League (unit)
A league is a unit of length. It was common in Europe and Latin America, but is no longer an official unit in any nation. The word originally meant the distance a person could walk in an hour. Since the Middle Ages, many values have been specified in several countries.
Different definitions
Ancient Rome
The league was used in Ancient Rome, defined as Roman miles. The origin is the leuga Gallica , the league of Gaul.Argentina
The Argentine league is or 6 666 varas: 1 vara is.English-speaking world
On land, the league is most commonly defined as three miles, though the length of a mile could vary from place to place and depending on the era. At sea, a league is. English usage also included many of the other leagues mentioned below.France
The French lieue – at different times – existed in several variants: 10 000, 12 000, 13 200 and 14 400 French feet, about. It was used along with the metric system for a while but is now long discontinued.A metric lieue was used in France from 1812 to 1840, with 1 metric lieue being exactly 4 000 m, or 4 km. It is this unit that is mentioned both in the title and the body text of Jules Verne's novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
Mexico
Perhaps in some rural parts of Mexico, the league is still used in the original sense of the distance that can be covered on foot in an hour, so that a league along a good road on level ground is a greater distance than a league on a difficult path over rough terrain.Portuguese-speaking world
In Portugal, Brazil and other parts of the former Portuguese Empire, there were several units called league :- Légua of 18 to a degree = 6 172.84 metres
- Légua of 20 to a degree = 5 555.56 metres
- Légua of 25 to a degree = 4 444.44 metres
As a transitory measure, after Portugal adopted the metric system, the metric légua, of 5.0 km, was used.
In Brazil, the légua is still used occasionally, where it has been described as about 6.6 km.
Spain
The legua or Spanish league was originally understood as equivalent to . This varied depending on local standards for the pie and on the precision of measurement, but was officially equivalent to before the legua was abolished by Philip II in 1568. It remains in use in parts of Latin America, where its exact meaning varies.- Legua nautica : Between 1400 and 1600 the Spanish nautical league was equal to four Roman miles of 4 842 feet, making it 19 368 feet. That seems pretty straightforward until one realizes that the accepted number of Spanish nautical leagues to a degree varied between 14 1/6 to 16 2/3 so in actual practice the length of a Spanish nautical league was 25 733 feet to 21 874 feet respectively.
- Legua de por grado : From the 15th century through the early 17th century, the Spanish league of the degree was based on four Arabic miles. Although most contemporary accounts used an Arabic mile of 6 444 feet, which gave a Spanish league of the degree of 25 776 feet others defined an Arabic mile as just 6 000 feet making a Spanish league of the degree 24 000 feet.
- Legua geographica or geográfica : Starting around 1630 the Spanish geographical league was used as the official nautical measurement and continued so through the 1840s. Its use on Spanish charts did not become mandatory until 1718. It was four millias in length. From 1630 to 1718 a millia was 5 564 feet, making a geographical league of four millias equal 22 256 feet. But from 1718 through the 1830s the millia was defined as the equivalent of just over 5210 feet, giving a shorter geographical league of just over 20 842 feet.
- Legua marítima : From around 1840 through the early 20th century, a Spanish marine league equaled 18 263.52 feet, i.e. about 35 feet longer than our modern maritime league.
Comparison table
A comparison of the different lengths for a "league", in different countries and at different times in history, is given in the table below. Miles are also included in this list because of the linkage between the two units.| Length | Name | Where used | From | To | Definition | Remarks |
| 1 482 | mille passus, milliarium | Roman Empire | Ancient Roman units of measurement | |||
| 1 486.6 | miglio | Sicily | ||||
| 1 500 | Persian mile | Persia | ||||
| 1 524 | London mile | England | ||||
| 1 609.3426 | mile | Great Britain | 1592 | 1959 | 1 760 yards | Over the course of time, the length of a yard changed several times and consequently so did the English mile. The statute mile was introduced in 1592 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I |
| 1 609.344 | mile | some Anglosaxon countries | 1959 | today | 1 760 yards | On 1 July 1959 the imperial mile was standardized to an exact length in metres |
