Settlement

A settlement is an event in which a person, or a community, establishes itself in a certain place.

Settlement is a type of event that is widely practiced in the culture of nomadic peoples. The Tuaregs of the Sahara desert, since they are a people of nomadic tradition, do not settle in a fixed place. Rather, they are creating settlements in alternative places, strategic for them, where they coexist and establish their lives, both personal and social.

Settlement is a rare event in developed economies. Although it does occur with people who are in these, but in a situation of social exclusion.

In ancient times, all the great empires, starting with the hydraulic societies, were born from a group that one day settled in that territory. This is the case of Egypt or Mesopotamia.

Types of settlements

Among the types of settlements, we can highlight two main types:

• Formal or regular settlement: That is, it is part of the urban planning of a State or Region.
• Informal or irregular settlement: It occurs in those cases in which the population in a situation of social exclusion is established in irregular areas to live, due to the lack of resources to acquire a home.

On the sidelines, we cannot say that the settlements of the nomadic peoples are formal, but neither are they informal. This is because, in these cases, and given that it is due to a cultural tradition, said settlements are respected, knowing, in addition, that they are temporary.

Settlements in history

The settlements are a very prominent aspect in the history of our civilization, as well as of past civilizations.

The great empires, as well as the first societies, arose from settlements that, being irregular, ended up generating large urban centers. As we said, this is the case of Egypt or Mesopotamia. Given the need to settle in places near the sea, the ancient nomads came to the bank of the Nile, in order to establish their residence there. This gave rise to the appearance of the first societies, as their name emphasizes, hydraulic.

Cities that not only marked the lifestyle, but also generated what would be known as the beginning of a State. Generating large populations that ended up having to organize.

Another moment in history in which settlements occurred very frequently was the time of colonization. With the arrival of Westerners in America, they had to settle in alternative places, in order to, in these settlements, build the cities and territories of each of the conquering countries.