Your mile or my mile?

The mile was the standard measurement of distance for hundreds of years, even though it’s only used in the US, UK and a few other smaller countries now. But its history of use, standardisation and differences around the world is quite a surprise!

The mile began with the Romans, but was then taken up by medieval Europe (in other words, all the places the Romans conquered), but by the late Middle Ages, everyone had their own idea. There was an English, Italian, Arabic, Welsh, Scottish, Irish, German, Russian mile, among others, and they were all different! Follow the link above, there was even more!

As the world got smaller and peoples started to trade with each other more, this obviously became increasingly a problem. The English standardised their mile in 1593 with an Act of Parliament, making it 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards (but their standardisation of the time had more to do with furlongs, another old measurement!) This gradually spread to other English colonies, especially the US. And they never gave it up!

The US is still the primary home of the mile now, as well as every other Imperial measurement. While the UK kept the mile for road distances and speed, but went metric for everything else, the USA has been the most Imperial country in the world!