# Volok (unit)

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'''Volok''' ({{langx|lt|valakas}}, {{langx|pl|włóka}}, {{langx|be|валока}}, {{langx|ru|волока}}) was a late medieval unit of land measurement in the [Grand Duchy of Lithuania](/source/Grand_Duchy_of_Lithuania), [Kingdom of Poland](/source/Kingdom_of_Poland_(Jagiellon)) and later, the [Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth](/source/Polish%E2%80%93Lithuanian_Commonwealth). It was equal, on average, to {{convert|21.368|ha}} in Lithuania or to {{convert|17.955|ha}} in Poland.<ref name=tarvy/> It was subdivided into 30 or 33 [morgen](/source/morgen)s.<ref name=baltr/> 

Volok was also a unit that determined taxation and other duties to the state.<ref name=baltr/> Previously, taxes and duties were based on the number of households (see, for example, [1528 census of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania](/source/1528_census_of_the_Grand_Duchy_of_Lithuania) that recorded households as a measure of military duty) or number of horses/bulls needed to work the land. Such system was not exact: households varied greatly in size and in wealth. Therefore, the introduction of voloks marked an important transition to taxes based on area (width times length).<ref name=baltr/>

In Lithuania, it was introduced during the [Volok Reform](/source/Volok_Reform) that began in 1547. Officially, voloks were abandoned as a unit after the [emancipation reform of 1861](/source/emancipation_reform_of_1861), but survived in everyday use until the introduction of the [metric system](/source/metric_system) in 1921.<ref name=gudav/>

==References==
<references>

<ref name=baltr>{{cite journal |first=Aleksandras |last=Baltrūnas |title=Kaip senovėje lietuviai žemę matuodavo |language=lt |url=http://ausis.gf.vu.lt/mg/nr/2000/056/5mat.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204081258/http://ausis.gf.vu.lt/mg/nr/2000/056/5mat.html |archivedate=2008-12-04 |journal=Mokslas Ir Gyvenimas |year=2000 |volume=5–6 |issue=509–510 |issn=0134-3084}}</ref>
<ref name=gudav>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.vle.lt/Straipsnis/valakas-99080 |title=Valakas |first=Edvardas |last=Gudavičius |encyclopedia=Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija |publisher=Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos centras |language=lt |date=2013-12-16}}</ref>
<ref name=tarvy>{{cite book |url=http://www.lzuu.lt/file.doc?id=17317 |format=PDF |first=Marytė Elena |last=Tarvydienė |title=Žemėtvarkos pagrindai |publisher=[Lithuanian University of Agriculture](/source/Lithuanian_University_of_Agriculture) |year=2007 |page=29 |language=lt |isbn=978-9955-896-11-1 |access-date=2008-10-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722151716/http://www.lzuu.lt/file.doc?id=17317 |archive-date=2011-07-22 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

</references>

Category:Units of area
Category:Obsolete units of measurement
Category:Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Category:Grand Duchy of Lithuania
{{Lithuania-stub}}
{{Poland-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Volok (unit)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volok_(unit)) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volok_(unit)?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.