A village is a small settlement usually found in a rural setting. In most parts of the world, villages are settlements of village soup clustered around a central point. They are not clustered around a central public space, but around a line.

Fishing villages are often linear settlements. Planned villages are communities that do not develop around a central point. Planned villages are sometimes called “new towns. In China and Japan, a village is an official administrative unit. In many underdeveloped nations, these primary activities are still the focus of rural village life. Primary activities provide basic goods and services for inhabitants and for people in surrounding areas. Villages surrounding the city of Damascus, Syria, for example, have been trading hubs for thousands of years.

Many villages were surrounded by thick walls or gates. A tulou, for example, is a traditional building among the Hakka people of Southern China. These walled, circular buildings are constructed around a large, open, central courtyard. The tulou itself houses most villagers—up to 800. 18th and early 19th centuries forever changed village life. As this happened, countless small villages grew into cities and towns. This trend began on the island of Great Britain and eventually spread around the world.

Hampstead was a English village that expanded rapidly after rail lines opened in the 1860s, for example. Most villages in developed countries are no longer oriented toward primary activities. In the 1920s, Russia was an agricultural nation, with more than 75 million people living in villages. By the end of the Soviet Union in 1989, fewer than 40 million Russians lived in villages. Villages or suburbs not only grow larger, but gain political power. Delhi, India, or Mexico City, Mexico. Greenwich Village in New York City, United States, for instance, has enjoyed a reputation as an artistic enclave for more than a century.

Today, “the Village” is an upper middle-class residential area. The “global village” is shorthand for the world connected by electronic devices, such as smart phones or the Internet. In the Philippines, “village” usually refers to a gated community in an urban area. The Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi declared that the soul of India lives in its villages.