Human Activities

Meaning of Human Activities

Give the meaning of human activities

Human activity is any task performed by man for the purpose of earning his or her livelihood. The term human activities can be defined as functions, tasks or works done by human being overtime for achieving certain purposes or goals. Also human activities can be defined as acts or processes of production as intended by people in a certain place, which can be a country, region, district or a village.

In Geography, human activities refer to tasks human beings do modify the environment as well as extract the resources from the environment which are needed for survival, that is, satisfying human needs and wants. To fulfil this goal, man has been modifying the tools needed for obtaining resources from the environment from basic to more advanced and efficient technology.

Therefore human activities are carried out with certain goals or purposes; these purposes can either be:

• production of food crops and cash crops;
• livestock husbandry; or
• construction of infrastructure that facilitate movement of goods, services and people; and cleaning up the environment to avoid pollution or outbreak of diseases like cholera, amoebic dysentery, etc.

Major Types of Human Activities

Identify major types of human activities

The following are five types of human activities:

• Primary activities
• Secondary activities
• Tertiary activities
• Quaternary activities
• Quinary activities

Primary activities

Primary activities involve exploitation of nature in the production of materials. Production in this kind of activities largely depends on the earth’s natural resources. Examples of primary activities include farming (agriculture), mining and quarrying, fishing, lumbering, hunting, gathering, and livestock keeping.

Most products from primary activities produce raw materials for industries. For example, cotton from agriculture is used in textile industries, timber for paper industries and leather for shoe-making industries.

Agricultural activities involve growing and harvesting of crops from farms and rearing of animals. This is one of the commonly practised human activities since it contributes to the provision of food and other raw materials. Some of the crops are used as sources of food, for example, maize, millet, sorghum, soy,-beans and peas.

Livestock keeping is the rearing of animals for food and for other human uses. The word 'livestock' applies primarily to cattle or dairy cows, chickens, goats, pigs, horses and sheep. Today, even animals like donkeys, domesticated wild animals, mules, rabbits and insects such as bees are being raised as part of livestock farming.

Mining is the extraction of minerals like gold, copper, diamond, platinum and uranium. These materials are used as raw materials for processing industries. Some minerals such as coal and uranium are the sources of power, for example, uranium is used for production of nuclear energy that is highly demanded all over the world due to its importance.

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping. Fishing may include catching aquatic animals other than fish, such as molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. The term is not normally applied to catching farmed fish, or to aquatic mammals, such as whales where the term whaling is more appropriate.

Lumbering refers to an activity which involves cutting timber and preparing it for market. It includes cutting down trees, sawing, splitting, and even smoothing timber ready for making furniture or use for other purposes.

Secondary activities

These are human activities that involve a process of manufacturing raw materials into useful products such as ginning cotton from raw cotton and heating crude rocks to get precious stones. Other secondary activities include cloth-making, construction of houses, car assembling, making dyes and making glue.

Secondary activities are of great importance as they lead to fast economic development since they produce products that have immediate demands in the society. They also accelerate development of primary activities by providing a market for raw materials produced through lumbering, agriculture and mining, etc.

Tertiary activities

These are the activities that involve the provision of services that are needed in the society. Examples of tertiary activities include trade (restaurants, hotels, lodges, supermarkets, etc), transport and communication, teaching, and provision of social services such healthcare, water supply, waste management and security. Others include plumbing, mechanics, entertainment, advertising, legal services, and clerical services or religious services.

Quaternary activities

These are activities that involve provision of intellectual services and information. These activities were formally included in the tertiary activities. Quaternary activities include high-tech, information technology, scientific research, consultancy, and library services. Computer-based activities like making software are part and parcel of quaternary activities. In general, quaternary activities are considered to be new and started in the last decade.

Quinary activities

These are activities that are done by top executives or officials in fields such as governments. They involve the highest level of planning and decision making in the society or economy. Quaternary and quinary activities e.g. research and information are important in the development of farming, mining, tourism and trade.