The square kilometre is a unit of area and is a multiple of the square metre; an SI derived unit. It has the symbol km².
A square kilometre is equal to the area of a square with edges 1km long. There are 1,000,000 square metres in a square kilometre.
Square kilometres are often used to describe expansive areas of land due to the large unit size.
The square metre is a unit of area and is an SI derived unit with the symbol m².
It was introduced in 1954 when the International System of Units was established and was derived directly from one of the original 6 base units - the metre (m).
It can be prefixed with any of the SI symbols that multiply it up or down such as km² (square kilometre) or µm2 (square micrometre). It is the most commonly used unit of area and is recognised all over the world.