A number of
units of measurement
A unit of measurement is a definite magnitude of a quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same kind of quantity. Any other quantity of that kind can be expressed as a multi ...
were used in Costa Rica to measure measurements in length, mass, area, capacity, etc. In Costa Rica,
metric system
The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the definition of the Interna ...
has been adopted since 1910, and has been compulsory since 1912, by a joint convention among
Costa Rica,
Guatemala,
Honduras,
Nicaragua
Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...
and
Salvador.
Pre-metric units
Before the
metric system
The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the definition of the Interna ...
, a number of modified Spanish (i.e., Spanish Castilian
), English and local units were used.
Length
A number of units were used to measure length. One vara was equal to 0.8393 m.
Some other units are given below:
1 cuarta = vara
1 tercia = vara
1 mecate = 24 varas.
Mass
Several units were used to measure mass in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. Some units are given below:
1 caja = 16 kg
1
fanega = 92 kg
1 carga = 161 kg.
As a typical coffee measure, fanega was equal to 46 kg of coffee.
Area
Several units were used to measure area in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. One
manzana was equal to 10,000 square varas or 6960.5 m
2.
One caballeria was equal to 64 manzanas.
Capacity
Several units were used to measure capacity in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. One botella was equal to 0.63 to 0.67 L.
One cajuela was equal to 16.6 L.
The capacity of one cuartillo is very variable.
References
{{Systems of measurement
Costa Rican culture
Costa Rica