Normal vara
Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. By the s, the United States had annexed nearly all of what are now its southwestern states from Mexico, and with the region, its peoples. Though the U. The word hacienda was also the name of a unit of measure. Each hacienda was 5 sitiosand each sitio 5, square varas also equivalent to a square Spanish league.
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The people lived in these dimensions, intuitively understanding distance and size like la palma de la mano the back of their hand. To understand the relevance of the vara in the history of metrology and Hispanic culture, we need to look at its origins.
By the midth century, nearly every Spanish province had its own standard length. Traditionally, the physical standard was made of heavy oak and was divided by normal vara studs into four even sections. Each section was subdivided into units approximately equivalent to the width of two fingers. After the conquest of the Americas, the Spanish imposed Andalusian and Castilian measures such as brazas fathomscodos cubits and palmos palms that were adopted by the indigenous peoples with ease, as the units were based on the dimensions of the body, much normal vara their own measures.
The vara was used to measure not only land, but also the architecture of colonial New Mexico and California. The arrival of the American system of measurement caused confusion and conflict. The American system relied on a square grid for the division of land, while the Spanish used irregular distributions of land that often corresponded with social and political values. The Americans wanted their property demarcated equally, inch by inch.
To new arrivals, the variability of the vara would have seemed capricious and frustrating; on top of having sociopolitical dimensions, the Californian, Texan and Arizonan varas were slightly different.
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For an agrarian society, normal vara measured land was no small matter. For decades, the clash over land, who owned it, and how to measure it accurately continued. The vara eventually grew so contentious that the U. Supreme Court heard cases disputing land with Spanish titles in American territories. The court eventually ruled in that all varas would be pegged to the Texan vara standard 0.
The Mexican vara is a direct descendant of the Vara de Burgos. The first official Mexican varas obtained by the United States government were acquired by Maj. These varas were originally intended to be distributed to several Mexican states and were being held in Mexico City during the Mexican-American War. Upon its arrival in the United States, the Mexican vara was determined to measure All four Mexican varas in the NIST collection are brass-plated normal vara, presumably to protect against corrosion, and have markings on both sides.
Mexican varas are graduated in tenths on one side. One of the tenths is subdivided into 10 centesimos hundredthsand one centesimo is further subdivided into 10 thousandths. The other side shows division of the vara into one-half, one-third, one-fourth, one-sixth and one-eighth.
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Interestingly, these inches are slightly smaller than imperial inches at normal vara This means that a dedo is approximately It is not clear if this unit is of Spanish origin, pre-Columbian origin, or a combination of both. It was common for pre-Columbian peoples to use anthropometric units. I can empathize with the ranchers in the Mexican Southwest regarding their vara and the transition to the standards of the American government.
Despite conducting my undergraduate studies, Ph. I can imagine normal vara changing standards might feel like, even if I cannot imagine the consequences doing so would have on my life. I consider myself lucky because being part of NIST has allowed me to come in close contact with artifacts that had such direct connection to my Spanish forebears, and later to American history.
It has been quite a unique, educational and surreal experience.
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Marcos A. He received his Ph. His current research focuses on the mechanics of soft materials for applications in impact mitigation. In his free time, he enjoys astrophotography, playing classical guitar and backcountry backpacking. I have always been intrigued by the skill of craftsman. I can't image how one would do this without modern tools.