AP Syllabus focus:
‘Rural survey methods include metes and bounds, township and range, and long-lot systems.’
Rural survey systems shape how land is divided, owned, and managed, influencing settlement patterns, agricultural practices, and regional landscapes across different historical, cultural, and environmental contexts.
Survey Systems in Rural Land Use
Survey systems are frameworks used to divide, describe, and record land for ownership and agricultural activity. In AP Human Geography, understanding these systems is essential because they explain why rural landscapes differ regionally and how historical land-allocation processes continue to influence contemporary land-use patterns.
Metes and Bounds
The metes and bounds system is one of the oldest land-surveying methods and remains foundational in regions settled before modern standardized land division. It relies heavily on natural features as reference points.
Metes and Bounds: A land-surveying system that uses natural landmarks, directions, and distances to define property boundaries.
Characteristics of Metes and Bounds
Uses metes, meaning measured distances and directions.
Uses bounds, referring to large physical features such as rivers, trees, or ridgelines.
Common in the original thirteen U.S. colonies, parts of eastern Canada, and areas with irregular physical geography.
Boundaries often become irregular and unique, producing nonuniform parcel shapes.
A key limitation of metes and bounds is that natural landmarks can shift or disappear over time, which may create boundary disputes. Despite this, the system’s flexibility allowed early settlers to adapt land parcels to the terrain, creating landscapes with varied shapes and sizes.
The metes and bounds system describes land parcels by starting at a known point and then giving a sequence of bearings, distances, and reference landmarks around the property boundary.
Agricultural and Landscape Implications
Metes and bounds areas frequently display:
Irregular field shapes, reflecting early settlement patterns.
Clustered rural settlement forms, where households and farms evolved near reliable water and land features.
Long-standing land parcels that follow family inheritance patterns rather than geometric order.
Township and Range System
In contrast to metes and bounds, the township and range system was developed to impose a standardized, grid-based land division to support westward expansion in the United States after the Land Ordinance of 1785.
Township and Range: A rectangular survey system dividing land into uniform square units, typically 6 miles by 6 miles townships further subdivided into 36 one-square-mile sections.
This definition highlights the mathematical precision of the system. It relies on base lines (east–west) and principal meridians (north–south) to organize the grid.
Key Features
Townships measure 36 square miles.
Sections measure 1 square mile (640 acres).
Parcel lines are straight, consistent, and easily mapped.
Land distribution is more equitable and standardized compared to metes and bounds.
Township and range, also known as the Public Land Survey System (PLSS), divides land into a regular grid of townships that are further subdivided into numbered sections.
This diagram shows a PLSS township divided into 36 sections arranged in the characteristic alternating numbering pattern. Each square represents a one-square-mile section used in the standardized U.S. rectangular survey. The diagram includes additional notation typical of PLSS documentation but aligns well with the system described in the notes. Source.
Agricultural and Settlement Impacts
This survey approach contributed to:
Dispersed settlement patterns, as farmsteads became evenly spaced across the grid.
Large-scale commercial agriculture facilitated by predictable land division.
Efficient mechanization, since rectangular plots align with machinery and maximize usable acreage.
Long-Lot System
The long-lot system, introduced by French colonial settlers, reflects a different logic of land distribution—maximizing access to valuable resources such as rivers or roads.
Long-Lot System: A land-surveying method dividing territory into narrow parcels stretching back from a central feature, typically a river or roadway, ensuring each owner has access to that resource.
Unlike township and range, long lots prioritize frontage rather than uniform area. These elongated properties allowed settlers to farm different soil types across the depth of the parcel.
Distinguishing Features
Parcels are narrow but extend deeply inland.
Access to transportation corridors (e.g., rivers) is shared among all landholders.
Settlement appears linear, with homes built along the transportation feature.
The shape of long-lot divisions results in a distinctly ribbon-like landscape, most famously seen in Quebec along the St. Lawrence River but also in parts of Louisiana and former French territories.
In the long-lot system, land is divided into long, narrow parcels that stretch back from a river, road, or canal so that each farmer gains access to that key feature.
This diagram shows how long, narrow land parcels extend inland from a river to provide equal access to transportation routes. Each ribbon-like plot reflects the defining characteristics of the long-lot system. The image includes additional historical labels from New France not required by the syllabus but still reinforces the spatial logic of long-lot arrangements. Source.
