Converting Hectares To Acres
The U.S. is only one of three countries in the world not using the metric system(hectare is metric). Being raised on the standard system of measurement can feel lonley sometimes...always having to convert to other country's measurement systems. But its not so bad, converting measurements is easy as multiplying or dividing.
Making the Conversion
In order to make the conversion, first it must be known how to equate the two measurements. There is exactly 1 hectare in every 2.47105 acres of land. And there is exactly 1 acre in every .404686 hectares of land. This means that in order to convert hectares to acres, one simply needs to multiply the number of hectares by 2.47105 to obtain the result.
If the objective is to convert acres to hectares, then simly multiply the number of acres by .404686 to make the conversion.
What Exactly is a Hectare?
The hectare is a unit of measure that is equal to 100 square ares(pronounced "air"). What is an are? An are is a unit of measure equal to 100 square meters. For the person who doesn't understand what a meter is, it is a unit of measure that is comparable to a yard in the standard system of measurement.
For the curious person, there is also a unit of measurement between hectare and are that is called a decare. You guessed it...it's made up of 10 ares.
History
The metric system was granted its status in 1795 by the French government. The law enforcing this in 1795 happened to be called "18 Germinal, Year III" and in this there were 5 units of measurement that were given definition.
- Meter
- Are(100 square meters)
- Stere(1 cubed meter)
- Liter for liquid
- Gram for mass
Once the definitions were created, the meter remained solely known and understood by the French Government until 1875. This year, the length of the meter was transferred to the "General Conference on Weights and Measures." It's incredible to think that this didn't happen until 1875.
Then in 1960, the metric system was named the international system of measurement and the hectare was by default adopted by many countries. When this happened, many countries recalibrated their current land measurement units to equal a hectare.
Why Convert Hectares to Acres?
Although many countries use the metric system, many farmers around the world use acres including Great Britain. When it comes time to sell their land, it must be converted into hectares in order to be ready to sell and to document per the British legal system. In fact, the United States inherited its systems of measurement from the British and what they called the British Imperial system of measurement.
International land purchases have become more and more common in recent years in the wake of globalization. Because of this, international land buyers must be able to convert hectares being bought in one country to the unit of measure they are accustomed to...acres. What land or real estate buyer wouldn't want to know how many acres they were buying so that they could compare the price at home in acres to their international land prospects?
Similar to above, if an international bank was offering a land loan or real estate investment loan to one of its clients, in order to purchase land in a foreign country, that bank will want to know and understand how many acres their borrower is buying and at what price/acre.
Conclusion
Converting hectares to acres and vice versa can be useful information and helpful to know when buying land international or just buying land in countries that still use acres in practice but use hectares by law. In order to convert hectares to acres, one simply needs to multiply the number of hectares by 2.47105 to obtain the result. If the objective is to convert acres to hectares, then simly multiply the number of acres by .404686 to make the conversion.