1 hectare is the same as 10,000 square kilometers, 100 areas, and 0.01 square kilometers. In standard imperial terms, it is equal to 10,7639 square feet or 2.47105 acres.
The figures above don’t explain much in terms of what 1 hectare looks like. For that, you’ll need to know the measurements of everyday objects that you can use as a reference. Below, I’ll discuss 8 objects that you can use as a visual reference to estimate what 1 hectare looks like.
18 Family Restaurants
Do you remember what it was like dining at a local family restaurant? There would be kids screaming their heads off, the staff would be overworked and underpaid, and sometimes, the food would take hours to leave the kitchen. Good times, right?
One thing you probably didn’t know about family restaurants is that, on average, they take up around 6,000 square feet of land. So, if you wanted to envision what 1 hectare looks like in terms of your local family restaurant, imagine placing 18 of them next to each other. Or you could look at 37 large Pizza Hut restaurants since they measure around 2,900 square feet.
15 Mansions
When you hear the word mansion, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Probably a humungous house with more rooms and swimming pools than the owner needs, right? Historically, a mansion was defined as a home that took up 5,000 square feet, but in modern times, a mansion is a house that is at least 7,000 square feet. So, try to imagine copying and pasting 15 mansions in a row.
Do you know what separates mansions from manors? Real estate agents will list properties of 8,000 square feet and larger as manors. Can you imagine what you could do in a house that’s around 3 times the size of the typical American home? However, the typical manor pales in comparison to Shaquille O’Neal’s 31,000-square-foot former home in Orlando.
Average Rice Farm
Most folks out there would think that rice is a crop that is grown in South America and Asia, but the US only imports around 11% of its total rice supply. The rest comes from farmers in Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana, and California. Like any piece of farmland, rice fields in America will take up vast amounts of space—more than 3,000 acres, to be more precise.
However, in the rest of the world, a rice field would usually start at around 1.25 hectares, though there are large companies that grow the staple crop in farmlands of over 120 hectares. So, the next time you visit South America or Asia, make sure to stop by a small rice farm and use it as a visual reference for 1-ish hectares.
1.7 Miles of Residential Road
Here’s something that many motorists should have a feel for, even if they haven’t manually measured it. The width of a city or residential road in the US measures around 12 feet wide, even though some have argued that this can lead to disaster.
If you were to travel 1.7 miles along a 12-foot-wide road, the road would cover a total area of 1 hectare. Traveling at 5 miles per hour would take you about 20 minutes to cover that distance.
School
There’s not a second that goes by where I’m not thankful that I’m no longer in school. Don’t get me wrong; school was great, but getting up in the morning was a pain in the neck. Also, roughly 98% of the stuff we learn in the classroom goes in one ear and exits the other.
But all that aside, do you know how much square footage the typical school takes up? On average, a school in the US will take up 118,500 square feet of land space, which is slightly over the 1-hectare mark. All you would have to do to get to 1 hectare is subtract roughly 67 average-sized in the school parking lot.
13 Baseball Fields
For reasons that are beyond my comprehension, baseball is still a thing. There are several causes for why baseball is dwindling in popularity, but essentially, it’s a sport that only the older generation likes. It’s only during the World Series when anything remotely interesting takes place, then after that, it’s another 5 months of being thankful for the off-season.
Anyway, the diamond on a baseball field is a perfect 90-foot square, so it takes up about 8,100 square feet. You could fit 13 MLB-approved baseball diamonds in a 1-hectare plot of land.
5 Large Strip Malls
A strip mall is a shopping mall that is comprised of multiple stores, restaurants, and other businesses placed next to each other in a 1-story building. They’re not as large as malls, nor are they as interesting, but there’s a lot less walking you have to do to visit all of the businesses.
On average, a strip mall will take up between 7,000 and 20,000 square feet of land. To get to 1 hectare, you would have to envision placing 5 large strip malls side by side. Or you could take 1/50th of the Mall of America (5.6 million square feet)—whichever is easier for you.
2 White Houses
Construction of the White House started on October 13, 1792, but it wasn’t fully completed until 1800. The first person to call the White House his home was the second POTUS, John Adams. Abe Lincoln didn’t live in the White House but instead preferred staying on a 250-acre farm just 3 miles away.
The White House takes up 55,000 square feet of land, with the largest room being the East Room (80 × 37 feet). However, you would need to construct an identical copy of the White House and combines its size with the original to get 1 hectare.
How many hectares of land worldwide might be suitable for reforestation?
Based on a study conducted in 2019, it has been estimated that there is approximately 0.9 billion hectares of land worldwide that could be deemed suitable for reforestation. This significant area holds the potential to capture a substantial portion of human-made carbon emissions, specifically around two-thirds of the total emissions, which amounts to approximately 205 gigatonnes.
How many blue whales could fit in a swimming pool dug out from a hectare of ground?
If a swimming pool were to be created by digging out a hectare of ground, approximately 12 blue whales could comfortably fit in it.
What is the purpose of a hectare?
The purpose of a hectare is to provide a common unit for measuring land in various contexts such as legal cases, land planning, sales, and agriculture. While not an official part of the International System of Units, the hectare has gained acceptance within this system. It serves as a valuable tool internationally, particularly in metric-based countries, as it bridges the gap between the smaller square meter and the larger square kilometer measurements. By offering a “medium-sized” decimal concept, the hectare facilitates the description and understanding of land areas that fall within this range, which otherwise would pose challenges for accurate and efficient communication.
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