| has gloss | eng: The Danes started with a system of units based on a Greek pous ("foot") of 308.4 mm (1.012 ft) which they picked up through trade in the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age. Some early standards of measure can be recovered from measured drawings made of the 52.5-foot long Hjortspring boat which though dating to the early Iron Age exemplifies plank built vessels of the late Bronze Age and the 82 ft long Nydam ship. Thwarts are typically spaced about 3 fod apart. From May 1, 1683, King Christian V of Denmark introduced an office to oversee weights and measures, a justervæsen, first led by Ole Rømer. The definition of the alen was set to 2 Rhine feet. Rømer later discovered that differing standards for the Rhine foot existed, and in 1698 an iron Copenhagen standard was made. A pendulum definition for the foot was first suggested by Rømer, introduced in 1820, and changed in 1835. The metric system was introduced in 1907. |