What is "fanega"

Fanega \Fa*ne"ga\, n. [Sp.] A dry measure in Spain and Spanish America, varying from 1? to 2? bushels; also, a measure of land.
--De Colange.

n. 1 Any of various units of dry capacity, mass and land area used in Spain and the Spanish-speaking world; originally a unit of dry capacity used for grain. 2 A former unit of area, the amount of land that would be sown with a fanega of seed.

The fanega or Spanish bushel was an old measure of dry capacity in Spanish-speaking countries. It was generally used in an agricultural context to measure quantities of grain. The measure varied greatly, but in Castile, it was equivalent to roughly 12 Imperial bushels or 55.5 liters. It was also a measure of surface area that was further subdivided into 100 varas, or the amount of land that could be sown with a fanega of seed.