Geo-literacy can reduce the costs of bad decision-making and provide the foundation for positive breakthroughs. In our modern, globally interconnected society, it is more important than ever that people understand the world around them.

Geography helps us understand basic physical systems that affect everyday life: How water cycles and ocean currents work are all explained with Geography. These are important systems to monitor and predict in order to help lessen the impact of disasters.

Geography is a focus within the curriculum for understanding and resolving issues about the environment and sustainable development. It is also an important link between the natural and social sciences. As pupils study geography, they encounter different societies and cultures.

As a social science discipline, geography studies the ‘spatial organisation’ and ‘spatial integration’. Geography as a discipline is concerned with three sets of questions: (i) Some questions are related to the identification of the patterns of natural and cultural features as found over the surface of the earth.

Geography encompasses both natural science and social science as it examines people and their environment and serves as a bridge between the physical and cultural worlds. Individual geographers focus on different aspects of the discipline.

History is what made the world the way it is, and it is essential that people study it in order to have an appreciation for and understanding of the way the world works. Learning about history is what makes it possible to learn from the past and plan for the future.

Geography links spheres of the natural and social knowledge, assuring our integrated perseption of the world. Recently, scientists attached great importance to geographical researches of society, therefore, geography is considered to be a social science in many parts of the world.

Geography is the science that studies the relationships among areas, natural systems, cultural activities and the interdependence of all these over space. Why is Geography unique among all disciplines? Its primary concern with how things are distributed on the earth’s surface.

In geographic terms, a situation or site refers to the location of a place based on its relation to other places, such as San Francisco’s situation being a port of entry on the Pacific coast, adjacent to California’s productive agricultural lands.

Human Settlement Factors:

• Body of water (transportation routes, water for drinking and farming)
• Flat land (easy to build)
• Fertile soil (for crops)
• Forests (timber and housing)

Physical factors that influence the location of a settlement include; 1. Water supply – settlements need water, they often locate on wet point sites for this. Settlements built away from rivers and water supplies to avoid flooding are located at dry point sites.

Answer: The growth and development of a settlement depends upon: Suitable land. Availability of water. Favourable climate.

There are many characteristics of Scattered settlements.for eg;

• These settlements have limited populations as in small hamlets.(pada , wadi etc).
• Facilities and services in these settlements are not adequate.
• As these settlements are closer to nature, they are free from pollution.

The location and growth of an settlement depended upon its site and situation. The site was the actual place where people decided to locate their settlement. The growth of that settlement then depended upon its situation in relation to accessibility and availability of natural resources.