Obsolete Spanish and Portuguese units of measurement

There are a number of Spanish and Portuguese units of measurement of length or area that are now obsolete. 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.

Vara

A vara (abbreviation: var) is an old Spanish and Portuguese unit of length. Varas are a surveying unit that appears in many deeds in the southern United States, and varas were also used in many parts of Latin America. It varied in size at various times and places; the Spanish unit was set at about 835.9 mm in 1801. At some time a value of 33 in (838.2 mm) was adopted in California.

In Texas, a vara was defined as 33 1/3 inches. The vara and the corresponding unit of area, the square vara, was introduced in the 19th century to measure Spanish land grants. In Texas, Austin's early surveying contracts required that they use the vara as a standard unit. An acre is equivalent to 5,645.376 Texan square varas.

Standardization of measurement in Texas came with the introduction of varas, cordels, and leagues.

Cordel

A cordel is an old measure of length in Portugal and its colonies. So named because a string of standard length was used to measure.

Labor

A labor (pron-en|ləˈbɔr in West Texas) is a unit of area, used to express the area of land, that is equal to 1 million square varas. A labor is equivalent to about 177.1 acres or 71.68 ha. It was used in the archaic system of old Spanish land grants affecting Texas and parts of adjoining states. The labor is often used as an approximate equivalent to a "quarter-section" (that is, one quarter of a square mile of land). It is still encountered in modern real estate transactions.

panish League (unit of length)

A Spanish league (Spanish: "Legua") is a unit of length, used to express distances, that is equal to 5,000 varas. It is equivalent to about 4.2 kilometres or about 2.6 miles. Officially the league was abolished by Philip II of Spain in 1568, but it is still in use unofficially in parts of Latin America, with exact meaning varying in different countries. It was also used in the treaty language defining the Pacific Ocean end of the US-Mexico border after the war of 1846-8.

In Argentina a league is a distance of 5 km.

In Brazil the league has fallen into disuse, but it used to be described as equivalent to 6 km.

In Yucatán and other parts of rural Mexico the league is still commonly used in the original sense of the distance that can be covered on foot in an hour, so that a league along a good road on level ground is a greater distance than a league on a difficult path over rough terrain.

League (unit of area)

A league can also be a unit of area, used to express the area of land, that is equal to 25 million square varas. A (square) league is equivalent to about 4,428.4 acres (1792.15 ha). It was used in the archaic system of old Spanish land grants affecting Texas 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 Michener's "Texas", was a "labor and a league": one labor 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

The "palmo" ("palm") measured the distance between the tip of the thumb and the tip of the pinky finger with all fingers splayed. Its standardized value is 20.873 centimeters. Half of a palmo in Castille was called the "coto", described as six fingers and defined as 10.4365 cm. The ancient Romans had a similar, smaller unit called the "palmus", which was 7.3925 cm.

ee also

* Weights and measures
* Historical weights and measures
* International System of Units

External links

*
* [http://www.sizes.com/units/vara_Spain.htm www.sizes.com, "Vara Conversions in 19th Century Spain"]
* Rowlett's [http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/index.html A Dictionary of Units of Measurement]
* Reasonover's Land Measures [http://www.booksontexas.com/Reasonover_s_Land_Measures_p/reas05.htm A Reference to Spanish and French land measures(and their English equivalents with conversion tables) used in North America]
* http://www.sizes.com/units/