Square kilometer (km²)
Definition: A square kilometer (symbol: km²) is the area of a square with sides of one kilometer. It equals exactly one million square meters.
History/origin: The square kilometer became a standard large-area metric unit as governments, cartographers, and geographers needed a practical way to measure cities, forests, and regions.
Current use: Square kilometers are used for the area of cities, lakes, countries, parks, and large land or water regions.


