Urbanisation

Syllabus tag: KCSE | History and Government | Form 2 | Topic 13 Urbanisation

Lesson objectives

By the end of this topic, you should be able to:

• Explain the factors that led to the growth of early urban centres.
• Describe the growth of Cairo, Meroe, Kilwa, Athens and London.
• Describe the growth of Nairobi and Johannesburg.
• Explain the results of urbanisation, both positive and negative.

Summary

Urbanisation is the growth of towns and of the proportion of people living in them. Early towns grew where there was surplus food, trade, water, security or administration. Cairo and Meroe grew on the Nile, Kilwa on Indian Ocean trade, Athens as a city-state, London on trade and industry, Nairobi on the railway, and Johannesburg on gold.