Quick Conversion Tables for Basic Colonial Measures

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See also: Weights and Measures Tables

The tables below are provided as quick-references for converting selected colonial measures (distance and weight/volume) into modern-day miles and kilometers, with values ranging from 1-100.

Spanish Leagues / Spanish Varas / Spanish Pies / Small-Scale Spanish Lengths / Spanish Nautical Depths / Spanish Arrobas / Spanish Onzas

Spanish Leagues

The two most commonly-employed league distances used for terrestrial measurements in Spanish Florida were the legua legal, which measured 3 Spanish millas, or 5,000 varas (equaling 0.8359 meters) of 3 Spanish pies (equaling 0.2786 meters), and the legua común, which measured 4 Spanish millas, or 4,000 pasos of 5 Spanish pies.  The longer legua común seems to have been used principally during the 16th century, while the shorter legua legal seems to have been in nearly universal usage in Florida during 17th and 18th centuries. For more in-depth discussion of the variability in the Spanish league measurements during this period, see the following sources:
Chardon, Roland, "The Elusive Spanish League: A Problem of Measurement in Sixteenth-Century New Spain," The Hispanic American Historical Review 60(2): 294-302 (1980). Chardon, Roland, "The Linear League in North America," Annals of the Association of American Geographers70(2): 129-153 (1980).
Statute Leagues
(legua legal)		 Miles Kilometers
1/4 0.65 1.045
1/2 1.3 2.09
1 2.6 4.18
2 5.2 8.37
3 7.8 12.55
4 10.4 16.73
5 13 20.92
6 15.6 25.10
7 18.2 29.28
8 20.8 33.47
9 23.4 37.65
10 26 41.83
11 28.6 46.02
12 31.2 50.20
13 33.8 54.38
14 36.4 58.57
15 39 62.75
16 41.6 66.93
17 44.2 71.12
18 46.8 75.30
19 49.4 79.48
20 52 83.67
30 78 125.50
40 104 167.34
50 130 209.17
60 156 251.00
70 182 292.84
80 208 334.67
90 234 376.51
100 260 418.34

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Common Leagues
(legua común)		 Miles Kilometers
1/4 0.865 1.393
1/2 1.73 2.785
1 3.46 5.57
2 6.92 11.13
3 10.38 16.70
4 13.84 22.27
5 17.3 27.84
6 20.76 33.40
7 24.22 38.97
8 27.68 44.54
9 31.14 50.10
10 34.6 55.67
11 38.06 61.24
12 41.52 66.81
13 44.98 72.37
14 48.44 77.94
15 51.9 83.51
16 55.36 89.07
17 58.82 94.64
18 62.28 100.21
19 65.74 105.78
20 69.2 111.34
30 103.8 167.01
40 138.4 222.69
50 173 278.36
60 207.6 334.03
70 242.2 389.70
80 276.8 445.37
90 311.4 501.04
100 346 556.71

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Spanish Varas

The Spanish vara was comprised of 3 Spanish pies, or feet, and was established as equivalent to 0.8359 meters upon the transition to the metric system during the 19th century.  The vara de Burgos upon which this measurement was based was only one of several in usage during the colonial era, however, and so a certain amount of variability is to be expected both regionally and chronologically.

varas Feet Meters
1 2.74 0.836
2 5.49 1.672
3 8.23 2.508
4 10.97 3.344
5 13.71 4.180
6 16.46 5.015
7 19.20 5.851
8 21.94 6.687
9 24.68 7.523
10 27.43 8.359
11 30.17 9.195
12 32.91 10.031
13 35.65 10.867
14 38.40 11.703
15 41.14 12.539
16 43.88 13.374
17 46.62 14.210
18 49.37 15.046
19 52.11 15.882
20 54.85 16.718
30 82.28 25.077
40 109.70 33.436
50 137.13 41.795
60 164.56 50.154
70 191.98 58.513
80 219.41 66.872
90 246.83 75.231
100 274.26 83.590

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Spanish Pies

The Spanish pie was comprised of 12 Spanish pulgadas, or inches, and was one third of a Spanish Vara, discussed above.

