Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Historical Length or Distance

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
History and Measurement of the Base and Derived Units

  • 608 Accesses

Abstract

Length is one of the oldest (if not the oldest) measures used by humans. It is a measure of the physical size or extent of something along a straight line. This chapter reviews the evolution of length measurement from the simple use of the size of body parts or paces to gauge a length to sophisticated methods based on light and time which enable measurements on both sub-atomic or astronomical scales. An extensive compilation of conversion factors for many ancient and historical length measurements is provided.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Clarke FW (1891) Weights, measures, and money, of all nations. D. Appleton & Company, London. Reprinted by The University of California Libraries, 14 July 2015

    Google Scholar 

  2. Cardarelli Dr. F (2003) Encyclopaedia of scientific units, weights and measures: their SI equivalents and origins. English translation by Shields MJ, Springer-Verlag London Limited, London

    Google Scholar 

  3. American Petroleum Institute (1974) Manual of petroleum measurement standards, Chapter 15, Section 2, Conversion of operational and process measurement units to the metric (SI) system. API Publication 2564, March 1974

    Google Scholar 

  4. Peters, Max S, Consulting Editor et al (1963) Perry’s chemical engineers’ handbook, 4th edn. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York

    Google Scholar 

  5. USDA (1992) Weights, measures, and conversion factors for agricultural commodities and their products. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Agricultural Handbook Number 697, June 1992

    Google Scholar 

  6. History of measurement (2015) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_measurement, accessed 31 May 2015

  7. History of Measurement (2015) http://historyworld.net/, accessed 30 June 2015

  8. Individual measurement unit articles for regions of the world (listed below) (2015) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/, accessed at various times from 5/31/2015 through 10/19/2015. a. “Afghan units of measurement” b. “Algerian units of measurement” c. “Ancient Arabic units of measurement” d. “Argentine untis of measurement” e. “Biblical and Talmudic units of measurement” f. “Brazilian units of measurement” g. “Byzantine units of measurement” h. “Cambodian units of measurement” i. “Metrication in Canada” j. “Chilean units of measurement k. “Chinese units of measurement” l. “Colombian units of measurement” m. “Old Cornish units of measurement” n. “Costa Rican units of measurement” o. “Cuban units of measurement” p. “Cypriot units of measurement” q. “Czech units of measurement” r. “Danish units of measurement” s. “Dutch units of measurement” t. “Egyptian units of measurement” u. “Ancient Egyptian units of measurement” v. “Winchester measure units of measurement” w. “Imperial units” x. “Canadian units” y. “English units” z. “Eritrean units of measurement” aa. “Estonian units of measurement” bb. “Ethiopian units of measurement” cc. “Finnish obsolete units of measurement” dd. “Units of measurement in France before the French Revolution” ee. “Units of measurement in France” ff. “German obsolete units of measurement” gg. “Ancient Greek units of measurement” hh. “Greek units of measurement” ii. “Guinean units of measurement” jj. “Haitian units of measurement” kk. “Honduran units of measurement” ll. “Hungarian units of measurement” mm. “Hong Kong units of measurement” nn. “Icelanic units of measurement” oo. “Inca Empire” pp. “Hindu units of time” qq. “Indian weights and measures” rr. “History of measurement systems in India” ss. “Indonesian units of measurement” tt. “Old Irish units of measurement” uu. “Italian units of measurement” vv. “Japanese units of measurement” ww. “Latvian units of measurement” xx. “Libyan units of measurement” yy. “Luxembourgian units of measurement” zz. “Maltese units of measurement” aaa. “Malagasy units of measurement” bbb. “Mauritian units of measurement” ccc. “Ancient Mesopotamian units of measurement” ddd. “Mexican units of measurement” eee. “Moroccan units of measurement” fff. “Nicaraguan units of measurement” ggg. “Norwegian units of measurement” hhh. “Omani units of measurement” iii. “Ottoman units of measurement” jjj. “Paraguayan units of measurement” kkk. “Persian units of measurement” lll. “Peruvian units of measurement” mmm. “Philippine units of measurement” nnn. “Obsolete Polish units of measurement” ooo. “Portuguese customary units” ppp. “Puerto Rican units of measurement” qqq. “Ancient Roman units of measurement” rrr. “Obsolete Russian units of measurement” sss. “Scottish units” ttt. “Serbian units of measurement” uuu. “Seychellois units of measurement” vvv. “Singaporean units of measurement” www. “Slovak units of measurement” xxx. “Somalian units of measurement” yyy. “South African units of measurement” zzz. “Spanish customary units” aaaa. “Sri Lankan units of measurement” bbbb. “Swedish units of measurement” cccc. “Swiss units of measurement” dddd. “Syrian units of measurement” eeee. “Taiwanese units of measurement” ffff. “Tanzanian units of measurement” gggg. “Obsolete Tatar units of measurement” hhhh. “Thai units of measurement” iiii. “Tunisian units of measurement” jjjj. “Uruguayan units of measurement” kkkk. “Venezuelan units of measurement” llll. “Vietnamese units of measurement” mmmm. “Welsh units”

