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League (unit)

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A league is a unit of length (or, in various regions, area). 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.

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English-speaking world

On land, the league was 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 was three nautical miles (3.452 miles; 5.556 kilometres). English usage also included many of the other leagues mentioned below (for example, in discussing the Treaty of Tordesillas).

Ancient Rome

The league was used in Ancient Rome, defined as  1 1⁄2 Roman miles (7,500 Roman feet, modern 2.2 km or 1.4 miles). The origin is the leuga Gallica (also: leuca Gallica), the league of Gaul.

Argentina

The Argentine league (legua) is 5.572 km (3.462 mi) or 6,666 varas: 1 vara is 0.83 m (33 in).

Brazil and Portugal

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

  • Légua of 18 to a degree = 6,172.84 metres
  • Légua of 20 to a degree = 5,555.56 metres (Maritime légua)
  • Légua of 25 to a degree = 4,444.44 metres

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

    As a transitory measure, after Portugal adopted the metric system, the metric légua, of 5.0 km, was used.

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

    France

    The French lieue – at different times – existed in several variants: 10,000, 12,000, 13,200 and 14,400 French feet, about 3.25 km to about 4.68 km. It was used along with the metric system for a while but is now long discontinued.

    As used in Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, a league is four kilometres.

    Mexico

    In Yucatán and other parts of rural Mexico, the league is still commonly 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.

    Spain

    The legua or Spanish league was originally understood as equivalent to 3 millas (Spanish miles). This varied depending on local standards for the pie (Spanish foot) and on the precision of measurement, but was officially equivalent to 4180 meters (2.6 miles) before the legua was abolished by Philip II in 1568. It remains in unofficial use in parts of Latin America, where its exact meaning varies.

  • Legua nautica (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 meters or 3.1876 modern nautical miles). That seems pretty straight forward 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 (7 843 meters or 4.235 modern nautical miles) to 21 874 feet (6 667 meters or 3.600 modern nautical miles) respectively.
  • Legua de por grado (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 meters), which gave a Spanish league of the degree of 25 776 feet (7 857 meters 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 7315 meters, almost exactly 3.950 modern nautical miles).
  • Legua geographica or geográfica (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 (1696 meters), making a geographical league of four millias equal 22 256 feet (6784 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 (6353 m or 3.430 modern nautical miles).
  • Legua marítima (maritime league): From around 1840 through the early 20th century, a Spanish marine league equaled 18 263.52 feet (5566.72 meters or 3.005 79 modern nautical miles), i.e. about 35 feet (10 meters) longer than our modern maritime league.

    • 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 (1 792.110 hectares). 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.

    United States

    In U.S. linear measure, one league (Symbol: U.S. st. leag.) was equal to 15,840 feet (or three miles). U.S. nautical league (Symbol: U.S. naut. leag.) was equal to 18,240 feet.

    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.

    Similar units:

  • 1066.8 m – werst, see also Obsolete Russian units of measurement
  • 3200 m – kosh, used in North Bihar, India.

    • References

    League (unit) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA