The term "cuerda" (Spanish for ''rope'') refers to a unit of measurement in some Spanish-speaking regions, including

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

, Guatemala,

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

. In Puerto Rico, the term cuerda (and "Spanish acre"Archived
at the WayBack Machine on 16 August 2013, from the origina

Russ Rowlett. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ) refers to the unit of area measurement.
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..."'' In Guatemala, ''cuerda'' is both a unit of length measurement as well as of area measurement. As a unit of area measurement, the Guatemalan cuerda can have various meanings. In

, ''cuerda'' refers to a unit of volume measurement; in

and

, it refers to a unit of distance (length).

By unit type

Cuerda is a unit of area, volume, and distance (length), depending on the country of use.

Area: Puerto Rico and Guatemala

, a ''cuerda'' is a traditional unit of land area nearly equivalent to 3,930

square meter The square metre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or square meter ( American spelling) is the unit of area in the International System of Units (SI) with symbol m2. It is the area of a square ...

s, or 4,700

square yard The square yard (Northern India: gaj, Pakistan: gaz) is an imperial unit and U.S. customary unit of area. It is in widespread use in most of the English-speaking world, particularly the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Pakistan and India. ...

s, 0.971 acre, or 0.393

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

(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. According to Carlos Menocal Villagran, in Guatemala, the term cuerda refers to a unit of area and can have various meanings. Cuerda can refer to areas that are 50 x 50, 40 x 40, 30 x 30, 25 x 25 or 20 x 20 varas (i.e. 2500, 1600, 900, 625, or 400 square varas). In addition, some sources describe a cuerda as 32 x 32 varas. In Guatemala, the linear vara is equivalent to 0.8421 meters. Thus, * One cuerda of 50 x 50 varas = 1,746.84 square meters * One cuerda of 40 x 40 varas = 1,117.98 square meters * One cuerda of 30 x 30 varas = 628.87 square meters * One cuerda of 25 x 25 varas = 436.71 square meters * One cuerda of 20 x 20 varas = 279.50 square meters

Volume: Cuba

, a cuerda is a traditional unit of volume for firewood, about 21% smaller than the U.S. cord. A cuerda of firewood is equivalent to 0.79 cord or 2.87 cubic meters (128 cubic ''pies)''.

Distance: Guatemala, Spain and Paraguay

In Guatemala, a cuerda is a traditional unit of distance, equal to exactly 25 varas or almost 21 meters (nearly 69 feet). During 19th-century Spain, a cuerda was a unit of length, of nearly 6.889 m (approx. 7.554 yd). However, in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

, Spain, the cuerda measured 40 varas, over 5.4 times longer, as nearly 37.21 m (approx. 40.7 yd).

Notes

References

{{Reflist

External links

''A COMPARISON OF THE AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY AND THE PUERTO RICO COMMUNITY SURVEY.'' Shows how the US Census uses "cuerda" to register property sizes.
Accessed 15 October 2020. Units of measurement Units of area