Convert Plaza (plaza) to Square Mil (mil²) instantly.
About these units
Plaza (plaza)
A plaza is a traditional Spanish area unit, historically used in various regions of Latin America and Spain. Its value varied widely by locality—commonly ranging between 2,700 and 3,000 square meters—depending on the colonial or municipal standards in effect at the time. The plaza's origin is linked to urban planning under Spanish colonial rule. Town centers in Spanish America were often designed around a central plaza, and surrounding parcels were measured using plaza-based units, embedding the measurement into the cultural fabric of settlement. In agricultural contexts, plazas were sometimes used to define modest landholdings such as gardens, homestead plots, or small fields. While largely replaced by metric units today, the plaza remains significant in historical cartography, land deeds, and anthropological studies of Iberian and colonial town development. It stands as a reminder that measurements often evolve out of cultural-practical needs rather than pure geometric abstraction.
Square Mil (mil²)
A square mil equals the area of a square one mil (0.001 inch) on each side, producing an area of one-millionth of a square inch. This tiny unit appears in microfabrication, thin-film manufacturing, and fine electronic component design. Engineers rely on mils and mil² for PCB trace design, wire bonding pads, and micro-mechanical parts. Despite modern efforts to shift toward metric units, mils remain deeply embedded in American electronics manufacturing due to legacy tooling and engineering standards.