There are different types of Leagues
There are a few different types of League. On this site we have conversions for US Leagues and UK Leagues. In addition, there are also Nautical Leagues which can be found on this site. Please either select the appropriate unit on the selection above of click the required unit in the links below:
What is a League?
A league was originally roughly the distance a person could walk in an hour, about 3 miles (4.8 kilometers). The exact length varied with the country and the period.
A league is an old unit of length, usually around 3 miles or 5 kilometers, though the exact figure varied by country and period. Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is about distance travelled, not depth – 20,000 of his 4 kilometer leagues is 80,000 kilometers, twice around the Earth.
What is a UK nautical league?
A UK nautical league is three UK nautical miles, ie 18,240 feet or 5,559.552 meters, which rounds to 5.56 kilometers. The international nautical league is slightly shorter at 5,556 meters.
Don't confuse it with the land league, which is three statute miles. The nautical league is three nautical miles, about 3.45 statute miles, so it's roughly 15% longer.
Britain's territorial waters once reached one marine league – three nautical miles – from the coast. The limit has been 12 nautical miles, or four leagues, since 1987.