Pies Feet Meters
1 0.91 0.28
2 1.83 0.56
3 2.74 0.84
4 3.66 1.11
5 4.57 1.39
6 5.48 1.67
7 6.40 1.95
8 7.31 2.23
9 8.23 2.51
10 9.14 2.79
11 10.05 3.06
12 10.97 3.34
13 11.88 3.62
14 12.80 3.90
15 13.71 4.18
16 14.62 4.46
17 15.54 4.74
18 16.45 5.01
19 17.37 5.29
20 18.28 5.57
30 27.42 8.36
40 36.56 11.14
50 45.70 13.93
60 54.84 16.72
70 63.98 19.50
80 73.12 22.29
90 82.26 25.07
100 91.40 27.86

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Spanish Small-Scale Measurements

The Spanish pulgada, or inch, was 1/12 of a Spanish pie (above), and was comprised of 16 Spanish lineas, and each linea was further subdivided into 12 puntos. The table below converts modern metric measurements into the corresponding Spanish colonial measurements up to just over 1 pulgada.

Millimeters Pulgadas Lineas Puntos
1 0 0 8
2 0 1 5
3 0 2 1
4 0 2 9
5 0 3 5
6 0 4 2
7 0 4 10
8 0 5 6
9 0 6 2
10 0 6 11
11 0 7 7
12 0 8 3
13 0 8 11
14 0 9 8
15 0 10 4
16 0 11 0
17 0 11 9
18 0 12 5
19 0 13 1
20 0 13 9
21 0 14 6
22 0 15 2
23 0 15 10
24 1 0 6

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Spanish Nautical Depth Measurements

During the Spanish colonial era, water depths were obtained using sounding leads while aboard ships. These measurements were pivotal in order to assure that ships did not run aground, and they were also used as a navigational aid in order to determine locations along established shipping routes. They were reported on maps and in texts using a variety of measures depending on the depths being reported, and these normally included brazas (fathoms), codos (cubits), and palmos (spans), and sometimes pies (feet).

Equivalences: 1 braza = 3 codos = 6 pies = 8 palmos = 72 pulgadas = 1.6718 meters = 5.485 feet

Pulgadas Palmos Pies Codos Brazas Meters Feet
9 1 0.75 0.375 0.125 0.21 0.69
12 1.333 1 0.5 0.167 0.28 0.91
18 2 1.5 0.75 0.25 0.42 1.37
24 2.667 2 1 0.333 0.56 1.83
27 3 2.25 1.125 0.375 0.63 2.06
36 4 3 1.5 0.5 0.84 2.74
45 5 3.75 1.875 0.625 1.04 3.43
48 5.333 4 2 0.667 1.11 3.66
54 6 4.5 2.25 0.75 1.25 4.11
60 6.667 5 2.5 0.833 1.39 4.57
63 7 5.25 2.625 0.875 1.46 4.80
72 8 6 3 1 1.67 5.49
81 9 6.75 3.375 1.125 1.88 6.17
84 9.333 7 3.5 1.167 1.95 6.40
90 10 7.5 3.75 1.25 2.09 6.86
96 10.667 8 4 1.333 2.23 7.31
99 11 8.25 4.125 1.375 2.30 7.54
108 12 9 4.5 1.5 2.51 8.23
117 13 9.75 4.875 1.625 2.72 8.91
120 13.333 10 5 1.667 2.79 9.14
126 14 10.5 5.25 1.75 2.93 9.60
132 14.667 11 5.5 1.833 3.06 10.06
135 15 11.25 5.625 1.875 3.13 10.28
144 16 12 6 2 3.34 10.97
153 17 12.75 6.375 2.125 3.55 11.66
156 17.333 13 6.5 2.167 3.62 11.88
162 18 13.5 6.75 2.25 3.76 12.34
168 18.667 14 7 2.333 3.90 12.80
171 19 14.25 7.125 2.375 3.97 13.03
180 20 15 7.5 2.5 4.18 13.71
189 21 15.75 7.875 2.625 4.39 14.40
192 21.333 16 8 2.667 4.46 14.63
198 22 16.5 8.25 2.75 4.60 15.08
204 22.667 17 8.5 2.833 4.74 15.54
207 23 17.25 8.625 2.875 4.81 15.77
216 24 18 9 3 5.02 16.46
225 25 18.75 9.375 3.125 5.22 17.14
228 25.333 19 9.5 3.167 5.29 17.37
234 26 19.5 9.75 3.25 5.43 17.83
240 26.667 20 10 3.333 5.57 18.28
243 27 20.25 10.125 3.375 5.64 18.51
252 28 21 10.5 3.5 5.85 19.20
261 29 21.75 10.875 3.625 6.06 19.88
264 29.333 22 11 3.667 6.13 20.11
270 30 22.5 11.25 3.75 6.27 20.57
276 30.667 23 11.5 3.833 6.41 21.03
279 31 23.25 11.625 3.875 6.48 21.25
288 32 24 12 4 6.69 21.94
297 33 24.75 12.375 4.125 6.90 22.63
300 33.333 25 12.5 4.167 6.97 22.85
306 34 25.5 12.75 4.25 7.11 23.31
312 34.667 26 13 4.333 7.24 23.77
315 35 26.25 13.125 4.375 7.31 24.00
324 36 27 13.5 4.5 7.52 24.68
333 37 27.75 13.875 4.625 7.73 25.37
336 37.333 28 14 4.667 7.80 25.60
342 38 28.5 14.25 4.75 7.94 26.05
348 38.667 29 14.5 4.833 8.08 26.51
351 39 29.25 14.625 4.875 8.15 26.74
360 40 30 15 5 8.36 27.43
369 41 30.75 15.375 5.125 8.57 28.11
372 41.333 31 15.5 5.167 8.64 28.34
378 42 31.5 15.75 5.25 8.78 28.80
384 42.667 32 16 5.333 8.92 29.25
387 43 32.25 16.125 5.375 8.99 29.48
396 44 33 16.5 5.5 9.19 30.17
405 45 33.75 16.875 5.625 9.40 30.85
408 45.333 34 17 5.667 9.47 31.08
414 46 34.5 17.25 5.75 9.61 31.54
420 46.667 35 17.5 5.833 9.75 32.00
423 47 35.25 17.625 5.875 9.82 32.22
432 48 36 18 6 10.03 32.91

