Geography · Ch 10 — Human Settlements
Industrial Towns
Industrial Towns
Industrial towns are settlements where the economy, growth, and character are driven primarily by manufacturing and industry. Unlike market towns or port cities, these places exist because of factories, mills, and plants — the industry is the reason the town was built or expanded.
The textbook identifies industrial towns as those where industries constitute the prime motive force of the city. This means that the entire urban fabric — jobs, population, infrastructure, and daily life — revolves around industrial activity.
Key examples given in the NCERT text include:
- Mumbai
- Salem
- Coimbatore
- Modinagar
- Jamshedpur
- Hugli
- Bhilai
These examples span different types of industry. Jamshedpur and Bhilai are classic steel towns, built around large-scale iron and steel plants. Coimbatore and Salem are known for textiles and engineering. Modinagar (in Uttar Pradesh) grew around sugar and other processing industries. Hugli (in West Bengal) is part of the industrial belt along the Hooghly River, with jute mills and other factories. Mumbai, while a port and commercial hub, also has a massive industrial base in textiles, chemicals, and manufacturing.
The textbook does not classify these towns further into sub-types (e.g., steel towns, textile towns, chemical towns), but the examples themselves show that industrial towns can be specialised or diversified. The defining feature is that industry is the primary economic base, not trade, administration, or tourism. …