Chapter 4: A Place to Live

Imagine you are soaring high above the earth on a clear night. What do you see below you?

This map shows you the human-made lights which are highlighted by developed or populated areas of the Earths surface.

What patterns do you see?

Can you identify the parts of the world that are the most populated?

Take a closer look at Canada and the United States. What factors have influenced people, especially people here in Atlantic Canada, to settle where they have?

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Population Patterns

The population of Atlantic Canada is unevenly distributed.

• Population Density – how many people living on a given area of land. (found by dividing the population by the area of a region)

Just because a region has a large population, it does not mean it has a high population density.

• Population Distribution – where the population is located.

When describing the population of an area, both density and distribution must be considered.

The Rural-Urban Mix

The Rural-Urban Mix

Compact

Clustered Loose knit

Linear

Urban Centers – concentrations of people living in one area. Must have at least 1000 people and a population density of 400 or more persons/km2. Also known as cities.

Rural Area – countryside

Is Sussex an urban center or a rural area?

Rural Push – conditions such as unemployment which force people to leave the countryside.

• Urban Pull – conditions that attract people to cities.

Outmigration – movement away from an area. Much of the outmigration from the Atlantic Provinces is to other parts of Canada, but some is to other countries.

The Newfie Bullet

The “Newfie Bullet,” which actually moved quite slowly, was a passenger train that operated in the 1890s until the late 1960s.

The train was very important because it helped open up the interior of the island of Newfoundland and improved the economic conditions of those who lived there.

It was also important because it allowed people to move more readily from rural areas to cities and towns and even off the island.

The Outmigration Blues

Questions