Apple (surface unit)

Rotulo, Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Spain

Formerly the city of Merida, Yucatan, was divided into four barracks and these in turn into apples. In this case the 54th, 56th, 47th and 49th streets limit the 32nd apple, belonging to the 1st quarter.

A block, as a surface measure, is an area corresponding to a square of 100 varas, that is, 10,000 v² (10,000 square varas).

The vara is a Spanish measure that corresponds to 0.836 meters, squaring said equality equals 1 square vara = 0.698896 square meters.

The block (10,000 v²), therefore, has an area equivalent to 6,988.96 m² or 0.698896 ha; for calculation purposes 1 mz = 0.70 ha is used.

During the foundation of the Spanish cities in Latin America, the buildings were erected within squares of 100 varas per side; on each side space was left for a street; This space is what was called a block (note that it is the same concept and the same measure as the block as a measure of agricultural area).

The following table shows the equivalencies between these measures:

Colloquially, as a colonial reminiscence, the area delimited by four streets is called a block, regardless of the length of the streets or the shape they make, the origin of the term probably being French.