Convert League (lea) to Reed (reed) instantly.
About these units
League (lea)
The league is an old unit of distance whose length varied widely across cultures, usually somewhere between 2.4 and 5.5 kilometers. Historically, it represented the distance a person could walk in an hour. Maritime and overland leagues existed, further complicating the unit's consistency across regions. In literature—particularly in adventure writing such as Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas—the league became a poetic and evocative measure of great distances. Even when not scientifically precise, its cultural and narrative resonance helped cement its place in storytelling. Though obsolete in modern measurement, the league remains an evocative relic of pre-industrial travel, when human endurance served as a baseline for measurement.
Reed (reed)
The reed is a smaller unit than the long reed, typically about 1 cubit, and was widely used in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and biblical times. It functioned as a standard measure for construction, religious architecture, and land surveys. Reeds were particularly useful in field work, where repetitive human-scale measurements could be performed quickly. They also served as a practical calibration tool for larger units like rods, chains, and long reeds. The reed is frequently mentioned in ancient texts, highlighting its role in the organization of public works, the construction of sacred buildings, and the measurement of land.