Economic factors
The economy of a society refers to the ways in which the people of that society use their environment to meet their material needs.Many of the early settlements had agriculturally-based economies.This means that they depended on farming for a living.As agricultural methods improved,the settlements were able to grow surplus or extra food.With extra food produced,fewer people in the settlement needed to farm,and more were able to earn their living in other ways.This enabled the economies of the settlements to diversify.