INTERACTIONS WITH THE
PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
Canada’s Population Patterns
Mind’s On
• What is a CMA?
• Where are the majority of Canada’s CMAs? Why?
• Relatively speaking, between which latitude lines do the
majority of Canadians live?
• Do you think Canada’s population is increasing or
decreasing? How do you figure that out?
People Patterns in Canada
• Big country, small population
• We live in a few very large cities and a few kind of big
cities
• Most of Canada is uninhabited or “sparsely inhabited”
• Canadians live very close to the Canada- USA Border
People Patterns and Terminology
• Continuous Ecumene- the part of the country where
there is continuous, permanent settlement
• Discontinuous Ecumene- the part of the country where
there are significant patches of settlement
Textbook work
• Go to page 24- 25
Does it matter is areas far from large cities
lose population?
Rural Settlement Patterns
• The majority of settlement in Canada occurs in CMA’s-
areas of 100,000 in habitants that covers (sometimes)
large cities and their smaller outlying towns/villages
• Rural settlement patterns have been affected by a few
factors:
Rural Settlement Factors- Resources
• Resources- people were attracted by resources to
particular areas- Agricultural- how do farms affect settlement patterns?
- Commercial fishing- how would fishing affect the
settlement patterns?
- Mining- how might mining affect settlement patterns?
Rural Settlement Factors- Transportation
• Methods of early travel change the settlement patterns
• If water is used for travel it will affect how people settled
an area
• Modern transportation methods have changed where and
why people live where they do….examples?
A. Dispersed population
B. Concentrated
C. Linear Pattern
Rural Settlement Factors- Government
• In some areas the government of Canada influenced
where people lived
• Southern Ontario (here) for example was settled when the
government created a survey system- a pattern of roads
and lots
• Best way to look at settlement patterns is on maps- best
maps for rural and urban areas- TOPOGRAHIC MAPS
• This is called a large scale map- shows a large amount of
detail in a small area
Topographic Maps
• Military Grid system- light blue lines- light blue numbers
on the sides of the border
• READ RIGHT FIRST
• Try this: what is found at
832348
Topographic Maps
• Title
• What settlement type is indicated by this map? Why?
• What are some obvious factors that have led to the
settlement of this area?
• Try this: what is found at
832348