Aleague is aunit of length. It was common inEurope andLatin America, but due to its highly inconsistent definition,[citation needed] it is no longer an official unit in any nation. Derived from an ancient Celtic unit and adopted by the Romans as theleuga, the league became a common unit of measurement throughout western Europe. Since the Middle Ages, many values have been specified in several countries, ranging from 2.2 km (1.4 mi) to 7.9 km (4.9 mi).
It may have originally represented, roughly, the distance aperson could walk in an hour.[1]
The league was used inAncient Rome, defined as 1½Roman miles (7,500Roman feet, modern 2.2 km or 1.4 miles). The origin is theleuga Gallica(also:leuca Callica), the league ofGaul.[2]
The Argentine league (legua) is 5.572 km (3.462 mi) or 6,666varas: 1vara is 0.83 m (33 in).[3]
On land, the league is most commonly defined as threemiles (4.83 km), although the length of a mile could vary from place to place as well as depending on the era. At sea, a league is three nmi (3.452 mi; 5.556 km). English usage also included many of the other leagues mentioned below (for example, in discussing theTreaty of Tordesillas).[citation needed]
TheBattle Abbey Chronicles define aleuga (league) as the English leuga contains 12 roods and 40 perches make a rood. The perch is 16 feet in length.[4]
The Frenchlieue—at different times—existed in several variants, namely 10,000, 12,000, 13,200 and 14,400French feet, about 3.25 to 4.68 km (2.02 to 2.91 miles). It was used along with themetric system for a while, but is long discontinued.
A metriclieue was used in France from 1812 to 1840, with 1 metriclieue being exactly 4,000 m, or 4 km (about 2.5 mi).[5] It is this unit that is referenced in both the title and the body text ofJules Verne's novelTwenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870).[6]
In some rural parts of Mexico, the league (Spanishlegua) 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.[7]
InPortugal,Brazil and other parts of the formerPortuguese Empire, there were several units called league (Portuguese:légua):
The names of the severalléguas referred to the number of units that made the length corresponding to anangle degree of ameridian arc.
For compatibility after Portugal adopted the metric system, themetriclégua of 5.0 km was used.
In Brazil, theléguas is still used occasionally, where it has been described as about 6.6 km.
Thelegua or Spanish league was originally understood as equivalent to3millas (Spanishmiles).[8] This varied depending on local standards for thepie (Spanishfoot) and on the precision of measurement, but was officially equivalent to4,180metres (2.6miles) before thelegua was abolished byPhilip II in 1568. It remains in use in parts ofLatin America, where its exact meaning varies.
In the earlyHispanic settlements ofNew Mexico,Texas,California, andColorado, a league was also a unit of area, defined as 25 million squarevaras or about 4,428.4acres.[10] This usage ofleague is referenced frequently in theTexas Constitution. So defined, a league of land would encompass a square that is one Spanish league on each side.
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 (m) | Name | Where used | From | To | Definition | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | (for comparison) | 1 kilometer | ||||
| 1,280.16 | kawtha | Myanmar | today | 20 out-thaba | Myanmar units of measurement | |
| 1,482 | mille passus, milliarium | Roman Empire | Ancient Roman units of measurement | |||
| 1,486.6 | miglio[11] | Sicily | ||||
| 1,500 | Persian mile | Persia | ||||
| 1,524 | London mile | England | ||||
| 1,609.3426 | (statute) mile | England/UK | 1592 | 1959 | 1,760yards | Over the course of time, the length of a yard changed several times and consequently so did the English (and, from 1824, Imperial) mile. The statute mile was introduced in 1592 during the reign of QueenElizabeth I |
| 1,609.344 | mile | some English speaking countries[citation needed] | 1959 | today | 1,760yards | On 1 July 1959, the imperial mile was standardized to an exact length in metres |
| 1,609.3472 | (statute) mile | United States | 1893 | today | 1,760yards | From 1959; also called theU.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:3,600/3,937 × 1760 |
| 1 820 | Italy | |||||
| 1,852 | nautical mile | international | today | 1,852 m | Symbol: nmi; Abbreviation: NM | |
| 1,852.3 | (for comparison) | 1 meridian minute | ||||
| 1,853.181 | Turkish (nautical) mile | Turkey | 1933 | today | ||
