  Early Spanish Terrain
Paced Navigation Technique
by Donald E. Sheppard, from:
A Dictionary of Units of Measurement
by Russ Rowlett, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
League
A traditional unit of distance. Derived from an ancient Celtic unit and adopted by the Romans as the leuga, the league became a common unit of measurement throughout western Europe. It was intended to represent, roughly, the distance a person could walk in an hour.
Legua
The Spanish league. The traditional legua is equal to 5000 Varas, which is close to 2.6 miles or 4.2 kilometers. Using the traditional Spanish definition, it would be 2.597 miles, 13712 feet, or 4179.4 meters.
Vara
A traditional unit of distance in Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries. The length of the vara varied, but in Spanish Latin America it was generally about 33 inches or a little longer. The Spanish vara is shorter; it equals 32.908 inches or 83.587 centimeters.
   
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