Agricultural and Social Implications
Long-lot landscapes often exhibit:
Linear rural settlements, where homes form a line along the river or road.
Strong community cohesion, as neighbors live close together along the frontage.
Diverse agricultural activity within each plot due to variation in soils and microenvironments across the long parcel.
Comparative Overview of Survey Systems
Although each system serves the same purpose—organizing and distributing rural land—their differences reflect cultural history, environmental priorities, and governance structures.
Key Distinctions
Metes and bounds emphasizes natural features, resulting in irregular parcels.
Township and range prioritizes standardization, producing geometric, grid-like patterns.
Long lots maximize resource access, shaping linear settlements and elongated fields.
Influence on Rural Landscapes
These systems shape the appearance and function of rural areas through:
Parcel geometry
Settlement spacing and orientation
Agricultural organization and land management
Regional cultural landscapes
Together, metes and bounds, township and range, and long-lot systems reveal how historical decisions about land division continue to guide modern agricultural patterns, rural settlement structures, and property relationships.
FAQ
Colonial powers applied land division methods that aligned with their legal traditions, agricultural goals, and relationships with Indigenous populations.
French colonial administrators prioritised equal access to transport routes, creating long-lot arrangements. British settlers preferred metes and bounds because it adapted easily to varied physical landscapes.
In contrast, the United States government later adopted the township and range grid to standardise land allocation for westward expansion and to simplify taxation and sale of land.
Metes and bounds works well in areas with irregular terrain, abundant natural features, or variable land quality.
Township and range is best applied on flat or gently rolling land, where straight lines and geometric grids can be accurately surveyed.
Long-lot systems tend to develop along rivers, coasts, or canals where linear access to water or transport is essential.
Yes. Historical parcel shapes influence present-day environmental planning.
Irregular metes and bounds parcels may complicate the creation of conservation corridors or uniform zoning.
Grid-based township and range parcels allow more consistent application of policies such as buffer zones or land-use regulations.
Long-lot systems encourage riparian management because many parcels share river frontage.
Parcel size and shape affect mechanisation, crop choice, and investment.
Township and range areas typically support large fields suitable for commercial mechanised farming.
Metes and bounds parcels may limit machinery use due to irregular boundaries.
Long-lot systems can support mixed farming across soil gradients within a single strip.
These patterns influence land values, labour demands, and agricultural specialisation.
Yes. Transport networks often adapt to inherited land divisions.
In township and range regions, straight roads commonly follow section lines, creating predictable grid-like road networks.
In metes and bounds areas, roads may curve to follow historic property lines or natural features.
Long-lot regions often have linear roads paralleling rivers or canals, reinforcing the original settlement pattern.
These differences continue to affect travel patterns, accessibility, and rural connectivity.
Practice Questions
(1–3 marks)
Explain one way in which the long-lot survey system influences rural settlement patterns.
Question 1 (1–3 marks)
1 mark for identifying a basic influence of the long-lot system on settlement (e.g., creates linear settlement patterns).
1 additional mark for explaining why this occurs (e.g., long narrow plots ensure each household has access to a river or road).
1 additional mark for adding a further valid detail or consequence (e.g., houses cluster along the frontage, creating a ribbon-like pattern; promotes strong neighbour interaction due to close spacing).
Maximum: 3 marks.
(4–6 marks)
Using examples, compare the metes and bounds system with the township and range system in terms of parcel shape and the organisation of agricultural land. Explain how these differences affect rural landscapes.
Question 2 (4–6 marks)
Award marks for each distinct element:
1–2 marks for describing parcel shapes in each system (e.g., metes and bounds produces irregular shapes; township and range uses uniform rectangular plots).
1–2 marks for comparing the organisation of agricultural land (e.g., metes and bounds shaped by natural features; township and range shaped by a geometric grid and equal subdivision).
1 mark for using an accurate example for either system (e.g., eastern United States for metes and bounds; Midwest/Great Plains for township and range).
1–2 marks for explaining how these differences affect rural landscapes (e.g., dispersed farms under township and range versus more varied layouts under metes and bounds; ease of mechanisation in grid systems; inherited irregularity under metes and bounds).
Maximum: 6 marks.
