Vitalii Bratkov

The article analyzes the trend of change of residential loading on mountainous and plain landscapes of the Dagestan on the base of comparison of the human settlements area of different categories in maps of scale1:200 000 of the latest editions (mid-1980s – early 2000s). The tendencies of change in the area of settlements as within the whole territory of Dagestan, in mountainous and plain landscapes so within separate outlines of the landscapes were identified. it is revealed that for the reviewed time intervals the residential loading within the plain landscapes has increased everywhere, but to the greatest extent – within the semi-desert and desert landscapes. In the mountainous part the opposite trends are marked: in the adjacent with plain and low-mountainous-forest landscapes, as well as in the most long developed of the mountainous-hollow steppe, a significant increase in the area of settlements are observed, whereas within the rest of the landscapes it can mostly be observed the decrease in the area.