Rural Areas PDF

Rural areas Types of rural settlements – including farming, mining, forestry and fishing About four out of every ten people in South Africa live in rural settlements. Rural settlements are places where there are villages and farms. In rural settlements people do jobs that are linked to the land, s...

Rural areas Types of rural settlements – including farming, mining, forestry and fishing About four out of every ten people in South Africa live in rural settlements. Rural settlements are places where there are villages and farms. In rural settlements people do jobs that are linked to the land, such as farming, mining, forestry and fishing. Farming settlements Farming settlements are settlements where the main occupation is producing food from the land. People may live on individual farms or in villages. There are fields and grazing land around the farms and villages. Figure 8 Some farming settlements are individual farms where people live and work. Figure 9 Many farming communities in Africa live in villages. Mining settlements Settlements develop where people can make a living. The figure on the right shows a mining settlement in Mali in West Africa. This settlement developed because there is gold in the rocks nearby. Many of the people who live in this settlement work in the gold mine. Figure 10 A mining settlement in Mali, West Africa Forestry People plant forests to supply them with wood. Wood is important for building and making paper. Some settlements develop around saw mills and paper mills. Figure 11 A saw mill near Piggs Peak in Swaziland Fishing There are fishing villages all along the coast and lakes of Africa. The main occupation of people in fishing villages is catching fish or processing fish. Many settlements started as rural settlements based on farming, mining and fishing. Over time some of these rural settlements have developed into large cities. For example, Johannesburg began as a mining settlement in the 1880s. Reference list Platinum Social Sciences Grade 8 Learner's Book. 2014. Ranby P., Johannesson B., & Monteit