Convert Plaza (plaza) to Township (township) 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.
Township (township)
A township, as used in the U.S. Public Land Survey System (PLSS), is an area equal to 36 square miles, arranged as a 6-mile × 6-mile square. It is a cornerstone unit of American land division, originating during the late 18th-century settlement of the American frontier. Townships standardized how land was surveyed and sold, allowing the federal government to systematically divide territory for settlement, homesteading, and revenue generation. They were subdivided into 36 sections, each one square mile in area. This grid-based system profoundly shaped American geography. Roads, property lines, agricultural fields, and county boundaries in much of the Midwest and West follow township geometry. Even today, PLSS townships remain legally relevant in land deeds, zoning regulations, and cadastral surveys.