League
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Definition
The league is a unit of distance historically defined as the distance a person or horse can walk in one hour, most commonly standardized at approximately 4.8 km (3 miles) in English-speaking countries.
Explanation
Leagues varied significantly by country and era: the Spanish legua was ~4.2 km, while the nautical league equals exactly 3 nautical miles (~5.556 km). Jules Verne's '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' refers to horizontal distance traveled, not depth — 20,000 leagues is roughly 111,000 km, nearly three times Earth's circumference. The unit is no longer used in formal measurement but persists in literature.
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