18 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 11 



ly accepted definitions in the different parts of 

 Mexico. We have compiled a list of these units 

 with their modern equivalents in Quiroga, as 

 follows: 



Dedo (finger) — 16 dedos=l pie. 



Pulgada (inch) — 12 pulgadas=l pie; 1 piilgada = 0.02Z 



meter or 0.91 inch. 

 Pahno (palm or handbreath) — 4 palmos = \ pie. 

 Pie (foot)— 3 pies=l vara; 1 pie = 0.27933 meter or 0.916 



foot. 

 Paso (pace or step) — a paso comun contained 2}^ pies, and 



a paso geomiirico 5 pies. 

 Vara (yard) — 2 varas=\ braza; 1 t)ora = 0.838 meter or 33 



inches. 

 Braza (fathom or span) — 1 braza=l estado; 1 braza 



varied between 1.62 and 2.00 varas in colonial usage, and 



is now 2 varas, 1.672 to 1.676 meters, and about 5.545 



feet. 

 Estado (height of a man) — accepted as the same as a braza. 

 Cordcl (cord) — a colonial cordel contained 50 pasos or 50 



varas or 25 brazas. 

 Esladio or Carrera de Caballo — composed of 208.33 varas, 



174.58 meters or 190.92 yards; actually approximating 



a furlong or 220 yards. 

 Milla (mile) — composed of 1,000 geometric pies; 1,666.66 



varas; 1,298 meters or 0.807 mile (United States). 

 Legua (league) — composed of 3 millas, or 5,000 varas, con- 

 sidered to be between 3.894 and 4.19 km., or equivalent 



to 2.5 or 2.6 miles. There also was the legal legua of 4 



millas; and in 1584 a league equaled 3 millas or 3,000 



pasos or 60 cordeles. 



(It will be noted that not all of the equivalents are 

 consistent.) 



Beginning early in the sixteenth century land 

 grants and cessions were made on the basis of 

 house plots, town lots, town sites, and the lands 

 necessary for crop farming and animal husbandry 

 in accordance with the rank of the individual. 

 The gentleman with coat of arms and a horse 

 {escudero y caballero) received a caballeria or 

 knighthold, and the footsoldier or peon received a 

 pemila. However, the peonia was replaced in 

 terminology quite early by suerte, labor, and other 

 terms. The units of area were defined in terms 

 of so many yards (varas) of radius, or so many 

 varas toward each of the four cardinal directions, 

 or so many varas on the sides measured "paflo y 

 sedas," i. e., measui'ed along the width and the 

 length. The large estates were often granted and 

 defined in terms of radii, and this practice gave 

 rise to many areas to which there was no legal 

 title since obviously circular areas caimot be 

 made to border other such areas throughout their 

 cii'cumferences. In actual practice the land- 

 holders absorbed most of these tierras baldias. 



odiosas, or mostrencas, and developed land areas 

 which had the shape of asymmetrical polygons. 

 Proceeding from largest to smallest, the principal 

 units of area were: 



Hacienda (estate; literally, income property', or where 



something is done)— 25,000X5,000 varas; 8,778.05 



hectares or 21,697 acres. 

 Silio de ganado mayor or esiancia (cattle ranch or farm) — 



5,000X5,000 varas, or a square league; 1,755.61 hectares 



or 4,338.464 acres. 

 Silio de ganado menor or esiancia (farm for sheep and 



goats)— 3,333X3,333 varas; 780.27 hectares or 



1,928.133 acres. 

 Fundo legal para pueblo (legal town site) — after the 1680's 



it was 1,200X1,200 varas; 101.127 hectares or 244.14 



acres. 

 Labor (field; literally where one works) — 1,000X1,000 



varas; 70.224 hectares or 175.532 acres. 

 Caballeria (knighthold) — 1,104X532 varas; 42.79 hectares 



or 105.756 acres. 

 Fanega de sembradura (field or seed plot) — there are as 



many different "bushel" acreages as there are kinds of 



seed; however, when the seed is not specified the area 



is commonly considered to be 276 X 184 varas (at one 



time it was 400 X 400 brazas); 3.555 to 3.566 hectares 



(roughly considered to be 4 hectares) or 8.75 to 8.81 



acres. In colonial times 8 fanegas were considered to be 



the equivalent of a caballeria. 

 Suerte (lot, patch of ground, piece of ground) — normally 



located within or near the precincts of a city or town; 



552 X 266 varas; 10.278 hectares but varying actually 



between 1 and 6 hectares, and formerly considered to 



be K of a caballeria. 

 Yiinla (yoke; area ploughed by a yoke of oxen in 1 day 



theoretically) — 3.5 to 6 hectares. 

 Sitio de terreno de riego (irrigated land) — uncertain 



definition. 

 Solar (house plot or homestead) — 50 X 50 varas; 0.1756 



hectare or 0.43 acre. 

 Manzana (block; literally apple) — variable; often 0.672 



hectare or 1.66 acres. 

 Vara cuadrada (square yard) — 0.70 square meter or 7.55 



square feet. 



The terms "pueslo," "predio," "finca," and "rancho" 

 had no areal significance. A puesto was any spot, place, 

 space, shop or barracks, and was often used for the build- 

 ing or group of buildings where the laborers in some part 

 of a large estate (hacienda or sitio de ganado) would sleep 

 and eat. In time the term "rancho" replaced puesto in 

 its last sense of mess hut or dormitory, and later was 

 extended to a stock farm, any small farm, and any collec- 

 tion of homes of small farmers or tenant laborers. Predio 

 is any piece or parcel of real property; and finca is any 

 real estate, especiallj' a piece of property with a house or 

 other building. 



In 1856-57 the metric system was introduced 

 into Mexico, and in 1862-63 Judrez initiated the 

 use of the metric system in measiu-ing and report- 