  9. United States customary units (2015) https://en.wikpedia.org, accessed 30 June 2015

  10. Metric system (2015) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_system, accessed 13 June 2015

  11. Area, length, and distance measurements used in forestry (2015) http://forestry.about.com/od/mappinggis/fl/Are-Length-and-Distance-Measurements-Used-In-Forestry.htm, accessed 22 June 2015

  12. Katz DA (2015) Scientific measurements http://www.chymist.com/Measurement.pdf, accessed June 2015

  13. History of Length Measurement (2016) http://www.npl.co.uk/educate-explore/factsheets/history-of-length-measurement, accessed 7 Feb 2016

  14. Length (2015) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Length, accessed 31 May 2015

  15. Weights and measurements in California’s mission period (2015) http://californiamissionsfoundation.org/articles/weightsandmeasuresmissionperiod/, accessed 24 June 2015

  16. The Metre adventure (2015) http://www.french-metrology.com/en/history/metre-adventure.asp, accessed 16 Oct 2015

  17. Cun (unit) (2015) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cun_(unit), accessed 13 June 2015

  18. Shaku (unit) (2015) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaku_(unit), accessed 13 June 2015

  19. Cubit (2015) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubit, accessed 31 May 2015

  20. Barta Jim et al (2001) The mathematical ecology of the Shoshoni and implications for elementary mathematics education and the young learner. J Am Indian Educ 40(2)

    Google Scholar 

  21. The history of measurement (2016) http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/HistTopics/Measurement.html, accessed 9 May 2016

  22. History of Measurement (2016) http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ac07, accessed 9 May 2016

  23. Rolfe R (2015) Graphic: “biblical units and measurements”. Logos Bible Software, 2008, accessed 7/6/2015

    Google Scholar 

  24. Figdor R (2015) Biblical and Talmudic units of measurement. ronnie@figdor.com.au, 2010, accessed 13 June 2015

    Google Scholar 

  25. “Weights and measures”, Oxford biblical studies online (2015) http://www.oxfordbiblicalstudies.com/resource/WeightsAndMeasures.xhtml, accessed 28 June 2015

  26. “Measurement units of ancient China”, Cultural China (2015) http://history.cultural-china.com/en/56History2758.html, accessed 6 July 2015

  27. “Weights and measures in East Asian studies”, State University of New York at Albany (2015) http://www.albany.edu/eas/205/weights%20and%20measures.pdf, accessed 1 July 2015

  28. “The weights and measures of ancient Egypt”, Tour Egypt, 1996-2013, http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/measures.htm, accessed 11 June 2015

  29. “English customary weights and measures”, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2015) https://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/custom.html, accessed 30 June 2015

  30. Nelson Z, Cobos AP (2011) Ancient Maya measurement system: length. In: 76th annual society of American archaeology meeting, Sacramento, CA, USA, 31 Mar 2011

    Google Scholar 

  31. Traditional English units (2015) http://all-about-units.com/en/articles/traditional-english-units, accessed 24 June 2015

  32. Dunkirk, France, to Montjuïc Castle, Spain, Google Maps, accessed 16 Oct 2015

    Google Scholar 

  33. Graphic: “Cubits chart” (2015) http://www.atlantisbolivia.org/atlantisstade_files/cubitschart.jpg, accessed 24 June 2015

  34. Graphic: “English length units” (2015) https://whydoesitsuck.com/public/why-does-the-imperial-system-suck/english-length-units.png, accessed 24 June 2015

  35. Graphic: “Medida de longitud” (2015) http://www.culturaclasica.com/cultura/medidas_long.jpg, accessed 24 June 2015

  36. Graphic: “Chain” (2015) http://www.moonzstuff.com/images/image_chain.gif, accessed 24 June 2015

  37. Allen JM (2015) Graphic: “relationship of Sumerian feet, cubits, and yards; Egyptian cubits and Mayan hunabs to stade of 165 feet (100 Sumerian cubits)”. http://www.atlantisbolivia.org/citadelcubits_files/cubitschart.jpg, accessed 6 July 2015

  38. Graphic: “table of the Jewish weights, measures, &c. and particularly those mentioned in Josephus’ Work” (2015) http://www.preteristarchive.com/ARTchive/Charts/Literature/weights-measures.jpg, accessed 6 July 2015

  39. du Sautoy M (2015) Video series: “the science of measurement”. Viewed in 8/2015 on Acorn TV

    Google Scholar 

  40. Hand (unit) (2015) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_%28unit%29, accessed 6 July 2015

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gig Harbor, WA, USA

    Steven A. Treese (PE)

Authors
  1. Steven A. Treese
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steven A. Treese .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Treese, S.A. (2018). Historical Length or Distance. In: History and Measurement of the Base and Derived Units. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77577-7_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation