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Toise
A toise (; symbol: T) is a unit of measure for length, area and volume originating in pre-revolutionary France. In North America, it was used in colonial French establishments in early New France, French Louisiana (''Louisiane''), Acadia (''Acadie'') and Quebec. The related () was used in Portugal, Brazil, and other parts of the Portuguese Empire until the adoption of the metric system. The name is derived from the Latin , meaning "outstretched arms". Definition Unit of length Unit of area * 1 toise was about 3.799 square metres, or a square French toise, as a measure for land and masonry area in France before 10 December 1799. Unit of volume * 1 toise = 8.0 cubic metres (20th century Haiti) See also * Units of measurement in France before the French Revolution * Portuguese customary units * Ottoman units of measurement * Fathom and klafter The ''klafter'' is an historical unit of length, volume and area that was used in Central Europe. Unit of length As a unit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Units Of Measurement In France Before The French Revolution
The traditional French units of measurement prior to metrication were established under Charlemagne during the Carolingian Renaissance. Based on contemporary Byzantine units of measurement, Byzantine and Ancient Roman units of measurement, ancient Roman measures, the system established some consistency across Carolingian Empire, his empire but, after his death, the empire fragmented and subsequent rulers and various localities introduced their own variants. Some of Charlemagne's units, such as the king's foot () remained virtually unchanged for about a thousand years, while others important to commercesuch as the French ell () used for cloth and the French pound () used for amountsvaried dramatically from locality to locality. By the 18th century, the number of units of measure had grown to the extent that it was almost impossible to keep track of them and one of the major legacies of the French Revolution was the dramatic rationalization of measures as the new metric system. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paris Meridian
The Paris meridian is a meridian line running through the Paris Observatory in Paris, France – now longitude 2°20′14.02500″ East. It was a long-standing rival to the Greenwich meridian as the prime meridian of the world. The "Paris meridian arc" or "French meridian arc" (French: ''la Méridienne de France'') is the name of the meridian arc measured along the Paris meridian. The French meridian arc was important for French cartography, since the triangulations of France began with the measurement of the French meridian arc. Moreover, the French meridian arc was important for geodesy as it was one of the meridian arcs which were measured to determine the figure of the Earth via the arc measurement method. The determination of the figure of the Earth was a problem of the highest importance in astronomy, as the diameter of the Earth was the unit to which all celestial distances had to be referred. History French cartography and the figure of the Earth In the ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portuguese Customary Units
Portuguese units were used in Portugal, Brazil, and other parts of the Portuguese Empire until the adoption of the metric system in the 19th century and have continued in use in certain contexts since. The various systems of weights and measures used in Portugal until the 19th century combine remote Roman influences with medieval influences from northern Europe and Islam. These influences are obvious in the names of the units. The measurement units themselves were, in many cases, inherited from a distant past. From the Romans, Portugal inherited names like (), (), , (), (), (), (). From medieval northern Europe, Portugal inherited names like (, ), (, ), (, ), (, ), (Fr. ), etc. From the Moors, Portugal receive unit names like (Arabic language, Arabic: ), (Arabic language, Arabic: ), (Arabic language, Arabic: ), (Arabic language, Arabic: ), (Arabic language, Arabic: ), (Arabic language, Arabic: ), (Arabic language, Arabic: ), etc. The Roman and northern European in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Klafter
The ''klafter'' is an historical unit of length, volume and area that was used in Central Europe. Unit of length As a unit of length, the ''klafter'' was derived from the span of a man's outstretched arms and was traditionally about 1.80 metres (m). In Austrian units of measurement, Austria, its length was, for example, 1.8965 m, in Prussia . In Kingdom of Bavaria, Bavaria, however, a ''klafter'' was only , in Hesse it was significantly larger at . The Viennese or Lower Austrian ''klafter'' was fixed by Rudolf II (HRR), Rudolf II as a measure of length as of 19 August 1588. When, in 1835, the Switzerland, Swiss units were defined using the metric system, 1 Swiss ''klafter'' (of 6 Swiss feet each of ) corresponded exactly to . In Aachen, Baden (Land), Baden, Bavaria, Bohemia, Hamburg, Leipzig, Poland, Trier and Zürich the ''klafter'' was exactly six feet, but in the Canton of Fribourg it measured 10 feet. In Bathymetry, nautical units of depth, the ''klafter'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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. Historically it was the maritime measure of depth in the English-speaking world but, apart from within the US, charts now use metres. There are two yards (6 feet) in an imperial fathom. Originally the span of a man's outstretched arms, the size of a fathom has varied slightly depending on whether it was defined as a thousandth of an (Admiralty) nautical mile or as a multiple of the imperial yard. Formerly, the term was used for any of several units of length varying around . Etymology The term (pronounced ) derives (via Middle English ''fathme'') from the Old English ''fæðm'', which is cognate with the Danish word ''favn'' and means "embracing arms" or "pair of outstretched arms". It is maybe also cognate with the Old High German wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Geodesic Mission
