Several

units of measurement A unit of measurement is a definite magnitude of a quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same kind of quantity. Any other quantity of that kind can be expressed as a multi ...

s are used in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

. The units of measure in use in Puerto Rico are based on the United States customary units with two major exceptions: roadway distance signs are measured in kilometers and gasoline is sold by the liter.

System before US customary units

Several units were used before the US takeover in 1898. These units were older Spanish units.

Area

Several units were used to measure area. Among them were the ''

cuerda The term "cuerda" (Spanish for ''rope'') refers to a unit of measurement in some Spanish-speaking regions, including Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Cuba, Spain, and Paraguay. In Puerto Rico, the term cuerda (and "Spanish acre"caballería''.

''Cuerda''

, a ''cuerda'' is a traditional unit of land area nearly equivalent to 3,930

square meters The square metre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or square meter (American spelling) is the unit of area in the International System of Units (SI) with symbol m2. It is the area of a square ...

, or 4,700 square yards, 0.971 acre, or 0.393

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

(ha). The precise conversion is 1 cuerda = 3,930.395625 m². The term "Spanish acre" instead has been used sometimes by mainlanders. A cuerda and an acre have often been treated as equal because they are nearly the same size. It continues to be an official unit of land measure in Puerto Rico today (2019). ''Units - Cuerda.''
Sizes.com. Puerto Rico Act 135, section 4 (page 100), 1913–14, as amended by Act No. 3, 1913–14: A cuerda, quote: ''"a unit of land area, approximately 3,930 square meters (approximately 0.971 acres)...In land measurements and records, the measurement by cuerda customarily used in Porto 'sic''Rico...equivalent to 3,930.395625 square meters..."''

''Caballería''

This was a unit of land measurement in the Spanish Viceroyalties in the Americas during the times of the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...

in the 16th through 19th centuries Puerto Rico. Widely use then, it was equivalent to . This unit of measure is now (2019) obsolete.Eli Oquendo Rodriguez. ''Los Barrios de Ponce: Noticias y Microhistorias de Ocho Comunidades Ponceñas en el Tiempo: Siglos XVI al XIX.''. Lajas, Puerto Rico: Editorial Akelarre. 2019. pp. 183-184.

References

# Archived at the WayBack Machine on 16 August 2013, from the original ''Units: C: cuerda.'' Russ Rowlett. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. # ^ Jump up to: ^''a'' ^''b'' ^''c'' ^''d'' ^''e'' ^''f'' ''Units - Cuerda.'' Sizes.com. Puerto Rico Act 135, section 4 (page 100), 1913–14, as amended by Act No. 3, 1913–14: A cuerda, quote: ''"a unit of land area, approximately 3,930 square meters (approximately 0.971 acres)...In land measurements and records, the measurement by cuerda customarily used in Porto 'sic''Rico...equivalent to 3,930.395625 square meters..."'' {{Systems of measurement Puerto Rican culture