League (unit)

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A league is a unit of length (or, rarely, area). It was long common in Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The word originally meant the distance a person could walk in an hour.[1] Since the Middle Ages, many values have been specified in several countries.

In nautical usage, a league of 3 nautical miles (5.5 km) is roughly how far an observer of average height (around 6 ft. or 1.8 m) can see when standing at sea level.[2] Thus, a ship travelling one "league" has reached what was previously the farthest visible distance on the horizon. The lack of an historical and global standard for the exact measure of a "league" can be accounted for by the variable elevation of the observer. For example, a crow's nest mounted atop a 50 ft. (15.2 m) mast extends the visible range to 9.35 miles (15.1 km).[3]

Different definitions[edit]

English-speaking world[edit]

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 (about 5.6 km). English usage also included any of the other leagues mentioned below (for example, in discussing the Treaty of Tordesillas).

Ancient Rome[edit]



The Argentine league (legua) is 5.572 km (3.462 mi) or 6,666 varas: 1 vara is 0.83 m (33 in).[5]

Brazil and Portugal[edit]

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

  • Légua of 18 by degree = 6,172.4 metres
  • Légua of 20 by degree = 5,555.56 metres (Maritime légua)
  • Légua of 25 by 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.


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.[6][7]


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.


The Danish or Swedish mil was defined as a suitable walking distance between rests, or between inns. While etymologically similar to a mile, the definition shares origin with a that of a league. An old Scandinavian mil ranges from 7.5 km to 12 km depending on nation or region, but has since metrification been defined as 10 km in Norway and Sweden.


The Spanish League or legua was originally set as a fixed unit of distance of 5 000 varas (0.84 m each), about 4.2 km (2.6 miles). Contemporary writers also show it as three millas (miles of 4 566 feet (1 392 meters) each making a total of 13 698 feet (4 175 m or 2.594 miles).[8] 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.

  • 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.[8]
  • 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).[9]
  • 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 to be 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).[8]
  • 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.[8]

In the early Hispanic settlements of New Mexico, Texas, 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).[10] 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[edit]

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) Name Where used From To Definition Remarks
01,482 mille passus, milliarium Roman Empire Ancient Roman units of measurement
01,486.6 miglio[11] Sicily
01,500 Persian mile Persia
01,524 London mile England
01,609.3472 (statute) mile USA 1893 today 1760 yards From 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 x 1760
01,820 Italy
01,852.3 (for comparison) 1 meridian minute
01,853,181 nautical mile Turkey
02,065 Portugal
02,470 Sardinia, Piemont
02,622 Scotland
02,880 Ireland
03,780 Flanders
04,000 general or metric league
04,000 legue Guatemala
04,190 legue Mexico[13] = 2500 tresas = 5000 varas
04,444.8 landleuge 1/25° of a circle of longitude
04,513 legue Paraguay
04,513 legua Chile,[13] (Guatemala, Haiti) = 36 cuadros = 5400 varas
04,808 Switzerland
04,828 English land league England 3 miles
Germanic rasta, also doppelleuge
(double league)
05,000 légua nova Portugal[13]
05,196 legua Bolivia[13] = 40 ladres
05,152 legua argentina Argentina, Buenos Aires[13] = 6000 varas
05,154 legue Uruguay
05,200 Bolivian legua Bolivia
05,370 legue Venezuela
05,500 Portuguese legua Portugal
05,510 legue Ecuador
05,510 Ecuadorian legua Ecuador
05,532.5 Landleuge
(state league)
05,540 legue Honduras
3 nautical miles
05,570 legua Spain and Chile Spanish customary units
05,572 legua Kolumbien[13] = 3 Millas
05,572.7 legue Peru[13] = 20,000 feet
05,572.7 legua antigua
old league
Spain[13] = 3 millas = 15,000 feet
05,590 légua Brazil[13] = 5,000 varas = 2,500 bracas
05,600 Brazilian legua Brazil
05,840[14] Dutch mile Holland
06,197 légua antiga Portugal[13] = 3 milhas = 24 estadios
06,277 Luxembourg
06,280 Belgium
06,687.24 legua nueva
new league, since 1766
Spain[13] = 8000 Varas
06,797 Landvermessermeile
(state survey mile)
07,400 Netherlands
07,409 (for comparison) 4 meridian minutes
7,419.2 Kingdom of Hanover
07,419.4 Duchy of Brunswick
07,420.439 geographic mile 1/15 equatorial grads
07,421.6 (for comparison) 4 equatorial minutes
07,448.7 Württemberg
07,450 Hohenzollern
07,467.6 Russia 7 werst Obsolete Russian units of measurement
07,480 Bohemia
07,500 kleine / neue Postmeile
(small/new postal mile)
07,532.5 Land(es)meile
(German state mile)
Denmark, Hamburg, Prussia primarlly for Denmark defined by Ole Rømer
07,585.9 Postmeile
(post mile)
Austro-Hungary Austrian units of measurement
07,850 Romania
08,800 Schleswig-Holstein
08,888.89 Baden
09,062 mittlere Post- / Polizeimeile
(middle post mile or police mile)
Saxony 1722
09,206.3 Electorate of Hesse
09,261.4 (for comparison) 5 meridian minutes
09,277 (for comparison) 5 equatorial minutes
09,323 alte Landmeile
(old state mile)
Hanover 1836
09,347 alte Landmeile
(old state mile)
Hanover 1836
09,869.6 Oldenburg
10,044 große Meile
(great mile)
10,670 Finland
10,688.54 mil Sweden 1889
11,113.7 (for comparison) 6 meridian minutes
11,132.4 (for comparison) 6 equatorial minutes
11,299 mil Norway was equivalent to 3000 Rhenish rods.

Similar units:

Use in fiction[edit]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Trade, Travel, and Exploration in the Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia
  2. ^ DataGenetics: Consequences of living on a sphere
  3. ^ Sussex Scrapbook: The distance visible to the horizon from different heights
  4. ^ The Oxford English Dictionary
  5. ^ Espasa-Calpe Dictionary, Argentina and Mexico Edition 1945: headword Legua
  6. ^ [1]
  8. ^ a b c d Spence's Guide to Shipwreck Research, by Dr. E. Lee Spence, Narwhal Press, Charleston/Miami, © by Edward L. Spence, 1997, p. 32
  10. ^ Vikki Gray (1998-12-24). "Land Measurement Conversion Guide". Vikki Gray. Retrieved 2007-06-04. 
  12. ^ Pre-metric units of length
  14. ^ IKAR-Altkartendatenbank der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Kartenabteilung.
  15. ^ Fonstad 1991, Introduction, p. x