Ancient Rome 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.
Argentina The Argentine league () is or 6,666 : 1 is .
England 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 . English usage also included many of the other leagues mentioned below (for example, in discussing the
Treaty of Tordesillas). The
Battle Abbey Chronicles define a
leuga (league) as the English leuga. This contains 12
roods, and 40
perches make a rood. The perch is 16 feet in length, so by this definition a league is 7,680 feet.
France The French —at different times—existed in several variants, namely 10,000, 12,000, 13,200 and 14,400
French feet, about . 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). 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).
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.
Portugal In
Portugal,
Brazil and other parts of the former
Portuguese Empire, there were several units called league (Portuguese:
légua): •
of 18 to a degree = 6,172.84
metres • ''
of 20 to a degree ('Maritime
légua''') = 5,555.56 metres • ''''
of 25 to a degree = 4,444.44 metres 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 , Spain indicating a distance of 9 leagues to the city of
Ávila The ''
or Spanish league was originally understood as equivalent to (Spanish miles). 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. • (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. • or (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). 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 ==