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Spanish Arrobas

The Spanish arroba was used both as a measure of dry weight and separately as a measure of liquid volume, as indicated below in a single chart.  All liquids but olive oil were measured using a larger arroba, while olive oil was measured using a smaller arroba (because of its greater density). The half-arroba of olive oil in bold below was the basis for the small-sized Spanish botija (olive jar), while the full-arroba of regular liquid was the basis for the large-sized botija.

  Dry Weight Liquid Volume Olive Oil Volume
arrobas Pounds Kilograms Gallons Liters Gallons Liters
1/2 12.68 5.75 2.13 8.07 1.66 6.28
1 25.36 11.50 4.26 16.13 3.32 12.56
2 50.73 23.00 8.52 32.27 6.64 25.13
3 76.09 34.51 12.79 48.40 9.96 37.69
4 101.45 46.01 17.05 64.53 13.28 50.25
5 126.81 57.51 21.31 80.67 16.60 62.82
6 152.18 69.01 25.57 96.80 19.91 75.38
7 177.54 80.52 29.84 112.93 23.23 87.94
8 202.90 92.02 34.10 129.06 26.55 100.50
9 228.26 103.52 38.36 145.20 29.87 113.07
10 253.63 115.02 42.62 161.33 33.19 125.63
11 278.99 126.53 46.89 177.46 36.51 138.19
12 304.35 138.03 51.15 193.60 39.83 150.76
13 329.71 149.53 55.41 209.73 43.15 163.32
14 355.08 161.03 59.67 225.86 46.47 175.88
15 380.44 172.53 63.94 242.00 49.79 188.45
16 405.80 184.04 68.20 258.13 53.11 201.01
17 431.16 195.54 72.46 274.26 56.43 213.57
18 456.53 207.04 76.72 290.39 59.74 226.13
19 481.89 218.54 80.98 306.53 63.06 238.70
20 507.25 230.05 85.25 322.66 66.38 251.26

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Spanish Onzas

The Spanish onza was slightly heavier than the English ounce, and formed 1/16 of a Spanish libra, or pound.

onzas

grams

1

28.76

2

57.51

3

86.27

4

115.02

5

143.78

6

172.53

7

201.29

8

230.05

9

258.80

10

287.56

11

316.31

12

345.07

13

373.82

14

402.58

15

431.33

16

460.09

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