League (unit) explained

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. Derived from an ancient Celtic unit and adopted by the Romans as the, the league became a common unit of measurement throughout western Europe. Since the Middle Ages, many values have been specified in several countries.

It may have originally represented, roughly, the distance a person could walk in an hour.[1]

Definitions

Ancient Rome

See also: Ancient Roman units of measurement. The league was used in Ancient Rome, defined as 1½ Roman miles (7,500 Roman feet, modern 2.2 km or 1.4 miles). The origin is the (also: ), the league of Gaul.[2]

Argentina

The Argentine league is 5.572abbr=onNaNabbr=on or 6,666 : 1 is 0.83m (02.72feet).[3]

England

See also: English units of measurement. On land, the league is most commonly defined as three miles (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 3nmi. English usage also included many of the other leagues mentioned below (for example, in discussing the Treaty of Tordesillas).

France

See also: Units of measurement in France before the French Revolution. The French  — at different times — existed in several variants, namely 10,000, 12,000, 13,200 and 14,400 French feet, about 3.25kmto4.68kmkm (02.02milesto02.91mileskm). It was used along with the metric system for a while, but is long discontinued.

A metric was used in France from 1812 to 1840, with 1 metric being exactly 4,000 m, or 4 km (about 2.5 mi).[4] It is this unit that is referenced in both the title and the body text of Jules Verne's novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870).[5]

Mexico

In some rural parts of Mexico, the league (Spanish ) 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.[6]

Portugal

See also: Portuguese customary units. In Portugal, Brazil and other parts of the former Portuguese Empire, there were several units called league (Portuguese: légua):

The names of the several referred to the number of units that made the length corresponding to an angle degree of a meridian arc.

For compatibility after Portugal adopted the metric system, the metric of 5.0 km was used.

In Brazil, the is still used occasionally, where it has been described as about 6.6 km.

Spain

See also: Spanish customary units. The or Spanish league was originally understood as equivalent to (Spanish miles).[7] This varied depending on local standards for the pie (Spanish foot) and on the precision of measurement, but was officially equivalent to (2.6 miles) before the was abolished by Philip II in 1568. It remains in use in parts of Latin America, where its exact meaning varies.

In the early Hispanic settlements of New Mexico, Texas, California, and Colorado, a league was also a unit of area, defined as 25 million square varas or about 4,428.4 acres.[9] This usage of league is referenced frequently in the Texas Constitution. So defined, a league of land would encompass a square that is one Spanish league on each side.

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 (m) Name Where used From To Definition Remarks
1,000 (for comparison) 1 kilometer
1,280.16 kawtha today 20 out-thaba Myanmar units of measurement
1,482 mille passus, milliarium Roman Empire Ancient Roman units of measurement
1,486.6 miglio[10] Sicily
1,500 Persian mile Persia
1,524 London mile England
1,609.3426 (statute) mile England/UK 1592 1959 1,760 yards 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 Queen Elizabeth I
1,609.344 mile some English speaking countries 1959 today 1,760 yards On 1 July 1959, the imperial mile was standardized to an exact length in metres
1,609.3472 (statute) mile United States1893 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 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 Ottoman units of measurement
2,065 Portugal
2,220 Gallo-Roman league 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.[11]
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 by Jules Verne's 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas.
4,000 general or metric league
4,000legueGuatemala
4,179.4legua antigua
(old league)
Spain1568
4,190legueMexico= 2,500 tresas = 5,000 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
4,513legueParaguay
4,513leguaChile, (Guatemala, Haiti) = 36 cuadros = 5,400 varas
4,531 Wegstunde Saxony[12] 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
(double league)
5,000 légua nova Portugal
5,120.64 ga-wout (Burmese league) today 4 kawtha Myanmar units of measurement
5,196leguaBolivia = 40 ladres
5,152legua argentinaArgentina, Buenos Aires = 6,000 varas
5,154legueUruguay
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) ° of a circle of longitude
3 nautical miles
5,570 legua Spain and Chile Spanish customary units
5,572leguaColombia= 3 Millas
5,572.7leguePeru = 20,000 feet
5,572.7legua 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 (Turkish league) Ottoman Empire 1933 3 Ottoman miles Derived from Persian Parasang.
5,840[13] Dutch mile Netherlands 1816
6,197légua antigaPortugal = 3 milhas = 24 estadios
6,277 Luxembourg
6,280 Belgium
6,687.24legua nueva
(new league)
Spain 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 equatorial grads
7,421.6 (for comparison) 4 equatorial minutes
7,448.7 Württemberg
7,450 Hohenzollern
7,467.6 Russia 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)
primarily for Denmark defined by Ole Rømer
7,585.9 Postmeile
(post mile)
Austria-Hungary Austrian units of measurement
7,850
8,800 Schleswig-Holstein
8,888.89 Baden
9,062 average Post- or Polizeimeile
(middle post mile or police mile)
Saxony 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 Scandinavia still commonly used today, e.g. for road distances.; equates to the myriametre
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 Rhenish rods.

