League (unit)

Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} A league is a unit of length. It was common in Europe and Latin America, but due to its highly inconsistent definitionTemplate:Cn, it is no longer an official unit in any nation. Derived from an ancient Celtic unit and adopted by the Romans as the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, 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 a person could walk in an hour.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Definitions

Ancient Rome

Template:See also 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 {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (also: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), the league of Gaul.<ref>The Oxford English Dictionary</ref>

Argentina

The Argentine league ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) is Template:Convert or 6,666 {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}: 1 {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is Template:Convert.<ref>Espasa-Calpe Dictionary, Argentina and Mexico Edition 1945: headword Legua</ref>

England

Template:See also 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 Template:Convert. English usage also included many of the other leagues mentioned below (for example, in discussing the Treaty of Tordesillas).Template:Fact

France

Template:See also The French {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} — at different times — existed in several variants, namely 10,000, 12,000, 13,200 and 14,400 French feet, about Template:Convert. It was used along with the metric system for a while, but is long discontinued.

A metric {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} was used in France from 1812 to 1840, with 1 metric {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} being exactly 4,000 m, or 4 km (about 2.5 mi).<ref>François Cardarelli: Scientific Unit Conversion (Springer-Verlag London, 1999)</ref> 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).<ref name="verne">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</ref>

Mexico

In some rural parts of Mexico, the league (Spanish {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) 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.<ref name="Alexander2004">Template:Cite book</ref>

Portugal

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

• {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} of 18 to a degree = 6,172.84 metres
• {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} of 20 to a degree (Maritime légua) = 5,555.56 metres
• {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} of 25 to a degree = 4,444.44 metres

The names of the several {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} 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 {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} of 5.0 km was used.

In Brazil, the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is still used occasionally, where it has been described as about 6.6 km.

Spain

File:Fuente em Gredos.jpg

Milestone in the Province of Ávila, Spain indicating a distance of 9 leagues to the city of Ávila

The {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} or Spanish league was originally understood as equivalent to Template:Nowrap (Spanish miles).<ref name="Spence 1997, p. 32">Spence, Template:Nowrap Spence's Guide to Shipwreck Research, Template:Nowrap Narwhal Press (Charleston), 1997.</ref> This varied depending on local standards for the pie (Spanish foot) and on the precision of measurement, but was officially equivalent to Template:Nowrap (2.6 miles) before the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} was abolished by Philip II in 1568. It remains in use in parts of Latin America, where its exact meaning varies.

• {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (nautical league): Between 1400 and 1600 the Spanish nautical league was equal to four Roman miles of 4,842 feet, making it 19,368 feet (5,903 metres or 3.1876 modern nautical miles). However, 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 (4.235 modern nautical miles) to 21,874 feet (3.600 modern nautical miles) respectively.<ref name="Spence 1997, p. 32" />
• {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (league of the degree): 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 (1,964 metres), which gave a Spanish league of the degree of 25,776 feet (7,857 metres or 4.242 modern nautical miles) others defined an Arabic mile as just 6,000 feet making a Spanish league of the degree 24,000 feet (or 7,315 metres, almost exactly 3.95 modern nautical miles).<ref>Spence's Guide to Shipwreck Research, by Dr. E. Lee Spence, Narwhal Press, Charleston/Miami, © by Edward L. Spence, 1997, p. 32</ref>
• {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (geographical league): 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 (miles) in length. From 1630 to 1718 a millia was 5,564 feet (1,696 metres), making a geographical league of four millias equal 22,256 feet (6,784 m or 3.663 modern nautical miles). But from 1718 through the 1830s the millia was defined as the equivalent of just over 5,210 feet, giving a shorter geographical league of just over 20,842 feet (6,353 m or 3.430 modern nautical miles).<ref name="Spence 1997, p. 32" />
• {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (maritime league): From around 1840 through the early 20th century, a Spanish marine league equaled 18,263.52 feet (5,566.72 metres or 3.00579 modern nautical miles).<ref name="Spence 1997, p. 32" />

