Settlements are in long, thin rows often along roads or valley bottoms; this describes which pattern?

Settlements are in long, thin rows often along roads or valley bottoms; this describes which pattern?

• A. Dispersed settlement patterns
• B. Linear settlement pattern
• C. Rural survey method
• D. Metes and bounds system

Answer: (B)

Linear settlement patterns occur when houses are arranged in a long, narrow line along a road, river, or valley. This layout forms a ribbon of development because being directly along the transportation route or waterway provides easy access to people, trade, and fields, so homes and farms cluster in a line with farmland stretching behind them. Dispersed patterns would have homes scattered with large gaps; the other options describe land surveying or legal descriptions, not how settlements are arranged.

Linear settlement patterns occur when houses are arranged in a long, narrow line along a road, river, or valley. This layout forms a ribbon of development because being directly along the transportation route or waterway provides easy access to people, trade, and fields, so homes and farms cluster in a line with farmland stretching behind them. Dispersed patterns would have homes scattered with large gaps; the other options describe land surveying or legal descriptions, not how settlements are arranged.