Santo Domingo: A Country with a Future

Appendix B

Old Weights and Measures in Use in Santo Domingo

The equivalents between old weights and measures still in use in Santo Domingo with the legal or metric system, are as follows, the equivalents with American measures being also given:

Dominican American Metric

Measures of	length:
1 league		3.46	miles		5.5727	kilometers
1 ona		3	feet, 10.79	inches	1.1884	meters
1 yard		35.996	inches		0.9143	meter
1 vara		32.91	inches		0.836	meter
1 foot		10.945	inches		0.278	meter
1 inch		0.9055	inch		0.023	meter
1 line [1]		0.0787	inch		0.002	meter

Surface measures: 1 tarea [2] 0.1554 acre 628.86 sq. meters 1 caballeria 186.50 acres 75.4636 hectares

Liquid measures: 1 bottle 0.7392 quart 720 grams 1 gallon 3.3265 quarts 3.34 liters

Dry measures: 1 fanega 1.575 bushels 55.5 liters 1 almud 0.1596 bushel 5.625 liters 1 cuartillo 0.0328 bushel 1.156 liter

Weights:
1 ton	2,028.232	pounds		920	kilograms
1 quintal	101.412	pounds		46	kilograms
1 arroba	25.353	pounds		11.5	kilograms
1 pound	1.014	pounds		460	grams
1 ounce	0.06338	pound,	or	28.75	grams
	1.014	ounces	avoirdupois
1 adarme	27.78	grains		1.8	grams
1 grain[3]	0.7706	grain		5	centigrams

The following measures are cited for comparison:

	American	Metric
Porto Rican cuerda	0.9701 acre	3930.4037 sq. meters
Porto Rican caballeria	194.02 acres	78.608 hectares
Cuban caballeria	33.16 acres	13.4202 hectares
Haitian carreau	3.194 acres	12,928 sq. meters

Notes

¹ 12 lines = 1 inch; 12 inches = 1 foot; 3 feet = 1 vara; 3 varas = 1 vara conuquera; 20,000 feet = 1 league

² A tarea is a parcel of land measuring 100 square varas conuqueras. It is the usual measure of land. 300 tareas = 1 peonia; 4 peonias = 1 caballeria.

³ 36 grains = 1 adarme; 16 adarmes = 1 ounce; 16 ounces = 1 pound; 25 pounds = 1 arroba; 4 arrobas = 1 quintal; 20 quintals = 1 ton.