Legua (Castilian) (legua)

Spanish & PortugueseHistorical unit (no longer in standard use)Approximate value

About 5.57 km, equal to 6,666⅔ varas. The standard Spanish league; Portugal and Latin America used different values.

1 legua (Castilian) = 5,572.666667 meters (approximately).

Approximate value. Standards for the legua (Castilian) varied by place and period, so this converter uses the most commonly cited value. Treat results as estimates, not exact figures.

About the legua (Castilian)

Spanish legua is a descendant of the Roman leuga, itself taken from an older Celtic distance used in Gaul. In medieval Castile it was reckoned as three Spanish miles, so its real length depended on the local foot and on how carefully a road was paced out. A decree of Philip II in 1568 abolished the older legal league of roughly 4.18 km and set the league at about 5.57 km, the figure used here.

That league was fixed at 20,000 Castilian feet, which the Spanish law of 1801 later expressed as 6,666 and two thirds varas. It served for overland travel, for describing the extent of colonial land grants, and, as a square league, for ranch and estate areas in Texas and Mexico. Spanish America never agreed on one value: Mexico used a league of 5,000 varas near 4.19 km, Chile about 4.51 km, and Buenos Aires about 5.15 km.

A later legua nueva of 8,000 varas, close to 6.69 km, was also defined in 1766. Today a Castilian legua is a little under three and a half modern statute miles, and the word survives in place names and in loose speech for a walking hour.

Sources: Wikipedia: League (unit); Wikipedia: Spanish customary units; Wikipedia: Vara (unit)

Legua (Castilian) conversion chart

1 legua (Castilian) expressed in every other length unit:

More Spanish & Portuguese units

• vara (Castilian) (length)
• libra (Castilian) (weight & mass)
• arroba (Spanish) (weight & mass)
• arroba (Brazilian) (weight & mass)

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