Human Geography: Population, Settlement and Economic Activities
Human Geography in the Karnataka II PUC paper asks you to measure population, model its change, classify settlements and place economic activity into the correct sector. Expect short numerical items alongside definitional and reasoning questions.
Population: measurement and models
- Arithmetic density = total population ÷ total area; physiological density = population ÷ cultivated area (more meaningful in subsistence economies); agricultural density = farmers ÷ cultivable land.
- Natural increase = birth rate − death rate; the actual growth rate also includes net migration.
- Demographic Transition Model: Stage I high birth and death rates (stable, low); Stage II death rate falls while birth rate stays high (rapid growth, broad-based pyramid); Stage III birth rate falls; Stage IV both low (stationary); Stage V births below deaths (declining, as in Japan).
- Pyramid types: expanding (Niger), stationary (United States), constrictive (Japan).
Settlement
- Rural patterns: compact or nucleated (fertile plains, scarce water), dispersed (hilly or pastoral areas), linear (along a road, river or canal levee), rectangular, radial and star.
- Site refers to the local ground - water supply, defence, fertile soil; situation refers to the regional position and routes meeting there.
Economic activities
- Primary: extraction (farming, fishing, mining, quarrying). Secondary: manufacturing and construction. Tertiary: services (trade, transport, banking). Quaternary: knowledge and information. Quinary: high-level decision-making.
Worked example
A country has an area of 200,000 km², a population of 40 million, CBR 32 and CDR 8 per 1,000. Density = 40,000,000 ÷ 200,000 = 200 persons/km². Natural increase = 32 − 8 = 24 per 1,000 = 2.4% a year. With a broad-based pyramid this is DTM Stage II.
Traps that cost marks
- Reporting 2.4% as the growth rate when net immigration is positive - state the assumption.
- Mixing physiological density with arithmetic density.
- Classifying quarrying or fishing as secondary activity.
- Confusing site with situation in settlement questions.