Which term describes a spread out pattern of settlement typical in rural areas such as the Midwest?

• A. Concentration
• B. Dispersal
• C. Linear
• D. Nucleation

Answer: (B)

Settlement patterns describe how people are distributed across the landscape. In rural Midwest areas, homes and farms tend to be laid out far apart with open farmland between them, creating a dispersed pattern. This contrasts with a nucleated pattern, where houses cluster around a village; a linear pattern, where settlements follow a line along a road or river; or a concentrated pattern, where people are tightly packed together. The dispersed arrangement reflects agricultural practices and land division that place individual farmsteads at some distance from neighbors, making this spread-out layout typical of the region. So the spread-out pattern is described as dispersal.