League (unit)

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. 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.

Different definitions

Ancient Rome
See also: Ancient Roman units of measurement

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 Callica), the league of Gaul.[1]

Argentina

The Argentine league (legua) is 5.572 km (3.462 mi) or 6 666 varas: 1 vara is 0.83 m (33 in).[2]

English-speaking world

On land, the league is 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 is 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).

France
See also: Units of measurement in France before the French Revolution

The French lieue – at different times – existed in several variants: 10 000, 12 000, 13 200 and 14 400 French feet, about 3.25 to 4.68 km (2.02 to 2.91 miles). It was used along with the metric system for a while but is now long discontinued.

A metric lieue was used in France from 1812 to 1840, with 1 metric lieue being exactly 4 000 m, or 4 km (about 2.5 mi).[3] It is this unit that is mentioned both in the title and the body text of Jules Verne's novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870).[4]

Mexico

Perhaps in some rural parts of Mexico, the league (Spanish legua) 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.[5]

Portuguese-speaking world
See also: Portuguese customary units

In Portugal, Brazil and other parts of the former 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 (Maritime légua) = 5 555.56 metres
  • 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, the légua is still used occasionally, where it has been described as about 6.6 km.

Spain
See also: Spanish customary units
9 leguas a Ávila in geographical league

The legua or Spanish league was originally understood as equivalent to 3 millas (Spanish miles).[6] This varied depending on local standards for the pie (Spanish foot) and on the precision of measurement, but was officially equivalent to 4 180 metres (2.6 miles) before the legua was abolished by Philip II in 1568. It remains in 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 metres or 3.187 6 modern nautical miles). That seems pretty straightforward 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 (4.235 modern nautical miles) to 21 874 feet (3.600 modern nautical miles) respectively.[6]
  • 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 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 3.950 modern nautical miles).[7]
  • 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 (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 5210 feet, giving a shorter geographical league of just over 20 842 feet (6 353 m or 3.430 modern nautical miles).[6]
  • Legua marítima (maritime league): From around 1840 through the early 20th century, a Spanish marine league equaled 18 263.52 feet (5 566.72 metres or 3.005 79 modern nautical miles), i.e. about 35 feet (10 metres) longer than our modern maritime league.[6]

