AP® Human Geography review sheet from Aim for Five (aimforfive.com/geo/units/5/5-2)
Unit 5 · Topic 5.2
5.2 Settlement Patterns and Survey Methods
Rural settlements are clustered, dispersed or linear, and the way land was surveyed and divided leaves lasting marks on the landscape. In the United States and Canada you can still see three survey systems: metes and bounds, township and range, and French long lots.
Key terms
- clustered settlement
- dispersed settlement
- linear settlement
- metes and bounds
- township and range
- long lot
Three rural settlement patterns
A settlement pattern describes how farm homes and buildings are arranged across the countryside.
- Clustered (nucleated) settlement: homes are grouped together in a village, and farmers walk or drive out to fields around it. Clustering makes it easier to share water, defend the community, and keep up social and religious ties. Traditional farm villages across much of Europe, South Asia and Africa are clustered, and colonial New England towns grew around a shared green.
- Dispersed settlement: each farmhouse sits on its own land, often far from neighbors. The U.S. Midwest is the classic case. The Homestead Act of 1862 gave settlers 160 acres if they lived on and farmed the land, which spread families out across the prairie.
- Linear settlement: buildings are strung out in a line along a road, river, canal or coastline, so everyone has access to that route. French long-lot farms along the St. Lawrence River in Quebec produce a line of farmhouses along the riverbank.
Survey methods: how land was divided
When settlers claimed land, they needed a way to describe property lines. The method they used still shapes property boundaries, road networks and even county shapes today.
| Method | How it works | Where you see it | Landscape result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metes and bounds | Boundaries described with natural features and distances, such as a creek, a large oak or a stone wall | The original 13 colonies and states that grew from them, like Kentucky and Tennessee; brought from England | Irregular property shapes and winding roads |
| Township and range | A grid of townships, each 6 miles by 6 miles, split into 36 sections of 1 square mile (640 acres) | Most of the Midwest and West, starting in Ohio, set up by the Land Ordinance of 1785 (Texas, which used its own system, is an exception) | Square fields and straight roads on section lines, a checkerboard from the air |
| Long lot | Narrow strips of land running back from a river, so each owner gets river frontage | French settlement areas like Quebec and Louisiana | Long, thin parcels and a line of homes along the river |
Why the patterns matter
Each survey method reflects the culture and goals of the people who made it. Metes and bounds came from English tradition and fit land claimed bit by bit. Township and range let a new national government sell huge areas of land quickly and simply. Long lots reflected the French focus on rivers as the main transportation routes.
These choices outlast the people who made them. Fly over Iowa or Kansas and you'll see a near-perfect grid of roads one mile apart. Drive through rural Virginia and the roads follow old property lines and streams instead. In south Louisiana, long, narrow fields still run back from the bayous. This is a good example of how past decisions become part of today's cultural landscape (3.2).
These systems also ignored how Native nations already used and understood the land. Surveying land was a key step in transferring it from Indigenous peoples to settlers.
Worked examples
Try each one yourself first, then open the solution.
- Example 1
Identifying a survey system from a description
A satellite image of rural Nebraska shows square fields and straight roads that meet at right angles about every mile. Identify the survey method and explain why it produced this pattern.
Show the solutionHide the solution
- Step 1: Spot the clue: a regular grid with roads about 1 mile apart.
- Step 2: Match it to the system: township and range divides land into 1-square-mile sections.
- Step 3: Explain the cause: the federal government surveyed western land into a grid before selling it, and roads were built along section lines.
Answer: Township and range. The Land Ordinance of 1785 set up a grid of 6-by-6-mile townships divided into 1-square-mile sections, and roads were laid along those section lines, which creates square fields and a one-mile road grid.
Common mistakes
- Matching the systems to the wrong regions. Metes and bounds is the East Coast and original colonies; township and range is most of the Midwest and West; long lots are French areas like Quebec and Louisiana.
- Mixing up settlement patterns with survey methods. Clustered, dispersed and linear describe where buildings are; metes and bounds, township and range and long lots describe how property lines were drawn.
- Forgetting the 'why'. For full credit, link each pattern to a cause, such as defense for clustering or river access for long lots.
On the exam
- This topic often shows up with an aerial photo or map. Read the shapes: a grid means township and range, thin strips along a river mean long lots, irregular shapes mean metes and bounds.
- Be ready to explain one advantage of a pattern, such as clustered villages making it easier to share services.
Connected topics
Videos
Check yourself
4 questions on 5.2 Settlement Patterns and Survey Methods. Pick an answer to see if you got it, and why.
A topographic map of a rural area in the United States shows three different patterns.
In the eastern part, property lines are irregular. They follow streams, ridgelines and old stone walls, and roads curve between farmsteads.
In the western part, roads run due north–south and east–west about one mile apart, forming a grid of squares. Most farmhouses stand alone, each on its own square or part of a square.
Along a river in the southwest corner, narrow parcels stretch far back from the riverbank, each with a house near the water.
Description of a topographic map
The road and property pattern in the western part most likely reflects
The narrow parcels along the river were most likely laid out to
A pattern like the one in the eastern part of the map would be most common in which states?
The arrangement of farmhouses in the western part is an example of
0 of 4 answered