001 - Settlement Sites

Factual Questions

What are the natural advantages of a settlement site?

What are the natural advantages of Geneva?

Approaches to Learning

Communication - Reading, writing and using language to gather and communicate information - Make inferences and draw conclusions.

Key Terminology

            • Site
            • Situation
            • Natural

Define the key terms above by using the useful links below:

Useful Links

Activity One - Watch

We will first be looking at what an area needs to be desirable for people to settle there. Watch the YouTube clip and answer the questions :


      1. What is a settlement?
      2. How big can a settlement be?
      3. What determines where a settlement is located?
      4. What is a wet point site?
      5. What is a dry point site?
      6. What types of natural resources do people live near? Why?
      7. What is a defensive site?
      8. What forms of communication do people live near?
Settlement Site Natural Advantages

Activity Three - Cut and Stick

People choose sites to live if it has one or more natural advantages e.g. a water supply. The more natural advantages a place has the more likely it is to grow in size. You will now be handed a sheet which has a number of settlement advantages descriptive words and statements. Cut out the statements and words and match them together. Then stick them on paper.

Settlement Site - Location Advantages

Activity Three - Analyse

You have now learnt what the advantages of a settlement site can be but what do you think a perfect settlement site is? You will be given a work sheet to fill in.


      1. Draw in the box your perfect settlement site.
      2. Label the sites key features. (Label is one or two words).
      3. Explain the natural advantages of the site.
      4. What are the disadvantages of the site?

Key Terms - Disadvantages (suggestions)

Too wet No water Few building materials Lack of food

Too open No energy Hard to build on

Little protection from enemies Too steep Too boggy

Settlement Site Advantages and Disadvantages

Activity Four - Google Earth

You will need to use your laptops for this part of the lesson as you will be using Google Earth to identify the settlement advantages for various sites.