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.[8] 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)NameWhere usedFromToDefinitionRemarks
01 482mille passus, milliariumRoman EmpireAncient Roman units of measurement
01 486.6miglio[9]Sicily
01 500Persian milePersia
01 524London mileEngland
01 609.3426(statute) mileGreat Britain159219591 760 yardsOver 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
01 609.344milesome Anglosaxon countries1959today1 760 yardsOn 1 July 1959 the imperial mile was standardized to an exact length in metres
01 609.3472(statute) mileUnited States1893today1 760 yardsFrom 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: 3600/3937 × 1760
01 820Italy
01 852nautical mileinternationaltoday1 852 mSymbol: nmi; Abbreviation: NM
01 852.3(for comparison)1 meridian minute
01 853.181nautical mileTurkey
01 855.4(for comparison)1 equatorial minuteThough 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.
02 065Portugal
02 220Gallo-Roman leagueGallo-Roman culture​1 1⁄2 milesUnder 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.[10]
02 470Sardinia, Piemont
02 622Scotland
02 880Ireland
03 780Flanders
03 898French lieue (post league)France2 000 "body lengths"
04 000general or metric league
04 000legueGuatemala
04 179.4legua antigua
(old league)		Spain1568
04 190legueMexico[11]= 2500 tresas = 5000 varas
04 444.8landleuge​1⁄25° of a circle of longitude
04 452.2lieue communeFranceUnits of measurement in France before the French Revolution
04 513legueParaguay
04 513leguaChile,[11] (Guatemala, Haiti)= 36 cuadros = 5 400 varas
04 531WegstundeSaxony[12]172218401 000 Dresden rodsintroduced on occasion of a countrywide road survey
04 808Switzerland
04 828English land leagueEngland3 miles
04 800
04,900		Germanic rasta, also doppelleuge
(double league)
05 000légua novaPortugal[11]
05 196leguaBolivia[11]= 40 ladres
05 152legua argentinaArgentina, Buenos Aires[11]= 6 000 varas
05 154legueUruguay
05 200Bolivian leguaBolivia
05 370legueVenezuela
05 500Portuguese léguaPortugal
05 510legueEcuador
05 510Ecuadorian leguaEcuador
05 532.5Landleuge
(state league)		Prussia
05 540legueHonduras
05 556Seeleuge (nautical league)​1⁄20° of a circle of longitude
3 nautical miles
05 570leguaSpain and ChileSpanish customary units
05 572leguaColombia[11]= 3 Millas
05 572.7leguePeru[11]= 20 000 feet
05 572.7legua antigua
old league		Spain[11]= 3 millas = 15 000 feet
05 590léguaBrazil[11]= 5 000 varas = 2 500 bracas
05 600Brazilian léguaBrazil
05 685Fersah (Turkish league)Ottoman Empire19334 Turkish milesDerived from Persian Parasang.
05 840[13]Dutch mileNetherlands
06 197 légua antiga Portugal[11]= 3 milhas = 24 estadios
06 277Luxembourg
06 280Belgium
06 687.24legua nueva
(new league)		Spain[11]1766= 8 000 Varas
06 797Landvermessermeile
(state survey mile)		Saxony
07 400Netherlands
07 409(for comparison)4 meridian minutes
07 419.2Kingdom of Hanover
07 419.4Duchy of Brunswick
07 420.4
07,414,9		Bavaria
07 420.439geographic mile​1⁄15 equatorial grads
07 421.6(for comparison)4 equatorial minutes
07 448.7Württemberg
07 450Hohenzollern
07 467.6Russia7 werstObsolete Russian units of measurement
07 480Bohemia
07 500kleine / neue Postmeile
(small/new postal mile)		Saxony1840German Empire, North German Confederation, Grand Duchy of Hesse, Russia
07 532.5Land(es)meile
(German state mile)		Denmark, Hamburg, Prussiaprimarily for Denmark defined by Ole Rømer
07 585.9Postmeile
(post mile)		Austria-HungaryAustrian units of measurement
07 850Romania
08 800Schleswig-Holstein
08 888.89Baden
09 062average Post- or Polizeimeile
(middle post mile or police mile)		Saxony[12]1722
09 206.3Electorate of Hesse
09 261.4(for comparison)5 meridian minutes
09 277(for comparison)5 equatorial minutes
09 323alte Landmeile
(old state mile)		Hanover1836
09 347alte Landmeile
(old state mile)		Hanover1836
09 869.6Oldenburg
10 000metric mile, Scandinavian mileScandinaviastill commonly used today, e.g. for road distances.; equates to the myriametre
10 044große Meile
(great mile)		Westphalia
10 670peninkulmaFinland1887
10 688.54milSweden1889
11 113.7(for comparison)6 meridian minutes
11 132.4(for comparison)6 equatorial minutes
11 295milNorway1889was equivalent to 3 000 Rhenish rods.

Similar units:

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See also

References
  1. The Oxford English Dictionary
  2. Espasa-Calpe Dictionary, Argentina and Mexico Edition 1945: headword Legua
  3. François Cardarelli: Scientific Unit Conversion (Springer-Verlag London, 1999)
  4. 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
  5. Rani T. Alexander (2004). Yaxcabá and the Caste War of Yucatán: An Archaeological Perspective. UNM Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-0-8263-2962-2.
  6. Spence, E. Lee. Spence's Guide to Shipwreck Research, p. 32. Narwhal Press (Charleston), 1997.
  7. Spence's Guide to Shipwreck Research, by Dr. E. Lee Spence, Narwhal Press, Charleston/Miami, © by Edward L. Spence, 1997, p. 32
  8. Vikki Gray (1998-12-24). "Land Measurement Conversion Guide". Vikki Gray. Archived from the original on 2007-06-08. Retrieved 2007-06-04.
  9. 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
  10. (in German)Pre-metric units of length
  11. Helmut Kahnt (1986), BI-Lexikon Alte Maße, Münzen und Gewichte (in German) (1 ed.), Leipzig: VEB Bibliographisches Institut, pp. 380
  12. "Historie der Postsäulen" (in German). Forschungsgruppe Kursächsische Postmeilensäulen e.V. und 1. Sächsischer Postkutschenverein e.V. Archived from the original on February 5, 2017. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
  13. IKAR-Altkartendatenbank der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Kartenabteilung.
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