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.<ref name=LeagueAcre>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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
Template:01,000	(for comparison)				1 kilometer
Template:01,280.16	kawtha	Myanmar		today	20 out-thaba	Myanmar units of measurement
Template:01,482	mille passus, milliarium	Roman Empire				Ancient Roman units of measurement
Template:01,486.6	miglio<ref>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</ref>	Sicily
Template:01,500	Persian mile	Persia
Template:01,524	London mile	England
Template:01,609.3426	(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
Template:01,609.344	mile	some English speaking countriesTemplate:Citation needed	1959	today	1,760 yards	On 1 July 1959, the imperial mile was standardized to an exact length in metres
Template:01,609.3472	(statute) 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: Template:Sfrac × 1760
Template:01 820		Italy
Template:01,852	nautical mile	international		today	1,852 m	Symbol: nmi; Abbreviation: NM
Template:01,852.3	(for comparison)				1 meridian minute
Template:01,853.181	Turkish (nautical) mile	Turkey	1933	today
Template:01,855.4	(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.
Template:01,894.35	Ottoman mile	Ottoman Empire		1933	5,000 ayak	Ottoman units of measurement
Template:02,065		Portugal
Template:02,220	Gallo-Roman league	Gallo-Roman culture			Template:Frac 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.<ref>Template:In langPre-metric units of length</ref>
Template:02,470		Sardinia, Piemont
Template:02,622		Scotland
Template:02,880		Ireland
Template:03,780		Flanders
Template:03,898	French lieue (post league)	France			2,000 "body lengths"
Template:04,000	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.<ref name="verne" />
Template:04,000	general or metric league
Template:04,000	legue	Guatemala
Template:04,179.4	legua antigua (old league)	Spain		1568
Template:04,190	legue	Mexico<ref name="BI">Template:Citation</ref>			= 2,500 tresas = 5,000 varas
Template:04,444.8	landleuge				Template:Frac° of a circle of longitude
Template:04,452.2	lieue commune	France				Units of measurement in France before the French Revolution
Template:04,513	legue	Paraguay
Template:04,513	legua	Chile,<ref name="BI" /> (Guatemala, Haiti)			= 36 cuadros = 5,400 varas
Template:04,531	Wegstunde	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 1722 || 1840 || 1,000 Dresden rods || introduced on occasion of a countrywide road survey
Template:04,808		Switzerland
Template:04,828	English land league	England			3 miles
Template:04,800 Template:04,900	Germanic rasta, also doppelleuge (double league)
Template:05,000	légua nova	Portugal<ref name="BI" />
Template:05,120.64	ga-wout (Burmese league)	Myanmar		today	4 kawtha	Myanmar units of measurement
Template:05,196	legua	Bolivia<ref name="BI" />			= 40 ladres
Template:05,152	legua argentina	Argentina, Buenos Aires<ref name="BI" />			= 6,000 varas
Template:05,154	legue	Uruguay
Template:05,200	Bolivian legua	Bolivia
Template:05,370	legue	Venezuela
Template:05,500	Portuguese légua	Portugal
Template:05,510	legue	Ecuador
Template:05,510	Ecuadorian legua	Ecuador
Template:05,532.5	Landleuge (state league)	Prussia
Template:05,540	legue	Honduras
Template:05,556	Seeleuge (lit. "sea league" or nautical league)				Template:Frac° of a circle of longitude 3 nautical miles
Template:05,570	legua	Spain and Chile				Spanish customary units
Template:05,572	legua	Colombia<ref name="BI" />			= 3 Millas
Template:05,572.7	legue	Peru<ref name="BI" />			= 20,000 feet
Template:05,572.7	legua antigua old league	Spain<ref name="BI" />			= 3 millas = 15,000 feet
Template:05,590	légua	Brazil<ref name="BI" />			= 5,000 varas = 2,500 bracas
Template:05,600	Brazilian légua	Brazil
Template:05,685	Fersah (Turkish league)	Ottoman Empire		1933	3 Ottoman miles	Derived from Persian Parasang.
Template:05,840<ref>IKAR-AltkartendatenbankTemplate:Dead link der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Kartenabteilung.</ref>	Dutch mile	Netherlands		1816
Template:06,197	légua antiga	Portugal<ref name="BI" />			= 3 milhas = 24 estadios
Template:06,277		Luxembourg
Template:06,280		Belgium
Template:06,687.24	legua nueva (new league)	Spain<ref name="BI" />	1766		= 8,000 Varas
Template:06,797	Landvermessermeile (state survey mile)	Saxony
Template:07,400		Netherlands		1816
Template:07,409	(for comparison)				4 meridian minutes
Template:07,419.2		Kingdom of Hanover
Template:07,419.4		Duchy of Brunswick
Template:07,420.4 Template:07,414.9		Bavaria
Template:07,420.439	geographic mile				Template:Frac equatorial grads
Template:07,421.6	(for comparison)				4 equatorial minutes
Template:07,448.7		Württemberg
Template:07,450		Hohenzollern
Template:07,467.6		Russia			7 werst	Obsolete Russian units of measurement
Template:07,480		Bohemia
Template:07,500	kleine / neue Postmeile (small/new postal mile)	Saxony		1840		German Empire, North German Confederation, Grand Duchy of Hesse, Russia
Template:07,532.5	Land(es)meile (German state mile)	Denmark, Hamburg, Prussia				primarily for Denmark defined by Ole Rømer
Template:07,585.9	Postmeile (post mile)	Austria-Hungary				Austrian units of measurement
Template:07,850		Romania
Template:08,800		Schleswig-Holstein
Template:08,888.89		Baden
Template:09,062	average Post- or Polizeimeile (middle post mile or police mile)	Saxony<ref name = "Postmeilensaeulen"/>		1722
Template:09,206.3		Electorate of Hesse
Template:09,261.4	(for comparison)				5 meridian minutes
Template:09,277	(for comparison)				5 equatorial minutes
Template:09,323	alte Landmeile (old state mile)	Hanover		1836
Template:09,347	alte Landmeile (old state mile)	Hanover		1836
Template:09,869.6		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 (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:

• 1,066.8 metres – verst, see also Obsolete Russian units of measurement
• 3,200 metres – kosh, used in North Bihar, India.

See also

• Medieval weights and measures for various definitions of the league.
• List of obsolete units of measurement
• Portuguese customary units
• Spanish customary units
• Seven-league boots
• Walking
• Parasang