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From: "Jeremy Howat" <>
Subject: [SOUTH-AM-EMI-L] Re: Old Spanish measurements
Date: Tue, 1 May 2001 11:05:32 +0100

I have come across the information below in Mulhall M. G. and E. T,
'Handbook of the River Plate Republics', 1869. It gives useful information
for would-be settlers in the River Plate republics in the 1870s, and for
today's historians.

Argentine weights and measurements of distance and ground area:

1 arroba is equivalent to 25 lbs
4 arrobas equals 1 quintal
20 quintales equals 1 ton
80 arrobas equals 1 ton
2000 lbs is equivalent to 1 ton (therefore a Spanish ton is 240 lbs less
than an English ton)

1 vara is equivalent to 34 inches
1 cuadra equals 150 varas
40 cuadras equals 1 league
6000 varas equals 1 league
12 cuadras is equivalent to 1 mile
1 Spanish league is equivalent approximately to 3 ¼ miles

1 square cuadra equals a manzana
1 square cuadra is equivalent to approximately 4 acres
1 square league is equivalent to 650 acres
1 square league equals 1600 manzanas

una suerte of estancia usually measures 1 ½ leagues long by ½ league wide,
comprising 27,000,000 square varas
a square league of land contains 36,000,000 varas

Jeremy Howat

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• [SOUTH-AM-EMI-L] Re: Old Spanish measurements by "Jeremy Howat" <>