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Feddan
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| Feddan | |
|---|---|
| Unit of | Area |
| Symbol | fed |
| Conversions | |
| 1 fed in ... | ... is equal to ... |
| SI units | 4,200 m2 |
A feddan (Arabic: فدّان, romanized: faddān) is a unit of area used in Egypt, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Oman. In Classical Arabic, the word means 'a yoke of oxen', implying the area of ground that could be tilled by oxen in a certain time. In Egypt, the feddan is the only non-metric unit which remained in use following the adoption of the metric system. A feddan is divided into 24 kirat (Arabic: قيراط, qīrāt), with one kirat equalling 175 square metres.[1]
Equivalent units
[edit]1 feddan = 24 kirat = 60 metre × 70 metre = 4200[2] square metres (m2) = 0.420 hectares = 1.037 acres[3]
In Syria, the feddan is a vaguer quantity, referring to the amount of land that can be ploughed by a pair of oxen in a year, being about 5–12 ha (12–30 acres).[4]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Lyons, H.G. (1907). The cadastral survey of Egypt 1892-1907. Рипол Классик. p. 41. ISBN 9781176444607. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) - ^ "What is a feddan?". www.sizes.com. Retrieved 2018-09-27.
- ^ Arab Republic of Egypt Toward Agricultural Competitiveness in the 21st Century (PDF) (Report) (23405-EGT ed.). Rural Development, Water and Environment Department Middle East and North Africa Region. 21 December 2001. p. 2.
- ^ A Handbook of Syria: Including Palestine. (1920:324). United Kingdom: H.M. Stationery Office.
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Feddan
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Etymology and History
Linguistic Origin
The term "feddan" originates from the Classical Arabic word faddān (فدّان), which literally means "a yoke of oxen" and refers to the amount of land that a pair of oxen could plow in a single day, reflecting its deep roots in ancient agricultural labor practices.[3][6] This etymological connection underscores the unit's practical basis in pre-modern farming, where land measurement was directly linked to the productivity of draft animals rather than abstract standards. In regional Arabic dialects, particularly Egyptian Arabic, the term has persisted with minimal phonetic variation as faddān or feddan, maintaining its core agricultural significance as a measure of arable land suitable for cultivation. This continuity highlights how the word adapted to local vernaculars while preserving its connotation of oxen-driven tillage, distinguishing it from more formalized metric systems introduced later. The first documented applications of faddān as a land measurement term appear in medieval Arabic texts from the early Islamic period, such as administrative and fiscal records detailing land taxation in regions like Egypt under the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates.[7] These sources illustrate the term's integration into the bureaucratic language of the Islamic world, where it served to quantify plots for revenue assessment and agricultural allocation.Historical Development
The feddan traces its conceptual origins to ancient land measurement systems in Egypt and Mesopotamia, where units such as the Egyptian aroura (approximately 0.68 acres) and the Mesopotamian iku (about 0.81 acres) quantified agricultural plots based on the area tillable by draft animals. These practices emphasized Nile Valley fertility and irrigation, influencing subsequent adaptations. During the Islamic conquests of the 7th century, Arab administrators integrated such traditions into their governance, formalizing the feddan—derived from the Arabic term for a yoke of oxen—as a practical unit for taxing and distributing arable land in newly conquered territories like Egypt.[8] In the Ottoman Empire from the 16th to 19th centuries, the feddan became central to Egypt's cadastral and fiscal systems, with surveys using it to assess taxes on cultivated areas. Muhammad Ali Pasha's centralizing reforms in the early 1800s reinforced this by redistributing vast tracts of land for cash crops including sugarcane, though the unit's size varied regionally, approximately 5,300 m² based on 333⅓ square qasabas, depending on local measurement practices.[9][1] British colonial occupation from 1882 onward introduced further standardization to support irrigation and export agriculture, culminating in comprehensive cadastral surveys that mapped millions of feddans for precise taxation.[10] A pivotal event occurred in 1891 with a royal decree under British influence, which equalized ownership rights across all agricultural lands. The feddan's size had been standardized to 4,200.833 m² after 1830, aligning it with emerging international standards to facilitate land registration and perennial irrigation projects like the Aswan Dam; this standardization followed the adjustment of the qasaba linear unit from approximately 399 cm to 355 cm, with prior fluctuations around 4,200–5,300 m² depending on the period.[9][1][11] In the post-colonial era, the 1952 land reform under Gamal Abdel Nasser dramatically shifted the feddan's role, capping individual holdings at 200 feddans (with family limits at 300) and expropriating excess for redistribution to tenants, aiming to dismantle large estates and boost peasant productivity; subsequent laws in 1958 and 1961 lowered ceilings to 100 feddans, redistributing over 1 million feddans by the 1960s.[9][12]Definition and Measurement
Standard Size
The feddan serves as the primary unit of land area measurement in Egypt, officially standardized at 4,200.833 square meters after 1830, when the qasaba (a linear unit) was redefined to 355 cm.[1] This precise definition fixed earlier variable interpretations, ensuring uniformity in agricultural and legal contexts. The unit is subdivided into 24 kirats, each equivalent to exactly 175 square meters, allowing for finer divisions in land allocation and surveying.[13] Further subdivisions include 24 smaller units per kirat, often referred to in traditional contexts as portions equivalent to 1/24 of a kirat (approximately 7.29 square meters), though modern usage primarily relies on the kirat for practical measurements. The feddan's size derives from the historical notion of the land area plowed by a team of oxen in one day, a concept that was legally codified in Egypt after 1830 to support consistent land administration.[1]Regional Variations
The feddan in Sudan and South Sudan is defined as approximately 4,200 square meters, reflecting the standardization inherited from the Anglo-Egyptian colonial period.[1] These implementations, including in the Gezira project, used the unit for irrigation and land allocation.[14][15] In Syria, the feddan has historically varied, such as 2,295–3,443 square meters in 20th-century Aleppo.[1] Historically in Oman, the feddan is approximately 4,200 square meters, as used in agricultural contexts.[16]Equivalents and Comparisons
Metric and Imperial Conversions
The standard Egyptian feddan provides the foundation for conversions to metric and imperial units, with 1 feddan measuring 4,200.833 square meters.[17] This equates to approximately 0.4201 hectares in the metric system.[17] In imperial terms, 1 feddan corresponds to approximately 1.038 acres.[18] To convert feddans to acres, multiply the value by 1.038. For practical applications in land planning, such as agricultural development or real estate assessment, examples include 100 feddans equaling 42.01 hectares or about 103.8 acres.[17][18]| Unit | Conversion Factor (1 feddan =) |
|---|---|
| Square meters | 4,200.833 m² |
| Hectares | ≈ 0.4201 ha |
| Acres | ≈ 1.038 ac |