills from time to time. With their newly
acquired adoption capabilities to the changing situations, they successfully earn sufficient
income to meet their everyday needs.
3. Families and the urban society: A decline in the concept of the family, through the increase
of less traditional forms and new types of households, is often observed in urban
communities. As it has become difficult to maintain joint family in cities on account of high
cost of living, people are to live in the nuclear type of families
4. Stress In Domestic relations: Urban life is characterised by stress, which may even strain
family relations. In Cities employment of women is almost inevitable to meet the increasing
cost of living. Changing role of women in the family creates stress in the family which may

result in divorce or strained relations. They have to balance professional responsibilities with
the family responsibilities.
5. Impersonal Relations: Urban centres are characterised by highly secondary relations. The
concept of neighbourhood, community life are almost absent in cities. Urban life is highly
monotonous. This may have an adverse psychological effect on individuals. People are often
self centred and they have no concern for the fellow human beings.
6. Poverty, Lack of Opportunities and Problems of Psychological Adaptation: These
overlapping of issues are identified to a part of tire population displaced by the urbanization.
This group fails to adapt, to align to the standards of urban areas, where evolution, social
and economic development are the real engines of existence. This generates a chain of
negative effects from deviant behaviours to offenses or violent personalities.
7. Fertility Rate: The fertility rate in cities is often lower than in rural areas. Due to the absence
of agriculture, there is no necessity of large farm hands in urban areas. Moreover, the cost of
living is very high in urban areas and there is shortage of living space. Thus change from rural
social space to urban space generates changes in the natural growth rate of population as
people like to have small families.
8. Access to education and training: Rural migrants to urban areas will have access to
education, personal and intellectual development, which provide new features and modes
of the evolution of the individuals.
9. Efficient services: Services like Health, Communication, Transportation, Banking, Insurance,
Financial, Recreational etc., are available at urban door steps. Urban centres are also hub for
sophisticated institutions and super speciality services.
Economic Impacts
1. Growth of commercial activities: Urbanization leads to the development and diversification

of the economic and commercial activities. It also Bridges the gap between business people
by connecting several production, distribution and collection centres and promotes trade
and commerce. All these factors create several avenues of creating new jobs.
2. Access to New Technologies: Urbanization provides access to new technologies and to the
various areas of activity, which ensures raising incomes and the development of individuals.
3. Problems of Over Population and High Cost of Living: Concentration of population is a
major problem of cities. It has resulted in accommodation problem, growth of slums and its
consequences of overcrowding, sanitation, health, social and law and order problems. High
cost of living is a major problem of cities. In Metro cities like Mumbai, Bangalore etc. it is
very difficult for lower income groups to maintain a decent standard of living.
4. Over Utilization of Resources and Environmental Impacts: As a result of urbanisation,
resource utilisation (water, power, mineral and human) has increased tremendously.
Sometimes it is also responsible for over utilisation of these resources which is greatly
impacting the environment.
Development of new urban areas without complying with the necessary measures for the
development of sustainable areas, results in a negative impact both on the environment,
and on the health of individuals. The people are often affected by increased pollution levels
in these areas, in waste generation is a major problem in large cities. Air pollution results

from over-dependence on motorized transport and from burning of coal to supply energy.
Water pollution results from poor sewage facilities and disposal of industrial heavy metals
into waterways. Vast quantities of solid waste are produced in industries. Traffic congestion
and noise pollution are major environmental impacts of large cities.
Global warming, air pollution, water scarcity and pollution, loss of forest cover, Degradation
of Agricultural Land and Depletion of Wild Life- which are the consequences of urban sprawl,
are posing serious threats to the environment
Urbanization can’t be avoided. But with careful planning the negative effects of urbanization
can be minimised.
World Urbanisation Prospects 2018:

