Question

how do relief and topography influence the distribution of population?

Answer 1

RELIEF FEATURES : Physical factors that affect population distribution include altitude and latitude, relief, climate, soils, vegetation, water and location of mineral and energy resources. It is important to note that most of the physical factors influence population distribution only indirectly through climatic conditions.

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The influences of latitude and altitude on population distri­bution cannot be separated from one another. High altitude in general imposes an ultimate physiological limit upon human existence due to reduced atmospheric pressure and low oxygen content. Therefore, very few permanent settlements can be seen in the lofty mountains of the world at a height above 5,000 metres. Staszewski, in his exhaustive analysis of the vertical distribution of population, has shown that both numbers and densities in different parts of the world decline with increasing altitude.

According to him, a little more than 56 per cent of the world’s population lives within 200 metres from the sea level, and over 80 per cent within 500 metres. However, in low latitude areas, which are otherwise hot and less favourable, high altitude provides suitable conditions for human habitation. Mountains in Africa and Latin America are much healthier than plains, and large cities have sprung up at high altitude. La Paz, the highest city in the world (3,640 m) and the capital of Bolivia, owes its existence to this factor. As against this, in the high latitude areas, it becomes extremely difficult to live beyond a few hundred metres from sea level. It is in this context that a famous population geographer has referred to “mountains that attract and mountains that repel”.

Relief features also play an important role in influencing population distribution. The influence of altitude has already been noted. Among the other aspects of relief features which affect human habitation are general topography, slope and aspect. The main concentrations of human population are confined to the areas marked with flat topography. Rugged and undulating topog­raphy restricts the condensation of human population in any area.

Abrupt changes in the density of population can be seen on the world map of population distribution where plains meet mountain ranges. Rising Himalayas, thus, mark the northern limit of dense population in the Ganga plain. Similarly, the Deccan plateaus with rugged and undulating topography appear distinct from the plains in respect of population concentration. In the mountainous areas valleys provide suitable locations for human settlements. Likewise, sun-facing slopes provide favourable locations for the emergence and growth of settlements.

TOPOGRAPHY : Relationships between environmental and social factors have long been studied by geographers. Nowadays, GIS-aided statistical analysis provides new tools to explore these relationships. In order to detect the impact of topography on social factors, we selected the country of Montenegro as a case example due to its high topographic variability. We compared the spatial pattern of population, settlements and ethnic minorities to physical geographic factors, especially to topography, but lithology and land cover data were also taken into consideration. We found that certain factors are closely correlated, e.g. the settlement density linearly decreases with elevation, while the characteristic settlement area shows an exponential increase upwards. The population density is not related to absolute elevation, but it is in close correlation with height (i.e. elevation relative to the local minimum). Population change and illiteracy are also topography-related social factors. On the contrary, the variable ethnic pattern of Montenegro is influenced by historical, political and economic effects rather than by environmental factors or topographic features. As a conclusion we state that in the scale of a country or a region, the environment can strongly impact some social factors.

Answer 2

Topography refers to how physical features of a places such as mountains, hills,valleys and plains are distributed in a certain place. These affects how population of a place will be distributed. For example many people don't like settling in mountains place since there difficulties go up there and usually no roads. Most of the people settle in plain areas where by accessing their places will not a issue. Relief affects a topography of place this will lead to poor distribution of population in some areas.