*    INTRODUCTION 
    Early human beings depended entirely on nature for food, clothing and shelter; but with time they learnt now skills to grow food, build homes and develop better means of transport and communication. In this way they modified the environment where they          lived

    The place where a building or a settlement develops is called its site.
    The natural conditions for selection of an ideal site are-
    (A) Favourable climate            (B) Availability of water    
    (C) Suitable land                    (D) Fertile soil.

*  Settlements
1.   Settlements are places where people build their homes. Early human beings lived on trees and in caves. When they started to grow crops it became necessary to have a permanent home. The settlements grew near the river valleys as water was                    available and land was fertile. With development of trade, commerce and manufacturing, human settlements became larger. Settlement flourished and civilizations developed near river valleys.

2.    Settlements can be permanent or temporary. Settlements which are occupied for a short time are called temporary settlements. The people living in a deep forests, hot and cold deserts and mountains often dwell in such temporary settlements. They               practice hunting, gathering and shifting cultivation. However more and more settlements today are permanent settlements. In these settlements, people build permanent homes to live in.

3.    There are two different types of permanent settlements - the rural and the urban settlements. The villages are rural settlement where people are engaged in activities like agriculture, fishing, forestry, crafts work and trading etc. Rural settlements can be           compact or scattered. A compact settlement is a closely built area of dwellings, wherever flat land is available. In a scattered settlement dwelling are spaced over an extensive area. This type of settlement is mostly found in hilly tracts, thick forests, and            regions of extreme climate.

4.    Transhumance is a seasonal movement of people. People who rear animals move in search of new pastures according to changes in seasons.

5.    In rural areas, people build house to suit their environment. In regions of heavy rainfall, they have slanting roofs. Places where water accumulates in the rainy season the houses are constructed on a raised platform or stilts.

6.    Thick mud walled houses with thatched roofs are very common in areas of hot climate. Local materials like stones, mud, clay, straw etc are used to construct houses.

7.    The towns are small and the cities are larger urban settlements. In urban areas the people are engaged in manufacturing, trading and services.

*    TRANSPORT
    General Introduction
1.    Transport is the means by which people and goods move. In the early days it took a great deal of time, to travel long distances. People had to walk and use animals to carry their goods. Invention of the wheel made transport easier.

2.    With the passage of time different means of transport developed but even today people use animals for transport.

3.    In our country donkeys, mules, bullocks and camels are common. In the Andes Mountains of South America, Ilamas are used, as are yaks in Tibet.

4.    The early traders from other countries used to take several months to reach India. They took either the sea route or the land route.

5.    Aeroplanes have made travel faster. Now it takes only 6-8 hours to travel from India to Europe. Modern means of transport thus saves time and energy.

6.    The four major means of transport are roadways, railways, waterways and airways.

*    MEANS OF TRANSPORT
     ROADWAYS 
1.    The most commonly used means of transport especially for short distance are roads. They can be metalled (pucca) and unmetalled (kutcha). The plains have a dense network of roads. Roads have also been built in terrains like deserts, forests and even         high mountains.

2.    Manali - Leh highway in the Himalayan Mountains is one of the highest roadways in the world. Roads built underground are called subways/under paths. Flyovers are built over raised structures.

Railways
1.    The railways carry heavy goods and people over long distances quickly and cheaply. The invention of the steam engine and the Industrial Revolution helped in speedy development of rail transport. Diesel and electric engines have largely replaced the             steam engines.

2.    In places super fast trains have been introduced to make the journey faster. The railway network is well developed over the plain areas. Advanced technological skills have enabled laying of railway lines in difficult mountain terrains also. But these are             much fewer in number. Indian railway network is well developed. It is the largest in Asia.

3.    The Trans - Siberian Railways is the longest railway system connecting St. Petersburg in Western Russia to Vladivostok on the Pacific coast.

Waterways
1.    Waterways were used for transportation since early days. Waterways are the cheapest for carrying heavy and bulky goods over distances. They are mainly of two types - inland waterways and sea routes.