| 1,855.4 | (for comparison) | 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. | |||
| 1,894.35 | Ottoman mile | Ottoman Empire | 1933 | 5,000ayak | Ottoman units of measurement | |
| 2,065 | Portugal | |||||
| 2,220 | Gallo-Roman league | Gallo-Roman culture | 1+1⁄2 miles | Under the reign ofEmperorSeptimius Severus, this replaced the Roman mile as the official unit of distance in theGallic andGermanicprovinces, although there were regional and temporal variations.[12] | ||
| 2,470 | Sardinia, Piemont | |||||
| 2,622 | Scotland | |||||
| 2,880 | Ireland | |||||
| 3,780 | Flanders | |||||
| 3,898 | French lieue (post league) | France | 2,000 "body lengths" | |||
| 4,000 | French lieue | France | 1812 | 1840 | 4,000 m exactly | This unit is referenced byJules Verne's 1870 novelTwenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas.[6] |
| 4,000 | general ormetric league | |||||
| 4,000 | legue | Guatemala | ||||
| 4,179.4 | legua antigua (old league) | Spain | 1568 | |||
| 4,190 | legue | Mexico[13] | = 2,500 tresas = 5,000 varas | |||
| 4,444.8 | landleuge | 1⁄25° 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,[13] (Guatemala, Haiti) | = 36 cuadros = 5,400 varas | |||
| 4,531 | Wegstunde | Saxony[14] | 1722 | 1840 | 1,000 Dresden rods | introduced on occasion of acountrywide road survey |
| 4,808 | Switzerland | |||||
| 4,828 | Englishland league | England | 3 miles | |||
| 4,800 4,900 | Germanicrasta, alsodoppelleuge (double league) | |||||
| 5,000 | légua nova | Portugal[13] | ||||
| 5,120.64 | ga-wout (Burmese league) | Myanmar | today | 4 kawtha | Myanmar units of measurement | |
| 5,196 | legua | Bolivia[13] | = 40 ladres | |||
| 5,152 | legua argentina | Argentina, Buenos Aires[13] | = 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 (state league) | Prussia | ||||
| 5,540 | legue | Honduras | ||||
| 5,556 | Seeleuge (lit. "sea league" or nautical league) | 1⁄20° of a circle of longitude 3nautical miles | ||||
| 5,570 | legua | Spain and Chile | Spanish customary units | |||
| 5,572 | legua | Colombia[13] | = 3 Millas | |||
| 5,572.7 | legue | Peru[13] | = 20,000 feet | |||
| 5,572.7 | legua antigua old league | Spain[13] | = 3 millas = 15,000 feet | |||
| 5,590 | légua | Brazil[13] | = 5,000 varas = 2,500 bracas | |||
| 5,600 | Brazilian légua | Brazil | ||||
| 5,685 | Fersah (Turkish league) | Ottoman Empire | 1933 | 3 Ottoman miles | Derived from PersianParasang. | |
| 5,840[15] | Dutch mile | Netherlands | 1816 | |||
| 6,197 | légua antiga | Portugal[13] | = 3 milhas = 24 estadios | |||
| 6,277 | Luxembourg | |||||
| 6,280 | Belgium | |||||
| 6,687.24 | legua nueva (new league) | Spain[13] | 1766 | = 8,000 Varas | ||
| 6,797 | Landvermessermeile (state survey mile) | Saxony | ||||
| 7,400 | Netherlands | 1816 | ||||
| 7,409 | (for comparison) | 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 | 1⁄15 equatorial grads | ||||
| 7,421.6 | (for comparison) | 4 equatorial minutes | ||||
| 7,448.7 | Württemberg | |||||
| 7,450 | Hohenzollern | |||||
| 7,467.6 | Russia | 7werst | Obsolete Russian units of measurement | |||
| 7,480 | Bohemia | |||||
| 7,500 | kleine / neue Postmeile (small/new postal mile) | Saxony | 1840 | German Empire,North German Confederation,Grand Duchy of Hesse, Russia | ||
| 7,532.5 | Land(es)meile (German state mile) | Denmark, Hamburg,Prussia | primarily for Denmark defined byOle Rømer | |||
| 7,585.9 | Postmeile (post mile) | Austria-Hungary | Austrian units of measurement | |||
| 7,850 | Romania | |||||
| 8,800 | Schleswig-Holstein | |||||
| 8,888.89 | Baden | |||||
| 9,062 | average Post- or Polizeimeile (middle post mile or police mile) | Saxony[14] | 1722 | |||
| 9,206.3 | Electorate of Hesse | |||||
| 9,261.4 | (for comparison) | 5 meridian minutes | ||||
| 9,277 | (for comparison) | 5 equatorial minutes | ||||
| 9,323 | alte Landmeile (old state mile) | Hanover | 1836 | |||
| 9,347 | alte Landmeile (old state mile) | Hanover | 1836 | |||
| 9,869.6 | Oldenburg | |||||
| 10,000 | metric mile,Scandinavian mile | Scandinavia | still commonly used today, e.g. for road distances.; equates to themyriametre | |||
| 10,044 | große Meile (great mile) | Westphalia | ||||
| 10,670 | peninkulma | Finland | 1887 | |||
| 10,688.54 | mil | Sweden | 1889 | |||
| 11,113.7 | (for comparison) | 6 meridian minutes | ||||
| 11,132.4 | (for comparison) | 6 equatorial minutes | ||||
| 11,295 | mil | Norway | 1889 | was equivalent to 3,000 Rhenishrods. |
Similar units:
