Patterns of Subsistence - Essay Example

The area is an arid desert with scattered vegetation in certain zones and large sands that favor the practice of the strategy. The region experiences scarce water with only five permanent springs and an annual rainfall average of 10 inches with enhanced rate of evaporation. The pastoralists stay approximately 60 days or two months then move seasonally to other favorable areas. They move in search of water and food for their livestock. The kind of settlement in the region is dispersed settlement as people live far from each other.

The type of food taken in the region is rabbits, small lizards, fruits and vegetables. Population /area of the territory = 200000/750. The population density is 267 persons per unit square mile. The population density has significance in that it is used in calculation of the maximum amount of people an area can carry. The major strategy optimal for the region is intensive agriculture. Intensive agriculture is the most common strategy of subsistence patterns used in many large scale societies.

Intensive agriculture includes large areas of lands for farmers who produce large amounts of food; more than any other type of subsistence patterns. It began more than 5,000 years ago and has developed its form over the years. As the human societies grew larger and highly dense, the farming methods improved and land capacity also increased. It is a low follow ratio and a high use of inputs such as labor and capital. Due to high density population, the area left for cultivation is too small that it only favors intensive agriculture to sustain the population and income generation.

People stay permanently in their homesteads as the land size does not permit migration at all. There is a nucleated settlement as many people settle together. The food that exist there is edible nuts, vegetables, fruits, wild animals and