The French Geodesic Mission to the Equator (), also called the French Geodesic Mission to Peru and the Spanish-French Geodesic Mission, was an 18th-century expedition to what is now Ecuador carried out for the purpose of performing an arc measurement, measuring the length of a degree of latitude near the Equator, by which the Earth's radius can be inferred. The mission was one of the first geodesic (or ''geodetic'') missions carried out under modern scientific principles, and the first major international scientific expedition. Background In the 18th century, there was significant debate in the scientific community, specifically in the French Academy of Sciences (''Académie des sciences''), as to whether the circumference of the Earth was greater around the Equator or around the poles. French astronomer Jacques Cassini held to the view that the polar circumference was greater. Louis XV of France and the academy sent two expeditions to determine the answer: a northern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre
Jean Baptiste Joseph, chevalier Delambre (19 September 1749 – 19 August 1822) was a French mathematician, astronomer, historian of astronomy, and geodesist. He was also director of the Paris Observatory, and author of well-known books on the history of astronomy from ancient times to the 18th century. Biography After a childhood fever, he suffered from very sensitive eyes, and believed that he would soon go blind. For fear of losing his ability to read, he devoured any book available and trained his memory. He thus immersed himself in Greek and Latin literature, acquired the ability to recall entire pages verbatim weeks after reading them, became fluent in Italian, English and German and even wrote an unpublished ''Règle ou méthode facile pour apprendre la langue anglaise'' (Easy rule or method for learning English). Delambre quickly achieved success in his career in astronomy, such that in 1788, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pierre Méchain
Pierre François André Méchain (; 16 August 1744 – 20 September 1804) was a French astronomer and surveyor who, with Charles Messier, was a major contributor to the early study of deep-sky objects and comets. Life Pierre Méchain was born in Laon in northern France, the son of the ceiling designer and plasterer Pierre François Méchain and Marie–Marguerite Roze. He displayed mental gifts in mathematics and physics but had to give up his studies for lack of money. However, his talents in astronomy were noticed by Jérôme Lalande, for whom he became a friend and proof-reader of the second edition of his book "L'Astronomie". Lalande then secured a position for him as assistant hydrographer with the Naval Depot of Maps and Charts at Versailles, where he worked through the 1770s engaged in hydrographic work and coastline surveying. It was during this time—approximately 1774—that he met Charles Messier, and apparently, they became friends. In the same year, he also p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Length
Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with Dimension (physical quantity), dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a Base unit (measurement), base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the International System of Units (SI) system, the base unit for length is the metre. Length is commonly understood to mean the most extended size, dimension of a fixed object. However, this is not always the case and may depend on the position the object is in. Various terms for the length of a fixed object are used, and these include height, which is vertical length or vertical extent, width, breadth, and depth. ''Height'' is used when there is a base from which vertical measurements can be taken. ''Width'' and ''breadth'' usually refer to a shorter dimension than ''length''. ''Depth'' is used for the measure of a third dimension. Length is the measure of one spatial dimension, whereas area ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesures Usuelles
(, ''customary measures'') were a French system of measurement introduced by French Emperor Napoleon I in 1812 to act as compromise between the metric system and traditional measurements. The system was restricted to use in the retail industry and continued in use until 1840, when the laws of measurement from 1795 and 1799 were reinstituted. Rationale behind the new system In the five years immediately before the French First Republic introduced the metric system, every effort was made to make the citizens aware of the upcoming changes and to prepare them for it. The administration distributed tens of thousands of educational pamphlets, private enterprise produced educational games, guides, almanacs, and conversion aids, and metre standards were built into the walls of prominent buildings around Paris. The introduction was phased by district over the next few years, with Paris being the first district to change. The government also realised that the people would need metre rul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is geographically divided among the Swiss Plateau, the Swiss Alps, Alps and the Jura Mountains, Jura; the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory, whereas most of the country's Demographics of Switzerland, 9 million people are concentrated on the plateau, which hosts List of cities in Switzerland, its largest cities and economic centres, including Zurich, Geneva, and Lausanne. Switzerland is a federal republic composed of Cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons, with federal authorities based in Bern. It has four main linguistic and cultural regions: German, French, Italian and Romansh language, Romansh. Although most Swiss are German-speaking, national identity is fairly cohesive, being rooted in a common historical background, shared ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
