Editing Milestone (section)

== History ==

=== Roman Empire ===
[[File:Geira Milha XXIX caminho.jpg|thumb|[[Ancient Rome|Roman]] milestone XXIX on Via Romana XVIII – the road linking the [[Iberia]]n cities of [[Braga|Bracara Augusta]] and [[Astorga, Spain|Asturica Augusta]]]]
[[File:Milestone kirkby thore.JPG|thumb|Roman milestone on the former [[A66 road|A66]] between [[Kirkby Thore]] and [[Temple Sowerby]] (no inscription)]]
''[[Miliarium]]'' ({{IPA|la-x-classic|miːllɪˈaːrɪ.ũː ˈau̯rɛ.ũː|lang|link=yes}}) were originally [[Rock (geology)|stone]] [[obelisk]]s – made from [[granite]], [[marble]], or whatever local stone was available – and later [[concrete]] posts. They were widely used by [[Roman Empire]] road builders and were an important part of any [[Roman road]] network: the distance travelled per day was only a few miles in some cases.{{Citation needed|date=February 2009}} Many Roman milestones only record the name of the reigning emperor without giving any placenames or distances.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Roman Inscriptions of Britain. I: Inscriptions on stone |last=Collingwood |first=R. G.|year=1965 |publisher=[[Clarendon Press]] |location=Oxford |author2=Wright, R. P.| url = https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/rib/vol-I}}</ref> The first Roman milestones appeared on the [[Appian Way]]. At the centre of Rome, the "[[Golden Milestone]]" was erected to mark the presumed centre of the empire: this milestone has since been lost. The Golden Milestone inspired the [[Zero Milestone]] in Washington, D.C., intended as the point from which all road distances in the United States should be reckoned. [[Odometer]]s were used to measure the Roman milestone spacing, most likely based on [[Ancient Greek technology]].{{citation needed|date=May 2013}}

=== Byzantine Empire ===
A mile-marker monument, the [[Milion]], was erected in the early 4th century AD in [[Constantinople]]. It served as the starting point for measurement of distances for all the roads leading to the cities of the [[Byzantine Empire]], and had the same function as the [[Milliarium Aureum]] of [[Ancient Rome]]. The Milion survived intact until at least the late 15th century. Its fragments were discovered again in the late 1960s. A fragment is re-erected as a pillar.

=== Islamic civilization ===

In Islamic civilisation, use of milestone began in the first Islamic century. The Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik bin Marwan laid the milestones along the paths that travelers used, and some were found in the city of Faiq in the Syrian Golan, which is, Faiq, one of the main road stations throughout the Islamic ages.  The function of these stones was to guide travelers and introduce them to long distances, as the separation between one and the other was one mile.  Many of these stones were found in more than one location, one in the Islamic Archeology Museum in Istanbul and another in the Jerusalem Museum. A translation of the text written on the stone currently found in the Kasserine Museum in the Golan reads as follows:

{{Quote|In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
There is no god but God alone, and there is no partner for it. Muhammad is the Messenger of God.
He ordered the making of these miles, Abdul Malik bin Marwan, Commander of the Faithful.
At the hands of a consultant, the Lord of the Faithful.
In Sha'ban from the year eighty-five, from Damascus to this stone fifty-three miles.}}

=== Post-Medieval Europe ===
[[File:A milestone at Berwick-upon-Tweed - geograph.org.uk - 1513459.jpg|thumb|upright|Milestone in [[Northumberland]], indicating 1 mile to [[Berwick-upon-Tweed]], 14 miles to [[Belford, Northumberland|Belford]] and 333 miles to [[London]]]]
In [[Europe]], the distance measured typically starts at specified point within a [[city]] or [[town]], as many roads were named for the towns at either end. For example, in [[London]], [[United Kingdom]], a plaque near the [[Eleanor cross]] at [[Charing Cross]] is the reference point from which distances from London to other towns and cities are measured. In the UK, milestones are especially associated with [[Turnpike trust|former turnpike roads]].

The British built many milestones on the [[Malta Colony|island of Malta]]. They consisted of large slabs of local hard rock and they were engraved with the distance to or from a particular location. Many of these were defaced in [[World War II]] to disorientate forces in a [[Operation Herkules|potential invasion]]. Despite this, a very small number of milestones still exist undefaced, and one of these is now in the [[Malta at War Museum]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Milestones salvaged and added to the new museum's collection |url=http://www.maltaatwarmuseum.com/milestones-salvaged-and-added-to-the-new-museums-collection.html |website=Wirt Artna |access-date=7 September 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140907124041/http://www.maltaatwarmuseum.com/milestones-salvaged-and-added-to-the-new-museums-collection.html |archive-date=7 September 2014 }}</ref>

===India===
{{Further|Kos Minar}}
[[File:Kos Minar 03.jpg|thumb|Kos Minar (Mughal Milestone), [[National Zoological Park Delhi|Delhi Zoo]], [[New Delhi]], [[India]]]]
The '''Kos Minars''' or ''Mile Pillars'' are medieval milestones that were made by the 16th-century [[Afghan (name)|Afghan]] Ruler [[Sher Shah Suri]] and later on by [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] emperors. These Minars were erected by the Mughal Emperors on the main highways across the empire to mark the distance.
The Kos Minar is a solid round pillar, around {{convert|30|ft}} in height that stands on a masonry platform built with bricks and plastered over with lime. Though not architecturally very impressive, being milestones, they were an important part of communication and travel in a large empire.<ref>{{cite web | title = 'Monumental' treasure house |newspaper=[[The Times of India]]| url = http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-07-12/ludhiana/28193174_1_archaeologists-city-bus-monuments | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110811054219/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-07-12/ludhiana/28193174_1_archaeologists-city-bus-monuments | url-status = dead | archive-date = 11 August 2011 |date=12 July 2009| access-date = 2013-09-23}}</ref>

[[Kos (unit)|Kos]] is an ancient [[India]]n unit of distance. It can represent either a distance of approximately {{convert|1.8|km}} or {{convert|3.2|km}}. [[Minaret|Minar]] is a Persian word for tower. [[Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak|Abul Fazl]] recorded in ''[[Akbar Nama]]'' that in the year 1575 AD, [[Akbar]] issued an order that at every Kos on the way from Agra to Ajmer, a pillar or a minar should be erected for the comfort of the travelers.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://sites.ualberta.ca/~rnoor/minar_kos.html | title=Kos Minar | publisher=University of Alberta | access-date=12 September 2018 | archive-date=4 March 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304085102/http://www.ualberta.ca/~rnoor/minar_kos.html | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=A milestone on the highway |newspaper=[[Hindustan Times]] |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/A-milestone-on-the-highway/Article1-951130.aspx |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130923040501/http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/A-milestone-on-the-highway/Article1-951130.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 September 2013 |first1=Nivedita |last1=Khandekar |date=27 October 2012 |access-date=2013-09-23 }}</ref>