Convert Are (a) to Arpent (arpent (area)) instantly.
About these units
Are (a)
An are is a metric land unit equal to 100 m², originally invented during the development of the metric system but now largely overshadowed by the hectare (100 ares). Although rarely used independently in modern measurement, the are survives in real estate transactions in parts of Europe, where small land parcels—such as garden plots or rural homesteads—may be expressed in ares. It remains important historically, as it served as a transitional unit bridging the earliest metric innovations with modern large-scale land measurement practices.
Arpent (arpent (area))
The arpent is a historical French land-measurement unit whose exact value varied across regions but is commonly taken as about 0.34 hectares, or roughly 3,400 square meters. The arpent was widely used in France before the metric system and carried over into French colonial territories, especially Louisiana, Quebec, and the Caribbean. In North America, the arpent became intertwined with colonial land grants, settlement patterns, and agricultural design. Properties in Louisiana often follow long, narrow "ribbon farms" extending from riverbanks, measured in arpents of frontage width. This arrangement maximized river access for transportation and irrigation, producing a unique landscape still visible today. Because of its regional variation, historians and land-survey experts must interpret arpents within local context. In Louisiana, an arpent is typically standardized to 0.84628 acres for legal purposes, but French historical documents may use values closer to half a hectare. The arpent thus reflects not only agricultural needs but also the administrative and cultural imprint of French colonization on North American geography.