US Leagues
Abbreviation/Symbol:
league
Unit of:
Worldwide use:
US Leagues, a unit of measurement primarily used in the United States, are not widely used on a global scale.
The US League is three statute miles, or about 4.83 kilometers, and has no everyday use today. It turns up mainly in old books and land surveys.
Definition:
The league is three miles, which is 15,840 feet or about 4.828km. It is an old unit that has nothing to do with baseball, where the pitcher stands 60.5ft from the plate.
Origin:
The US league is three statute miles. It was inherited from Europe, where the league goes back to the Roman leuca, rather than invented in America.
A league was defined as the distance a person could walk in one hour, which was roughly equivalent to three miles. This measurement was practical for surveyors and settlers, as it allowed them to easily divide the land into manageable parcels. The league became an important unit of measurement in the United States, particularly in the western territories where land was abundant and needed to be divided for farming and settlement.
The US league is no longer used as a unit of length and survives only in old legal documents and historical records.
Common references:
1 league is approximately the distance one can walk in an hour
Usage context:
Historical US measurement of 3 miles.