Cape foot

{{Short description|Unit of length for land survey in South Africa}} A '''Cape foot''' is a unit of length defined as {{convert|1.0330|ft|mm}} found in documents of belts and diagrams relating to landed property.<ref>{{cite journal |last = Matthews |first = E.L. |author2=G. M. Swift |author3=G. Hartog |title = South Africa: Union of South Africa |journal = Journal of Comparative Legislation and International Law |series=Third Series |volume = 6 |issue = 2 |year = 1924 |pages = 111–134 |jstor=752924}}</ref> It was equal to the Rijnland voet and was introduced into South Africa by Dutch settlers in the seventeenth and eighteenth century.<ref>{{cite book |url = https://archive.org/details/allereerstegron00ramagoog |title = Allereerste Gronden der Cijferkunst |author = Jacob de Gelder |language = nl |year = 1824 |pages = [https://archive.org/details/allereerstegron00ramagoog/page/n372 163]–176 |publisher = Te s'Gravenhage en Amsterdam : Bij de Gebroeders van Cleef |trans-title=Introduction to Numeracy |access-date = 2011-03-02}}</ref>

Its relationship to the English foot was clarified in 1859 by an act of the government of the Cape Colony, South Africa. It was used for land surveying and title deeds in rural areas of South Africa apart from Natal and was used for urban surveying and title deeds in the Transvaal.<ref>{{cite web |title = What is the unit called a cape foot? |url = https://www.sizes.com/units/cape_foot.htm |work = Sizes.com |access-date = 2011-12-25 |date=8 November 2011}}</ref> There were 144 square Cape feet in one Cape rood and 600 Cape roods (86,400 square Cape feet) in one morgen.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.lawsoc.co.za/webs/surveyorgeneral/2007_11_area_conversion.doc |title = Instructions for the Conversions of Areas to Metric |publisher = Law Society of South Africa |date = November 2007 |access-date = 2010-03-10 |archive-date = 2018-03-20 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180320105433/https://www.lawsoc.co.za/webs/surveyorgeneral/2007_11_area_conversion.doc |url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.fig.net/pub/cairo/papers/wshs_03/wshs03_02_zakiewich.pdf |author = Tomasz Zakiewicz |title = The Cape Geodetic Standards and Their Impact on Africa |publisher = FIG |location = Cairo |date = April 2005 |access-date = 2012-01-04 |archive-date = 2012-01-20 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120120235610/http://www.fig.net/pub/cairo/papers/wshs_03/wshs03_02_zakiewich.pdf |url-status = dead }}</ref>

Its use ended when South Africa adopted the metric system in 1977.

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Units of measurement