Similar units:

See also

References

Notes and References

  1. Chardon . Roland . The Linear League in North America . Annals of the Association of American Geographers. June 1980 . 70 . 2 . 131 . 10.1111/j.1467-8306.1980.tb01304.x . 19 October 2022.
  2. The Oxford English Dictionary
  3. Espasa-Calpe Dictionary, Argentina and Mexico Edition 1945: headword Legua
  4. François Cardarelli: Scientific Unit Conversion (Springer-Verlag London, 1999)
  5. Jules Verne: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers (1871), Part 2, Chapter VII
    "Aussi, notre vitesse fut-elle de vingt-cinq milles à l’heure, soit douze lieues de quatre kilomètres. Il va sans dire que Ned Land, à son grand ennui, dut renoncer à ses projets de fuite. Il ne pouvait se servir du canot entraîné à raison de douze à treize mètres par seconde. Quitter le Nautilus dans ces conditions, c’eût été sauter d’un train marchant avec cette rapidité, manœuvre imprudente s’il en fut."
    "Accordingly, our speed was twenty–five miles (that is, twelve four–kilometre leagues) per hour. Needless to say, Ned Land had to give up his escape plans, much to his distress. Swept along at the rate of twelve to thirteen metres per second, he could hardly make use of the skiff. Leaving the Nautilus under these conditions would have been like jumping off a train racing at this speed, a rash move if there ever was one." Translated by F. P. Walter
  6. Book: Rani T. Alexander. Yaxcabá and the Caste War of Yucatán: An Archaeological Perspective. 2004. UNM Press. 978-0-8263-2962-2. 165.
  7. Spence, Spence's Guide to Shipwreck Research, Narwhal Press (Charleston), 1997.
  8. Spence's Guide to Shipwreck Research, by Dr. E. Lee Spence, Narwhal Press, Charleston/Miami, © by Edward L. Spence, 1997, p. 32
  9. Web site: Land Measurement Conversion Guide . Vikki Gray . Vikki Gray . 1998-12-24 . 2007-06-04 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070608221644/http://www.ghostseekers.com/Conversions.htm . 2007-06-08 .
  10. Leopold Carl Bleibtreu: Handbuch der Münz-, Maß- und Gewichtskunde und des Wechsel-Staatspapier-, Bank- und Aktienwesens europäischer und außereuropäischer Länder und Städte. Verlag von J. Engelhorn, Stuttgart, 1863, p. 332
  11. Pre-metric units of length
  12. Web site: Historie der Postsäulen . Forschungsgruppe Kursächsische Postmeilensäulen e.V. und 1. Sächsischer Postkutschenverein e.V. . de . February 5, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170205182410/http://www.poststrassen-erleben.de/geschichten/historie-der-postsaeulen.html . February 5, 2017 . dead .
  13. http://ikar.sbb.spk-berlin.de/werkzeugkasten/sonderregeln/4_3,htm IKAR-Altkartendatenbank