| 1 609.3472 | mile | United States | 1893 | today | 1 760 yards | From 1959 also called the U.S. Survey Mile. From then its only utility has been land survey, before it was the standard mile. From 1893 its exact length in metres was: × 1760 |
| 1 820 | Italy | |||||
| 1 852 | nautical mile | international | today | 1 852 m | Symbol: nmi; Abbreviation: NM | |
| 1 852.3 | 1 meridian minute | |||||
| 1 853.181 | nautical mile | Turkey | ||||
| 1 855.4 | 1 equatorial minute | Though the NM was defined on the basis of the minute, it varies from the equatorial minute, because at that time people could only estimate the circumference of the equator to be 40 000 km. | ||||
| 2 065 | Portugal | |||||
| 2 220 | Gallo-Roman league | Gallo-Roman culture | miles | Under the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus, this replaced the Roman mile as the official unit of distance in the Gallic and Germanic provinces, although there were regional and temporal variations. | ||
| 2 470 | Sardinia, Piemont | |||||
| 2 622 | Scotland | |||||
| 2 880 | Ireland | |||||
| 3 780 | Flanders | |||||
| 3 898 | French lieue | France | 2 000 "body lengths" | |||
| 4 000 | general or metric league | |||||
| 4 000 | legue | Guatemala | - | |||
| 4 179.4 | legua antigua | Spain | 1568 | |||
| 4 190 | legue | Mexico | = 2500 tresas = 5000 varas | |||
| 4 444.8 | landleuge | ° of a circle of longitude | ||||
| 4 452.2 | lieue commune | France | Units of measurement in France before the French Revolution | |||
| 4 513 | legue | Paraguay | ||||
| 4 513 | legua | Chile, | = 36 cuadros = 5 400 varas | |||
| 4 531 | Wegstunde | Saxony | 1722 | 1840 | 1 000 Dresden rods | introduced on occasion of a countrywide road survey |
| 4 808 | Switzerland | |||||
| 4 828 | English land league | England | 3 miles | |||
| 4 800 4,900 | Germanic rasta, also doppelleuge | |||||
| 5 000 | légua nova | Portugal | ||||
| 5 196 | legua | Bolivia | = 40 ladres | |||
| 5 152 | legua argentina | Argentina, Buenos Aires | = 6 000 varas | |||
| 5 154 | legue | Uruguay | ||||
| 5 200 | Bolivian legua | Bolivia | ||||
| 5 370 | legue | Venezuela | ||||
| 5 500 | Portuguese légua | Portugal | ||||
| 5 510 | legue | Ecuador | ||||
| 5 510 | Ecuadorian legua | Ecuador | ||||
| 5 532.5 | Landleuge | Prussia | ||||
| 5 540 | legue | Honduras | ||||
| 5 556 | Seeleuge | ° of a circle of longitude 3 nautical miles | ||||
| 5 570 | legua | Spain and Chile | Spanish customary units | |||
| 5 572 | legua | Colombia | = 3 Millas | |||
| 5 572.7 | legue | Peru | = 20 000 feet | |||
| 5 572.7 | legua antigua old league | Spain | = 3 millas = 15 000 feet | |||
| 5 590 | légua | Brazil | = 5 000 varas = 2 500 bracas | |||
| 5 600 | Brazilian légua | Brazil | ||||
| 5 685 | Fersah | Ottoman Empire | 1933 | 4 Turkish miles | Derived from Persian Parasang. | |
| 5 840 | Dutch mile | Netherlands | ||||
| 6 197 | légua antiga | Portugal | = 3 milhas = 24 estadios | |||
| 6 277 | Luxembourg | |||||
| 6 280 | Belgium | |||||
| 6 687.24 | legua nueva | Spain | 1766 | = 8 000 Varas | ||
| 6 797 | Landvermessermeile'' | Saxony | ||||
| 7 400 | Netherlands | |||||
| 7 409 | 4 meridian minutes | |||||
| 7 419.2 | Kingdom of Hanover | |||||
| 7 419.4 | Duchy of Brunswick | |||||
| 7 420.4 7,414,9 | Bavaria | |||||
| 7 420.439 | geographic mile | equatorial grads | ||||
| 7 421.6 | 4 equatorial minutes | |||||
| 7 448.7 | Württemberg | |||||
| 7 450 | Hohenzollern | |||||
| 7 467.6 | Russia | 7 werst | Obsolete Russian units of measurement | |||
| 7 480 | Bohemia | |||||
| 7 500 | kleine / neue Postmeile | Saxony | 1840 | German Empire, North German Confederation, Grand Duchy of Hesse, Russia | ||
| 7 532.5 | Landmeile | Denmark, Hamburg, Prussia | primarily for Denmark defined by Ole Rømer | |||
| 7 585.9 | Postmeile | Austria-Hungary | Austrian units of measurement | |||
| 7 850 | Romania | |||||
| 8 800 | Schleswig-Holstein | |||||
| 8 888.89 | Baden | |||||
| 9 062 | average Post- or Polizeimeile | Saxony | 1722 | |||
| 9 206.3 | Electorate of Hesse | |||||
| 9 261.4 | 5 meridian minutes | |||||
| 9 277 | 5 equatorial minutes | |||||
| 9 323 | alte Landmeile | Hanover | 1836 | |||
| 9 347 | alte Landmeile | Hanover | 1836 | |||
| 9 869.6 | Oldenburg | |||||
| 10 000 | metric mile, Scandinavian mile | Scandinavia | still commonly used today, e.g. for road distances.; equates to the myriametre | |||
| 10 044 | große Meile | Westphalia | ||||
| 10 670 | peninkulma | Finland | 1887 | |||
| 10 688.54 | mil | Sweden | 1889 | |||
| 11 113.7 | 6 meridian minutes | |||||
| 11 132.4 | 6 equatorial minutes | |||||
| 11 295 | mil | Norway | 1889 | was equivalent to 3 000 Rhenish rods. |
Similar units: