Canada S People-Ch 3

Canada’s People-Ch 3 Growth and Decline of Settlements Read Pg 46-49 then, answer the following:

Classifying Communities: Over time, communities often change; they may grow or decline. They may do this quickly or slowly. They can be classified or grouped according to this growth or decline.

One way to classify a community is on the services it provides.  A Village provides limited services such a few variety or general stores with a limited number of products, gasoline stations, and maybe an elementary school.  A Town Provides high school, hospitals, large department stores, museums, colleges, and small shopping centers.  A City Provides universities, specialist hospital services such as a children’s hospital, the head or regional offices of financial institutions, key government offices and speciality stores. Cities need a large population base to support them. The higher the level of service and the more specialized the service, the larger the population base needed to support it.  A Corridor an area of urban development leading out of a city, often on a major highway. A corridor can include a variety of services, shopping centres, warehousing, and housing developments.

Growth: At the time of Confederation (1867), Canada’s economy was based on agriculture.

By the mid 1800’s, because of the fertile soil and favourable climate, the area around the St. Lawrence Lowlands became Canada’s largest agricultural area.

However, in the Atlantic region, fishing, lumbering, and the shipbuilding industries developed. This promoted the growth of port cities, such as St. John’s, Halifax, and Saint John as well as many smaller coastal settlements.

The west coast followed a similar pattern of settlement. The rugged coast and mountains promoted fishing and lumbering as major industries.

Farming was confined to pockets of fertile land in valleys and river deltas.

Vancouver, situated on a large delta, became the major port on the west coast and eventually grew into Canada’s third largest city.

Most of Canada’s large cities, such as Montreal, Toronto, and Hamilton, developed in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands because of site and situations factors.  Early settlements began to provide services to the farmers in the area such as markets where farmers could sell their products.  Situation factors such as efficient transportation systems (canals, roads, and railways) encouraged greater agriculture growth.  As farmers became more prosperous, towns grew into cities

Decline: In the 1881 census, approximately three out of four Canadians lived in rural settlements.

Rural areas are those areas that are located outside towns and cities. At this time, most Canadians made their living from primary resources such as farming, forestry, fishing, or mining.

An industrial revolution where by the economy based on agriculture changed to one based on manufacturing occurred in Canada over the next several decades.

Market towns and cities, especially in southern Ontario and southern Quebec, became industrial as well as service centres.

The development of railways, coal, and steel assisted this change. As a result of the changing economy, more and more people moved from rural areas into city or urban areas. Urban areas describe towns or cities with a population of 1000 or more, or areas with a population density of at least 400 people per square kilometre.

The movement of people from rural settings to urban setting is known as rural to urban drift. Rural to urban drift can occur within provinces and from region to region.

By the outbreak of WWII, more than half of Canadians lived in urban areas. Since then the rate of urbanization has continued to increase causing farms to be abandoned.

As well, fishing and mining communities have disappeared as the resources have been depleted.

Other communities across Canada have lost population when railways and highways have relocated.

Rural communities often lose services as it citizens leave for urban areas and they no longer have the population needed to support the services.

Megacities: See textbox pg 49