2.    Navigable rivers and lakes are used as inland waterways. Some of the important inland  waterways are the Ganga - Brahmaputra river system, the Great Lakes in North America and the river Nile in Africa.

3.    Sea routes and oceanic routes are mostly used for transporting merchandise and goods from one country to another. These routes are connected with the ports.

4.    Some of the important ports of the world are Singapore and Mumbai in Asia, New York, Los Angeles in North America, Rio De Janerio in South America, Durban and Cape Town in Africa, Sydney in Australia, London and Rotterdam in Europe.

Airways
1.    This is the fastest way of transport developed in the early twentieth century. It is also the most expensive due to high cost of fuels. Air traffic is adversely affected by bad weather like fog and storms.

2.    It is the only mode of transport to reach the most remote and distant areas especially where there are no roads and railways.

3.    Helicopters are extremely useful in most inaccessible areas and in time of calamities for rescuing  people and distributing food, water, clothes and medicines.

4.    Some of the important airports are Delhi, Mumbai, New York, London, Paris, Frankfurt and Cairo.

*    COMMUNICATION
     MEANING AND TYPES
1.    Communication is the process of conveying messages to others. With the development of technology humans have devised new and fast modes of communication.
      The process of communication always contains message that are transmitted between sender and receiver. The sender sends the message & the receiver receives it. The receiver understands the message and gives a response which is called as the            reply.

2.   The advancement in the field of communication system has brought about an information revolution in the world. Different modes of communication are used to provide information, to educate as well as to entertain. Through newspapers radio and                   television we can communicate with a large number of people. They are therefore called mass media.

3.    The satellites have made communication even faster. Satellites have helped in oil survey of ores, underground water, mineral wealth, weather forecast and disaster warning. Now we can send electronic mails or e-mails through Internet. Wireless                    telephonic communications through cellular phones have become very popular today. Internet not only provides us with worldwide information and interaction but has also made our lives more comfortable. Now we can reserve tickets for railways,                    airways and even cinemas and hotels sitting at home.

4.    With this kind of inter connectivity of people services and institutions across the world, we are a large global society.

New Terms
    Settlement                       :    Place where people build their homes.
    Transhumance                :    It is a seasonal movement of people. People who rear animals move in search of new pastures according to changes in seasons. 
    Compact Settlements     :    The closely build areas of dwellings.
    Transport                        :    It means movement of people and goods from one location to another Eg. rail, air, road, water, cable, pipeline & space
    Communication              :    A process whereby meaning is defined as shared between living  organisms. E.g. radio, television, internet, phone, etc. are means of communication.
    Industrial Revolution      :    Industrial Revolution was a period from 18th to 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining,  transportation &  technology had a profound effect on the socioeconomic & cultural  conditions
                                               of the times. It began in UK, subsequently spread throughout  Europe, North America     and eventually the world.  
    Metalled Road               :    The road having stones chippings mixed with tar to form the road surfacing.

*    THINGS TO KNOW

  •     Settlements are of various types which are found in rural and urban areas like compact, scattered, circular, linear and radial settlements found in rural areas.
  •     Urban settlements may vary on the basis of population, types of activities, administrative set up & land use.
  •     Telegram is a form of written communication by which message are sent quickly to distant places. They can be sent as ordinary or express. Express telegrams travel faster then the ordinary telegram.
  •     Telephone a form of oral communication is widely used these days. STD (Subscriber Trunk Dialling) and ISD (International Subscriber Dialling) Facilities are available on it. Mobile phones are an improvement over fixed line telephone. SMS        (Short  Messaging Service) and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Services) are sent through it.
  •     Other means of communication include telex which is a means of printed communication using teleprinter.
  •     Fax or facsimile is an electronic device, enables instant transmission of any matter, which may be handwritten or printed.
  •     Voice mail is a computer based system for receiving & responding to incoming telephone calls.
  •     Pager is an instrument which can be used to receive any short message from the sender at any time.
  •     Teleconferencing is a system through which people interact with each other without physically sitting in front of other.
  •     Communication helps us in a number of ways. It is used in business, coordinating function, internal security, secure.