Shanty town Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Shanty towns are units of irregular low-cost and self-constructed housing built on terrain seized and occupied illegally -- usually on lands belonging to third parties, most often located in the urban periphery of the cities. These dwellings are often assembled in a patch-work fashion from pieces of plywood, corrugated metal, sheets of plastic, and any other material that will provide cover.Residences are built without license, with poor or no sanitation. Shanty Towns pose a fire hazard and are remarked by their near total absence of numbered streets, sanitation networks, electricity, telephones, or plumbing. Shanty Towns can be found mostly in third world countries with a disparate distribution of wealth, such as South Africa, Philippines, Argentina and Brazil (where Shanty Towns are known as Favelas). In some extreme cases, shanty towns can have populations approaching that of a city.
The first recorded use of the word shanty, as meaning a crude dwelling, occurred in Ohio in 1820. It may have been derived from the french word chantier, meaning a storage place. Alternatively, it could have been derived from the Irish sean tig, meaning "old house".