World Metropolitan Regions:
 In 2018, an estimated 55.3 per cent of the world’s population lived in urban settlements.
 By 2030, urban areas are projected to house 60 per cent of people globally and one in every
three people will live in cities with at least half a million inhabitants.
 Understanding the key trends in urbanization likely to unfold over the coming years is crucial
to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including
Sustainable Development Goal 11, to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe,
resilient and sustainable.
 By 2018, the number of cities with at least 1 million inhabitants had grown to 548 and in
2030, a projected 706 cities will have at least 1 million residents.
 Cities with more than 10 million inhabitants are often termed “megacities”. Globally, the
number of megacities is projected to rise from 33 in 2018 to 43 in 2030
 In 2018, 48 cities had populations between 5 and 10 million. By 2030, 10 of these are
projected to become megacities.
 Projections indicate that 28 additional cities will cross the 5 million mark between 2018 and
2030, of which 13 are located in Asia and 10 in Africa. In 2030, 66 cities are projected to
have between 5 and 10 million inhabitants.
 In 2018, there were 467 cities with between 1 and 5 million inhabitants and an additional
598 cities with between 500,000 and 1 million inhabitants.
 By 2030, the number of cities with 1 to 5 million inhabitants is projected to grow to 597. A
further 710 cities are expected to have between 500,000 and 1 million inhabitants in 2030.
 In 2018, 1.7 billion people—23 per cent of the world’s population— lived in a city with at
least 1 million inhabitants. In 2030, a projected 28 per cent of people worldwide will be
concentrated in cities with at least 1 million inhabitants.
 Between 2018 and 2030, the urban population is projected to increase in all size classes,
while the rural population is projected to decline slightly. Rural areas were home to 45 per
cent of the world’s population in 2018, a proportion that is expected to fall to 40 per cent by
2030.
 A minority of people reside in megacities—529 million, representing 6.9 per cent of the
world’s population in 2018. Yet, as these cities increase in both size and number, they will
become home to a growing share of the population. In 2030, a projected 752 million people
will live in cities with at least 10 million inhabitants, representing 8.8 per cent of the global
population

 Between 2018 and 2030, the population of Delhi, India is projected to increase by more than
10 million inhabitants, whereas that of Tokyo, Japan is projected to decline by almost
900,000. The two cities are thus expected to change places on the list of the world’s cities
ranked by size. Projections indicate that the world’s tenth largest city in 2018—Osaka,
Japan—will no longer be among the ten largest in 2030. Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of
the Congo will grow to rank as the tenth most populous city in the world in 2030 .
 Of the world’s 33 megacities—that is, cities with 10 million inhabitants or more—in 2018, 27
are located in the less developed regions or the “global South”. China alone was home to 6
megacities in 2018, while India had 5.
 9 of the 10 cities projected to become megacities between 2018 and 2030 are located in
developing countries.

Social Geography - Andhra Pradesh
Scanned by CamScanner

Social Geography - Group 1

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Social Geography - Group 1

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Download High Quality Study Material: www.instamojo.

 Race is biologically defined as a geographically isolated population of organisms that differs

Racial Groups and Their Distribution Pattern

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/appsctspsclectures

major linguistic groups

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/appsctspsclectures

They are highly

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/appsctspsclectures

mulatto population. and African.

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/appsctspsclectures

 Generally Race is defined as a biological inbred group possessing a distinctive combination of

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/appsctspsclectures

Theories of Evolution of Races

Klaatsch’s Intermediate Theory: Klaatsch of Heidelberg attempted a novel polygenetic, solution to

Taylor’s Migration Zone theory

Griffith Taylor, a renowned geographer contributed a lot to the development of Raciology.

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/appsctspsclectures

Classification of Races and Characteristics

Colour of the skin

 Caucasoids have-pale reddish white to olive brown skin colour.

Colour and Texture of Hair:

The colour and Texture of hair among different races is as follows:

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/appsctspsclectures

Colour and Shape of Eyes

a) Tall Stature — 170 cm and above.

 Caucasoids are - Medium to tall stature.

Prognathism : Lower Jaw or chin having projection.

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/appsctspsclectures

Head Form (or) Head Index

CI= Maximum Breadth/Maximum Length x 100

S.No Category CI of Living Head CI of Dry Skull

 Generally Caucasoids are Brachycephalic

 Among the caucasoids - frequency of A is more than that of B group.

Body Build or Shape

 Among the Caucasoids - It is linear to lateral and slender to rugged.

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/appsctspsclectures

Characteristics of Major Races

S.no Trait Caucosoid Mongoloid Negroid

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/appsctspsclectures

Races and Subraces

S.no Primary Race / Region Sub-races Composite Races Residual Mixed

3. Mongoloid ( Asia, Pacific Classic Mongoloid Predominantly

 Caucasoids concentrated in Europe.

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/appsctspsclectures

Average Differences Among Blacks, Whites and Orientals

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/appsctspsclectures

Life-Span Shortest Intermediate Longest

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/appsctspsclectures

 The pygmies are the most simple people of mankind.

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/appsctspsclectures

 The Aboriginies of New-guine Island in Pacific ocean are called Papuan.

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/appsctspsclectures

 Bushmen are also known as San.

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/appsctspsclectures

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/appsctspsclectures

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/appsctspsclectures

 The Polynesians aborigines of New Zealand are known as Maori.

 Pakthuni aboriginies, live in between Safdeh-koh to Peshawar.

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/appsctspsclectures

 They are courageous and warriors.

 They are the resident of Netal republic, speak Nugi language.

 Tharus are the resident of Uttranchal as well as Uttar Pradesh.

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/appsctspsclectures

 Toda’s are known as the classic example of Polyandry.