Johann Henrick von thunen, a prominent 19^th century German economist. E became interested on how and why agriculture land was varied with distance from a market (urban centres). He published a book entitled “The isolate state” in 1826.

Assumptions

1. The city is located centrally within an isolated state
2. In this state one large market was dorminant
3. The state occupied a broad flat plain with uniform fertility
4. There was only one transport system available, horse and cart
5. Cost of transport was directly proportional to distance
6. The farmers behave rationally to maximize profit

He suggested 6 types of land uses which were located by concentric circles from the city centre.

1. Market, gardening and dairy farming were close to city centre because of the perish ability of the goods
2. Goods were bulky and this was occupying the second circle
3. The 3^rd zone is occupied with 8^th crops rotation
4. The 4^th zone consists of less intensive proposition because of pasture-rye pasture-barley
5. The 5^th stage is based on extensive agriculture based on the 5^th rate of crop rotation because the output is less bulky and support the high cost of transport
6. The last circle deals with ranching because the animals are self transporting

Beyond the 6^th zone was considered a wilderness and too far from the city centre for any form of agriculture

Criticisms

• Changes in demand or price of commodity
• Soil fertility
• Variation on topography
• Different transportation methods e.g. boats are the cheapest mode of transport