History of Kilometers & Miles
As we all know the relationship between kilometers and miles is a simple one. One kilometer is equal to 0.62 miles. And one mile is equal to 1760 yards or 1,609.344 meters. But there is a bigger difference at play here. Historically the kilometers to miles relationship is more unique. Miles are the official unit of length in various systems of the world like United States customary units, Imperial units and Norwegian/Swedish mil. On the other hand Kilometers are a unit of length in the Metric system.
The unit Mile was first used by Romans though with a different meaning. Mile or mille passus was a distance denoted to a thousand paces or 5000 Roman feet. Even now this unit is called the Roman Mile and in modern day terminology is equal to 1,480 meters.
It was in the 13th century that the present definition of the Mile of 5280 feet came to be known. Even after that different nations had their own length for the Mile. They soon became a part of the Imperial Units of measurement. This system was defined in the 1824 British act of weights and measurements which was applied to Britain and its colonies during that time.
This made it difficult for people travelling from one place to another to maintain accuracy. It was later in the year 1959 that a unified length was agreed upon and that is what we currently know as the International Mile. The international mile is measured in terms of the international foot which is 0.3048 m. Before this, Mile was measured in terms of the foot defined by every English speaking country.
In the modern times most of the countries of the world have adopted the metric system and use kilometer as their unit of distance. However the UK and the US are the only developed countries that continue to use Mile as the unit of distance. They are seen everywhere on the road signs.
Even though the United Kingdom has officially moved over to the metric system, Miles are still used on the road signs. This is due to the people’s attachment to the traditional unit. There is no indication that this will be changed in the near future.
Kilometers are a part of the Metric system. Over the centuries different kinds of systems were termed metric. It was in the 1960s that the metric system was unified in the way we now know it. This system is also known as the Système International d'Unités in France and hence “SI”unit. One of the main purposes of the metric system is to unify measurement units. This is a decimal system making all the multiples in the power of ten.
The way we use kilometers/miles is the result of a long process of definitions and redefinitions by our forefathers.
Converting and Upping Your Mileage
Kilometers
Miles
