What is Hamlet (place)?
[[Image:Waldkirch Oberwil.jpg|thumb|300px|Oberwil in Waldkirch (Switzerland). About 3.100 people live in Waldkirch, which is near [[St. Gallen]]]] A '''hamlet''' is a small [[Human settlement|settlement]], smaller than a [[village]]. Usually, all settlers in a hamlet are centered around a single economic activity. A hamlet may consist of a [[farm]], a [[mill (grinding)|mill]], a [[Mining|mine]] or a [[harbor]]. All the people living there would be workers on that farm, mill, mine or harbour. Hamlets, especially those with a [[middle ages|medieval]] [[church]] may have resulted from a medieval village, that was abandoned for some reason. Because of the small size of the settlement, there are usually no buildings which have a central or admninistratrive function. There usually is no church, town hall or [[public house|pub]]. Roads and streets in the hamlet do not have names, most of the time. 5-6 families may live there usually within a 2km radius area. In [[Germany]], [[Austria]], [[Switzerland]] and the [[Alsace]] region of France, such hamlets often have names that end in ''-wil'', ''-wil(l)er'', ''-wyhl'' or ''-viller''. {{geo-stub}} [[Category:Hamlets| ]] [[Category:Types of settlements]]