ABSTRACT
Traditional rural structures refer to elements in the rural production system which existed prior to the recent period of modernization and development. Being traditional, however, does not mean being static and, apart from various changes during pre-colonial times, we must add the massive adjustments which the structures have had to make to the various distortions of colonialism. In most underdeveloped countries, the traditional rural structures embrace the spatial production system together with the technology, institutions, organizations and value systems that have developed around it. The social relation of land is central to this production system and is reflected not only in the land-holding and rural settlement pattern but also in the relation of the latter to the urban centres within the countries concerned.
