Settlement Patterns

Is Canada’s population evenly distributed across the

country?

How would you describe the distribution?

How would you describe the distribution?

Why is our population distributed the way it is?

Settlement Patterns: (p. 201) the arrangement of where

people live in a country and the factors that influence the

arrangement

Dispersed- found in areas that have a strong agricultural

base; spread out on farms

Concentrated- found where resources are focused in small

areas; towns

Linear - (a type of concentrated pattern) found along lines

(e.g. highway, river)

Note: Population Density is different. It is

PopulationArea

or the number of people per km²

More than 90% of our population is within 600 km of

the American border

This represents less than 10% of our land area, but most of

our major cities and productive farmland

(see map p.203)

There are 2 main categories in Canada: Rural and Urban

RURAL: most rural Canadians are located within

one of these (historical) patterns:

Long lots of Quebec Concession system of

Ontario Section system of the

Prairies

3 Factors affect the pattern in any area:

1. What kind of resources are in the area? (i.e.. agriculture or

forestry or fishing)

2. What transportation methods were available at the time of

settlement? (i.e.. water transport usually preceded

roads. Was that the case in the Ottawa region? Canada

generally?)

3. What role did government policy play in the settlement? (i.e.. planning, size and shape

of lots. A set of rules is called a survey system and different systems were used in different

parts of Canada.)

Rural 1: Long lots of Quebec (refer page 205)

Settled before railways and good roads and surveys

Most important influence was the agricultural resources and river transport

Long thin farms were built along the St. Lawrence River; each farm had access to

the river for transportation

Known as long lots; when river lots were taken, a second (& 3rd and 4th) were settled were settled on a road

parallel to the river (see picture in text p. 205)

Rural 2: Concession System of Southern Ontario

(refer page 206)

Agricultural resources

Settled after a survey system was in place

Roads and later railways, were available, so access to rivers and lakes

was less important

A variety of concession systems were used. Roads were typically 1 mile

(sometimes 2 km) and farms were 40-80 hectares in size

Groupings of concession blocks were called townships and groups of townships

were called counties

Rural 3: Section System of the Southern Prairies

(refer page 207)

Surveyed before major settlement occurred using the “Section System”

Simple System. Land was divided into blocks 9.6km2 by 9.6km2 (94 km2 in area)

Each block is divided into 36 sections, each of which is divided into 4 lots called

quarter-sections (64 ha in size)

Due to low rainfall levels, farms needed to be made bigger in order to

survive. This gave rise to “farm consolidation”

URBAN: most Canadians (82%) lived in a rural setting in 1867.

Today approximately 80% of the population lives in cities and

towns.

An urban center can grow for a number of different reasons

such as: Manufacturing

A Transportation Hub A Resource Base A Service Center

Many cities’ existence can depend on one urban function. An urban center that grows for a few different reasons is called a

“diversified urban center”