Before the French Revolution, France was under the royal rule, and the way to measure distance was arbitrary and didn’t use any scientific method. But everything changed with the revolution and together came the meter to replace the units of measure used in the Ancien Régime. The Paris meters were installed in busy street areas, between February 1796 and December 1797 and they were used to by people to measure, copy and confirm this new standard of measurement.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen is the most critical work of the French Revolution, but the unification of measurements changed the world. Before 1789, each region of France had its way of measuring length, area, and weight. Commerce between the areas was hard and putting prices on goods wasn’t simple.

With this in mind, the French Revolution decided to facilitate trade and create uniformity of measures and weights. After it became law, several years were necessary to spread the word about this new way of measuring throughout France. With Napoleon’s conquest of Europe, a few years later, the system was adopted by more countries. In 1875, it was officially established as an international measurement unit by the Metre Convention of 1875. Today you can see it, pretty much, anywhere.