Paper 3 · June 2023 · Fluvial Geomorphology
The Masembura extract shows individual homestead symbols scattered singly across Masembura Communal Land and Msana Communal Land, rather than grouped into villages. What is this settlement type called, and what best explains it?
ANucleated settlement, explained by the need for households to cluster tightly around a single defensible water point that can be relied on through the dry season when the surrounding streams have stopped flowing.
BLinear settlement, explained by households strung out along the tarred road to gain access to markets and transport.
CDispersed settlement, explained by a subsistence farming pattern in which each household lives on its own arable holding near its fields and water.
DPlanned settlement, explained by a resettlement scheme that allocated regularly spaced plots of equal size across the area.
Explanation
Scattered individual homesteads are the dispersed pattern, and in communal farming areas it reflects each household living on the land it works, close to its own fields and water source. Nucleation on the extract is limited to Manhenga Township at the road junction, and linear settlement to the strips along the main roads.
Derived from ZIMSEC Advanced Level Geography 6037/3 Paper 3 Practical Test, June 2023 session, Q2