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Hectare
Visualization of one hectare
General information
Unit system	Non-SI unit accepted for use with SI
Unit of	Area
Symbol	ha
In SI base units:	1 ha = 104 m2

The hectare (/ˈhɛktɛər, -tɑːr/; SI symbol: ha) is an SI accepted metric system unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides, or 10,000 m², and is primarily used in the measurement of land.^[1] There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is about 0.405 hectare and one hectare contains about 2.47 acres.

In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the "are" was defined as 100 square metres and the hectare ("hecto-" + "are") was thus 100 "ares" or ​¹⁄₁₀₀ km². When the metric system was further rationalised in 1960, resulting in the International System of Units (SI), the are was not included as a recognised unit. The hectare, however, remains as a non-SI unit accepted for use with the SI units, mentioned in Section 4.1 of the SI Brochure as a unit whose use is "expected to continue indefinitely".^[1]

The name was coined in French, from the Latin ārea.^[2]

History

The metric system of measurement was first given a legal basis in 1795 by the French Revolutionary government. The law of 18 Germinal, Year III (7 April 1795) defined five units of measure:^[3]

• The metre for length


• The are (100 m²) for area [of land]


• The stère (1 m³) for volume of stacked firewood^[4]


• The litre (1 dm³) for volumes of liquid


• The gram for mass

In 1960, when the metric system was updated as the International System of Units (SI), the are did not receive international recognition. The International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) makes no mention of the are in the current (2006) definition of the SI, but classifies the hectare as a "Non-SI unit accepted for use with the International System of Units".^[5]

In 1972, the European Economic Community (EEC) passed directive 71/354/EEC,^[6] which catalogued the units of measure that might be used within the Community. The units that were catalogued replicated the recommendations of the CGPM, supplemented by a few other units including the are (and implicitly the hectare) whose use was limited to the measurement of land.

Many UK farmers, especially older ones, still use the acre for everyday calculations, and convert to hectares only for official (especially European Union) paperwork. Farm fields can have very long histories which are resistant to change, with names such as "the six acre field" stretching back hundreds of years and across generations of family farmers. Some younger agricultural workers are now beginning to think in hectares as their "first language", though this is more typical of professional consultants and managers than of traditional farming and land-owning families, and in some circles may be viewed as a social class indicator.

Units

Definition of a hectare and of an are

The names centiare, deciare, decare and hectare are derived by adding the standard metric prefixes to the original base unit of area, the are.

Centiare

The centiare is one square metre.

Deciare

The deciare is ten square metres.

Are

The are (/ɑːr/^[7] or /ɛər/^[8]) is a unit of area, equal to 100 square metres (10 m × 10 m), used for measuring land area. It was defined by older forms of the metric system, but is now outside the modern International System of Units (SI).^[9] It is still commonly used in colloquial speech to measure real estate, in particular in Indonesia, India, and in various European countries.

In Russian and other languages of the former Soviet Union, the are is called sotka (Russian: сотка: 'a hundred', i.e. 100 m² or ​¹⁄₁₀₀ hectare). It is used to describe the size of suburban dacha or allotment garden plots or small city parks where the hectare would be too large.

Decare

The decare (/ˈdɛkɑːr, -ɛər/) is derived from deca and are, and is equal to 10 ares or 1000 square metres. It is used in Norway^[10] and in the former Ottoman areas of the Middle East and the Balkans (Bulgaria)^[11] as a measure of land area. Instead of the name "decare", the names of traditional land measures are usually used, redefined as one decare:

• 
  Stremma in Greece^[12]


• 
  Dunam, dunum, donum, or dönüm in Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey^[13]


• Mål is sometimes used for decare in Norway, from the old measure of about the same area.

Hectare

Trafalgar Square has an area of about one hectare.^[14]

The hectare (/ˈhɛktɛər, -tɑːr/^[15]), although not a unit of SI, is the only named unit of area that is accepted for use within the SI.^[16] In practice the hectare is fully derived from the SI, being equivalent to a square hectometre. It is widely used throughout the world for the measurement of large areas of land, and it is the legal unit of measure in domains concerned with land ownership, planning, and management, including law (land deeds), agriculture, forestry, and town planning throughout the European Union.^[17] The United Kingdom,^[18] United States, Burma,^[19][20] and to some extent Canada use the acre instead.^{[citation needed]}

Some countries that underwent a general conversion from traditional measurements to metric measurements (e.g. Canada) required a resurvey when units of measure in legal descriptions relating to land were converted to metric units.^{[citation needed]} Others, such as South Africa, published conversion factors which were to be used particularly "when preparing consolidation diagrams by compilation".^[21]

In many countries, metrication redefined or clarified existing measures in terms of metric units. The following legacy units of area have been redefined as being equal to one hectare:^[22]

• 
  Jerib in Iran


• 
  Djerib in Turkey^[23]


• 
  Gong Qing (公頃/公顷 – gōngqǐng) in Hong Kong / mainland China


• 
  Manzana in Argentina


• 
  Bunder in The Netherlands (until 1937)^[24][25]

Conversions

The most commonly used units are in bold.

One hectare is also equivalent to:

• 1 square hectometre


• 15 mǔ or 0.15 qǐng^[27]


• 10 dunam or dönüm (Middle East)^[28]


• 10 stremmata (Greece)


• 6.25 rai (Thailand)^[29]


• ≈ 1.008 chō (Japan)


• ≈ 2.381 feddan (Egypt)

Visualising a hectare

International rugby pitch

Waikato Stadium – Hamilton, New Zealand The maximum playing area of an international-sized rugby union pitch is about one hectare. On an international rugby union field the goal lines are up to 100 metres apart. Behind the goal line is the in-goal area (which is also a playing area). This area extends between 10 and 22 metres behind the goal line, giving a maximum length of 144 metres for the playing area. The maximum width of the pitch is 70 metres, giving a maximum playing area of 10,080 square metres or 1.008 hectares.[30]

Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty – New York Harbor The Statue of Liberty occupies a square of land with an area of one hectare. 40°41′21″N 74°2′40″W / 40.68917°N 74.04444°W / 40.68917; -74.04444 (Statue of Liberty) The Statue of Liberty is located on Liberty Island at the entrance to New York Harbor. Its base is built on eighteenth-century fortifications. The distance between the apex of the bastions in the front of the base to those at the back (where the entrance to the statue is located) is approximately 100 m while the distance between the apexes of the left-hand and right-hand bastions is a little under 100 m. Thus, if a square were to enscribe the bastions, it would have sides of approximately 100 m, giving it an area of one hectare.

Interior of all-weather athletics track

Hansen Field at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois incorporates an all-weather running track. The grass in the centre of a standard athletic track is a little over one hectare in extent. Athletics tracks are found in almost every country of the world. Although many tracks consist of markings on a field of suitable size, where funds permit, specialist all-weather tracks have a rubberized artificial running surface with a grass interior (as shown in the picture and diagram). The perimeter of the inside kerb of the track is a little under 400 metres, as the actual length of the track is measured 300 mm from the inside kerb.[31] The IAAF specifications state that the radius of the kerb is 36.5 m, from which it can be calculated that the area inside the kerb is 1.035 ha. The soccer field often found inside is normally 105×70 m, or 0.73 hectares.

See also

• Conversion of units


• Hecto-


• Hectometre


• Order of magnitude

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hectare.

Look up hectare in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Official SI website: Table 6. Non-SI units accepted for use with the International System of Units