Several units of measurements are used in Puerto Rico. The units of measure in use in Puerto Rico are based on the

United States customary units United States customary units form a system of measurement units commonly used in the United States and U.S. territories since being standardized and adopted in 1832. The United States customary system (USCS or USC) developed from English units ...

with two major exceptions: roadway distance signs are measured in kilometers and gasoline is sold by the

liter The litre (international spelling) or liter (American English spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metre (m3). ...

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 The () was a unit of land measurement in the Spanish viceroyalties in the Americas during the times of the Spanish Empire in the 16th through 19th centuries Spanish West Indies. The unit was widely used in Puerto Rico, where it was equivalent t ...

''.

''Cuerda''

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

square meters 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 squa ...

, or 4,700

square yards In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length adj ...

, 0.971

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

, or 0.393 hectare (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. It continues to be an official unit of land measure in Puerto Rico today (2019). ''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..."''

''Caballería''

This was a unit of land measurement in the Spanish Viceroyalties in the Americas during the times of the Spanish Empire in the 16th through 19th centuries Puerto Rico. Widely use then, it was equivalent to . This unit of measure is now (2019) obsolete.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.

References

# Archived at the WayBack Machine on 16 August 2013, from the original ''Units: C: cuerda.'' Russ Rowlett. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. # ^ Jump up to: ^''a'' ^''b'' ^''c'' ^''d'' ^''e'' ^''f'' ''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..."'' {{Systems of measurement Puerto Rican culture Puerto Rico