Physical Geography and Settlements

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Abstract
Physical conditions have an important and many-faceted influence upon the human occupation and use of an area. Their influence is not always direct, but depends upon the perception of the physical environment by a resident or immigrant group. Only a part of the perceived environment affects decisionmaking and influences behavioural patterns as expressed, for example, in the siting of settlements and the use of land for subsistence. Behaviour, in turn, not only affects the physical environment – by the clearance of forest, for example – but also influences the way in which the physical environment is perceived. Continuous reappraisal is thus integral to successful human occupation and use of an area. Accordingly, established patterns may change, perhaps almost imperceptibly but sometimes radically. The mere existence of an established pattern, however, shapes subsequent reappraisals and, to some extent, controls necessary modifications and changes. A model of geographical change through time is thus more spiral than linear.

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