Class 7 Social Science Human Environment Settlement Transport and Communication Exam Notes

This Class 7 Social Science exam notes page covers human settlements, both temporary and permanent, rural and urban, and then transport by roadways, railways, waterways and airways, and communication through mass media, satellites, e-mail and the Internet.

SETTLEMENTS

The place where a building or a settlement develops is called its site. The natural conditions for the selection of an ideal site are:
1. Favourable climate
2. Availability of water
3. Suitable land
4. Fertile soil

Settlements are places where people build their homes. Early human beings lived in trees and caves. When they started to grow crops, a permanent home became necessary. Settlements grew near river valleys, where water was available and the land was fertile. With the development of trade, commerce and manufacturing, human settlements became larger. Settlements can be permanent or temporary.

(A) Temporary settlements
1. Settlements which are occupied for a short time are called temporary settlements.
2. People living in deep forests, hot and cold deserts and mountains often dwell in such settlements.
3. They practise hunting, gathering, shifting cultivation and transhumance.

(B) Permanent settlements
In these settlements, people build homes to live in. Permanent settlements can be rural or urban.

(a) Rural settlement
1. Villages are rural settlements where people are engaged in agriculture, fishing, forestry, crafts and trading.
2. Rural settlements can be compact or scattered.
3. A compact settlement is a closely built area of dwellings, found wherever flat land is available.
4. In a scattered settlement, dwellings are spaced over an extensive area.
5. Scattered settlements are mostly found in hilly tracts, thick forests and regions of extreme climate.
6. In rural areas, people build houses to suit their environment. In regions of heavy rainfall, they have slanting roofs.
7. In places where water accumulates in the rainy season, houses are constructed on a raised platform or on stilts.
8. Thick mud-walled houses with thatched roofs are very common in areas of hot climate. Local materials such as stones, mud, clay and straw are used to construct houses.

(b) Urban settlement
1. Towns are small urban settlements, and cities are larger ones.
2. In urban areas, people are engaged in manufacturing, trading and services.

TRANSPORT

Introduction
1. Transport is the means by which people and goods move. In early days it took a great deal of time to travel long distances. People walked and used animals to carry their goods. The invention of the wheel made transport easier.
2. With the passage of time, different means of transport developed, but even today people use animals for transport.
3. In our country, donkeys, mules, bullocks and camels are common.
4. In the Andes Mountains of South America, llamas are used, as are yaks in Tibet.
5. Early traders from other countries took several months to reach India by the sea route or the land route.
6. Aeroplanes have made travel faster. Now it takes only 6 to 8 hours to travel from India to Europe.
7. Modern means of transport save time and energy.
8. The four major means of transport are roadways, railways, waterways and airways.

A. Roadways
1. Roads are the most commonly used means of transport, especially for short distances.
2. Roads can be metalled (pucca) or unmetalled (kutcha).
3. The plains have a dense network of roads.
4. Roads have also been built in terrains such as deserts, forests and high mountains.
5. The Manali-Leh highway in the Himalayan mountains is one of the highest roadways in the world.
6. Roads built underground are called subways or underpasses.
7. Flyovers are built over raised structures.

B. Railways
1. Railways carry heavy goods and people over long distances quickly and cheaply.
2. The invention of the steam engine and the Industrial Revolution helped the speedy development of rail transport.
3. Diesel and electric engines have largely replaced steam engines.
4. In some places super-fast trains have been introduced to make journeys faster.
5. The railway network is well developed over the plains.
6. Advanced technology has enabled railway lines to be laid in difficult mountain terrain, but these are much fewer in number.
7. The Indian railway network is well developed and is the largest in Asia.

C. Waterways
Waterways are the cheapest means of carrying heavy and bulky goods over long distances. They are of two main types: inland waterways and sea routes.
1. Navigable rivers and lakes are used as inland waterways.
2. Important inland waterways include the Ganga-Brahmaputra river system, the Great Lakes of North America and the river Nile in Africa.
3. Sea routes and oceanic routes are mostly used for transporting merchandise and goods between countries.
4. These routes are connected with ports.
5. Some important ports of the world are Singapore and Mumbai in Asia, New York and Los Angeles in North America, Rio de Janeiro in South America, Durban and Cape Town in Africa, Sydney in Australia, and London and Rotterdam in Europe.

D. Airways
1. Airways are the fastest means of transport, developed in the early twentieth century.
2. Air transport is also the most expensive, because of the high cost of fuel.
3. Air traffic is adversely affected by bad weather such as fog and storms.
4. It is the only mode of transport that can reach the most remote areas, especially where there are no roads or railways.
5. Helicopters are very useful in inaccessible areas and in times of calamity for rescuing people and distributing food, water, clothes and medicines.
6. Some important airports are Delhi, Mumbai, New York, London, Paris, Frankfurt and Cairo.

COMMUNICATION

Communication is the process of conveying messages to others. With the development of technology, humans have devised new and fast modes of communication.
1. Advances in communication have brought about an information revolution in the world.
2. Different modes of communication are used to provide information, to educate and to entertain.
3. Newspapers, radio and television can communicate with a large number of people, and are therefore called mass media.
4. Satellites have made communication even faster. Satellites help in oil exploration, survey of forests, underground water and mineral wealth, weather forecasting and disaster warning.
5. Electronic mail, or e-mail, can be sent through the Internet.
6. Wireless telephone communication through cellular phones has become very popular today.
7. The Internet provides worldwide information and interaction, and has made our lives more comfortable.

5. Now we can send electronic mails or e-mails through Internet.

6. Wireless telephonic communications through cellular phones have become very popular today.

7. Internet not only provides us with worldwide information and interaction but has also made our lives more comfortable.