How Do Human and Natural Factors Affect the Global Population Distribution?
Population Distribution-Essay
"How do human and natural factors affect the global population distribution?"
There are many factors that can affect the way a population is spread over the earth's surface, these factors are what make the spread of the population un-even. The factors are split into two sub categories: human and physical factors, within each of these there are positive and negative factors. I am going to look at a wide range of factors that are thought to affect population distribution and see whether they are positive or negative affects or, they could have both affects. Areas such as Japan which are wealthy and industrial are densely populated, areas like Antarctica which are hostile environments are likely to be sparsely populated.
The initial reason for people settling where they do is the resources that were originally available to them. A good example of somewhere which had resources readily available when people first settled there is the south east of England a good example being around London. People settled along the river Thames so there was water available, also the river could be used to transport goods up and down the river, there was `protection because the area was quite woody, the wood also provided fuel also being near to the coast there were good communication links. These basic factors that were there 100's of years ago influenced where people live now. The area grew as resources got better and better and London eventually became what it is today.
One of the main factors affecting where people settle is the relief of the land. People tend to settle in areas with low lying, flat land a good example of an area like this is The Netherlands, the land is completely flat and therefor it is highly populated. Areas though that are steep and rugged are a lot less likely to attract people, there are hard to access and facilities are difficult to build on them. An example of an area with steep land that has low population is the Himalayas. The lead on from the relief of land is how fertile the soil is. Flat land is more likely to have a deep and fertile layer of soil, also areas that are around inactive volcanoes have very rich soil because the ash etc from the volcano feeds the soil with minerals. Any area which has a rich, fertile soil is likely to have a lot of the population living there because they are able to grow crops and give a high agricultural yield, they can therefore support a larger population. An area, which has rich soil and has a high population, is Mount Etna, The Nile Delta and the Ganges. Soil can also have a negative impact on population settlement. An area may have flat land but the soil may have been damaged. Also thin soil (on mountains), soils in rainforests (which have had all the nutrients drawn out by the trees) and frozen soils do not have the ability to support a large population, areas like this are the Amazon Basin and The Sahel (Africa).
"How do human and natural factors affect the global population distribution?"
There are many factors that can affect the way a population is spread over the earth's surface, these factors are what make the spread of the population un-even. The factors are split into two sub categories: human and physical factors, within each of these there are positive and negative factors. I am going to look at a wide range of factors that are thought to affect population distribution and see whether they are positive or negative affects or, they could have both affects. Areas such as Japan which are wealthy and industrial are densely populated, areas like Antarctica which are hostile environments are likely to be sparsely populated.
The initial reason for people settling where they do is the resources that were originally available to them. A good example of somewhere which had resources readily available when people first settled there is the south east of England a good example being around London. People settled along the river Thames so there was water available, also the river could be used to transport goods up and down the river, there was `protection because the area was quite woody, the wood also provided fuel also being near to the coast there were good communication links. These basic factors that were there 100's of years ago influenced where people live now. The area grew as resources got better and better and London eventually became what it is today.
One of the main factors affecting where people settle is the relief of the land. People tend to settle in areas with low lying, flat land a good example of an area like this is The Netherlands, the land is completely flat and therefor it is highly populated. Areas though that are steep and rugged are a lot less likely to attract people, there are hard to access and facilities are difficult to build on them. An example of an area with steep land that has low population is the Himalayas. The lead on from the relief of land is how fertile the soil is. Flat land is more likely to have a deep and fertile layer of soil, also areas that are around inactive volcanoes have very rich soil because the ash etc from the volcano feeds the soil with minerals. Any area which has a rich, fertile soil is likely to have a lot of the population living there because they are able to grow crops and give a high agricultural yield, they can therefore support a larger population. An area, which has rich soil and has a high population, is Mount Etna, The Nile Delta and the Ganges. Soil can also have a negative impact on population settlement. An area may have flat land but the soil may have been damaged. Also thin soil (on mountains), soils in rainforests (which have had all the nutrients drawn out by the trees) and frozen soils do not have the ability to support a large population, areas like this are the Amazon Basin and The Sahel (Africa).
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Teacher Reviews
Here's what a teacher thought of this essay
A good attempt to evaluate the different factors affecting population growth. What lets this essay down is it's lack of detail and comparison when using examples. 4 stars
