Convert Township (township) to Varas Castellanas Cuad (v.c.c.) instantly.
About these units
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.
Varas Castellanas Cuad (v.c.c.)
A vara castellana cuadrada is the square form of the Castilian vara, an old Spanish unit of length. While the exact length of a vara historically ranged between regions, the commonly accepted Castilian value is 0.8359 meters. Thus, the square vara equals approximately 0.69875 square meters. Square varas were widely used in Spanish colonial land distribution across Latin America, including territories that later became the U.S. Southwest. Early ranchos, town grants, and agricultural holdings were often described using square varas. Because original surveys were conducted with ropes or rods rather than precise instruments, slight variations exist between historic definitions. Despite this, Spanish-era land patterns still rely on square vara conversions for legal clarification of old property descriptions. This unit provides essential insight into how colonial authorities organized land, particularly in regions with mixed indigenous and European land traditions.