There are a number of Spanish units of measurement of length or area that are virtually obsolete due to metrication. They include the vara, the cordel, the league and the labor. The units of area used to express the area of land are still encountered in some transactions in land today.

(unit of length)

A (meaning "rod" or "pole", abbreviation: var) is an old Spanish unit of

length Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Inte ...

. Varas are a

surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ...

unit that appear in many deeds in the southern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, and varas were also used in many parts of

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

. It varied in size at various times and places; the Spanish unit was set at about in 1801. In Argentina, the vara measured about , and typical urban lots are wide (10 Argentine varas). At some time a value of was adopted in California. In

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, a was defined as , or 1 yard = 1.08 . The and the corresponding unit of

area Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an op ...

, the square , were introduced in the 19th century to measure Spanish land grants. Stephen F. Austin's early surveying contracts required that he use the as a standard unit. The can be seen in many deeds as late as the mid to late 1900s. is equivalent to 5,645.376 Texan square . A league is equivalent to 5,000 squared or . Standardisation of measurement in

came with the introduction of , cordeles, and leagues. A measure of 100 by 100 (Spanish) is almost 7000 square meters, and is known traditionally throughout Spain and Latin America as a (i.e., a "city block"). As well, lumber is still measured in Costa Rica using a system based on 4 , or 11 feet, for both round and square wood. With square wood, using inches, the width is multiplied by the depth to get a measurement called , or inches. The lumber is charged 'per inch', which is a measurement of .

(unit of area)

The ( in West

) is a unit of

, used to express an area of land, that is equal to 1 million square . A is equivalent to about . It was used in the archaic system of old Spanish land grants affecting Texas and parts of adjoining states. The is often used as an approximate equivalent to a ''quarter-section'' (that is, one quarter of a

square mile The square mile (abbreviated as sq mi and sometimes as mi2)Rowlett, Russ (September 1, 2004) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved February 22, 2012. is an imperial and US unit of measure for area. One square mile is an ar ...

of land). It is still encountered in modern real estate transactions.

League (unit of area)

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

can also be a unit of

, used to express the area of land, that is equal to 25 million square . A (square) league is equivalent to about . It was used in the archaic system of old Spanish land grants affecting

and parts of adjoining states and this use of league is used throughout the Texas Constitution. A common Texas land grant size, discussed in

James A. Michener James Albert Michener ( or ; February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and ...

's ''

'', was a " and a league": a of good riparian land and a (square) league of land away from the river. The (square) league is still encountered in modern real estate transactions.

Palmo and coto (unit of length)

The ''

palmo Palmo may refer to: * Tenzin Palmo, Tibetan Buddhist nun * Sister Palmo, Tibetan Buddhist nun * Rocco Palmo, Catholic writer, columnist, and commentator * Palmo (unit of measurement) The palm is an obsolete anthropic unit of length, origin ...

'' ("palm") measured the distance between the tip of the thumb and the tip of the little finger with all fingers splayed. Its standardized value is (9 ''pulgadas''). Half of a palmo in Castile was called the ''coto'', described as six fingers and defined as . The

ancient Romans In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–50 ...

had a similar, smaller unit called the ''palmus'', which was .

Local units

Although some standardisation was achieved with the law of 1801, particularly in defining the league as long, varying measures continued to be used in various cities and regions.

Other units

* , a unit of volume * , the fourth part of a * , a unit of land measure in Cuba. * , a unit of volume equivalent to approximately 4.625 L. * , a unit of length used for measuring depths (similar to the

fathom A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to , used especially for measuring the depth of water. The fathom is neither an International Standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally-accepted non-SI unit. ...

); 7 * , measure of grain by volume * (of which there are 12 ) used in Galicia in northwestern peninsular Spain. * (league), a unit of length * (ounce), a unit of weight (28 grammes) used for chocolate. * (inch: 24.5 mm) used in Spain. * , a unit of weight * , a unit of land measure in the Philippines. * , a unit of land measure in Valencia. * and , units of weight * , unit of length equal to

References

External links

*
www.sizes.com, "Vara Conversions in 19th Century Spain"
* Rowlett'

* Reasonover's Land Measure

* http://www.sizes.com/units/ {{systems of measurement Systems of units Obsolete units of measurement Customary units of measurement Units of measurement by country