League (unit)

For other uses, see league.

A league is a unit of length, used to express distance, long common in Europe and Latin America, although no longer an official unit in any nation. The league expresses the distance a person, or a horse, can walk in 1 hour of time (usually about 3 miles or 5 kilometres).

In English units in the past couple of centuries or so, it was most often 3 nautical miles, or about 5.56 km (nautical miles varied slightly at different times and places). However, English language usage includes use of this word for any of the various leagues mentioned below, e.g. in discussing the Treaty of Tordesillas.

In the 1800s in the United States, a league was also a unit of area, defined as being equal to 4428.4 acres . This usage of league is referenced frequently in the Texas Constitution.

Different definitions

Ancient Rome

The league was used by Ancient Rome, which defined it as being 1.5 Roman miles, i.e. 7500 Roman feet. The origin is the "leuga gallica" (also: leuca Gallica), the league of Gaul.

See also: Ancient Roman units of measurement.

Argentina

In Argentina a league is a distance of 5 km.

Brazil

In Brazil the league has fallen into disuse, but it used to be described as equivalent to 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. Its use overlapped the metric system for a while but is now long discontinued. The nautical league was worth 3 nautical miles.

See also: French units of measurement.

Mexico

In Yucatan 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 Spanish League or legua was originally set as a fixed unit of distance of 5,000 varas, about 2.6 miles or 4.2 km. Officially the league was abolished by Philip II of Spain in 1568, but it is still in use unofficially in parts of Latin America, with exact meaning varying in different countries.

Use in fiction

• The seven-league boots are a magical prop in European folk tales.
• Jules Verne used this unit in the title of 2 novels:
  • Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
  • Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon
• In J. R. R. Tolkien's book The Lord of the Rings and Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series, the distance the characters travel is often measured in leagues.

• In Christopher Paolini's books Eragon and Eldest, distances are commonly referred to in leagues.

See also

• Medieval weights and measures for various definitions of the league.
• Li (unit), the East Asian equivalent.
• Obsolete Spanish and Portuguese units of measurement