Puerto Rican units of measurement
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Several units of measurements are used in Puerto Rico. The units of measurements officially in use in Puerto Rico are the SI units (metric system) and the United States customary units, with the metric system officially adopted earlier during Spanish rule in 1860. The only Spanish unit of measurement still in official use, is the unit of area measurement cuerda.[1][2]
For this reason, the use of different units, either separately or in the same context with supplements, is the norm in Puerto Rico.
Examples
- Weather reports are generally given in Fahrenheit, inches, feet, miles per hour and knots, because Puerto Rico uses weather forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States, with metric supplements generally restricted to websites which use them.
- Altitudes and depths for geographical features are given in both meters and feet as well as kilometers and miles.
- Roadway distance signs are measured in kilometers and since 1980, gasoline is sold by the liter, however speed limits are measured in miles per hour.
- House and retail sizes are generally given in square feet, but rarely in square meters.
- Land sizes are generally given in cuerdas and acres, but rarely in hectares.
- Height and weight are given inches, feet and pounds (and for babies, additionally in ounces), but also in centimeters, meters and kilograms (and for babies, additionally in grams).
- Fruits and vegetables are generally measured and sold in pounds and ounces.
- Packaged products always include both metric units and U.S. customary units.
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 and the caballería.
Cuerda
In Puerto Rico, a cuerda is a traditional unit of land area nearly equivalent to 3,930 square meters, or 4,700 square yards, 0.971 acres, or 0.393 hectares (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. As of 2019 it continues to be an official unit of land measure in Puerto Rico.[3]
Caballería
Caballería was a unit of land measurement in the Spanish viceroyalties in the Americas during the times of the Spanish Empire in 16th through 19th century Puerto Rico. Widely used then,[4] it was equivalent to 78.58 hectares (194.2 acres).[5] This unit of measure is obsolete.[6]
References
- ↑ "2024 Laws of Puerto Rico TITLE TWENTY-THREE - Public Planning and Development (§§ 1 — 11273) PART III - Economic Stabilization (§§ 701 — 1155) Chapter 57 - Weights and Measures Law (§§ 901 — 928) § 903 - Weights and measures system". Law.justia.com. 1968.
- ↑ Washburn, E.W. (1926). International Critical Tables of Numerical Data, Physics, Chemistry and Technology. Vol. 1. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. p. 10. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
- ↑ 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..."
- ↑ 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. 183-185.
- ↑ Caballería (Spanish). Sizes.com Accessed 22 October 2019.
- ↑ 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.