The Laws Of The Settlements' Spatial Distribution Along The Jing-Hang Grand Canal

One of the main purposes of researching"the Morphology and Distribution of Settlements in China"is to search the objective factors and laws restricting the development of settlements, in order to lay the theory foundations of the settlements'history. The author sums up the laws of the settlements'distribution and morphology through the classification and analysis of the historical settlements, which is of guiding significance to the research of"Settlements History". In history, the settlements along Beijing-Hangzhou Great Canal relying on the important national traffic line have advantages in resources, economics and culture. The relationship between the whole traffic system and settlements distribution are extended after researching the formation and distribution of the settlements along the Great Canal, which could be as a supplement to the question of"the objective factors and laws restricting the development of settlements"from the aspect of traffic.The paper analyzes the formation and developing character of some important settlements along the Great Canal according to the developing history of the Great Canal from a historical perspective, using analogical method. The distribution state of these settlements is elaborated to reveal that there are laws for the settlements along the canal developed from granaries, wharfs, slatterns, ship locks and intersections of rivers and the canal with the effect of natural geography and national policy. The author visited and surveyed some superior cities and secondary towns along the Great Canal in Shandong province as samples, making further investigation of the settlements'spatial distribution in order to get the summary of the important effect that the Great Canal brings to the formation and development of the settlements along it.