Kanaal Conversion

The term kanaal derives from the Persian word for irrigation channel. In the Punjab plains, land plots were historically laid out alongside and named after the watercourses that fed them.

The Kanaal was formalised as an official unit of area during British colonial land settlement surveys of the Punjab in the late 19th century. Before that local standards varied village to village.

A Marla of 272.25 sq ft is the colonial standard still used in rural revenue records. Urban housing schemes in Lahore and other cities often use 225 sq ft, while 250 sq ft is common in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

The Kanaal was deliberately sized so that 8 of them equal one imperial acre a convenient link between the indigenous measurement system and the British one.

The Kanaal is also used in parts of India, particularly Haryana, Himachal and Pradesh reflecting the shared Mughal-era land administration heritage of the region.