A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and U.S. customary units. It is equal to one-eighth of a mile, 220 yards, 660 feet, 201.168 meters, or 10 chains.
Five furlongs are approximately 1 kilometer (1.00584 km to be exact). Since the original definition of the meter was one-quarter of one ten-millionth of the circumference of the Earth (along the great circle coincident with the meridian of longitude passing through Paris), the circu...
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A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and U.S. customary units. It is equal to one-eighth of a mile, 220 yards, 660 feet, 201.168 meters, or 10 chains.
Five furlongs are approximately 1 kilometer (1.00584 km to be exact). Since the original definition of the meter was one-quarter of one ten-millionth of the circumference of the Earth (along the great circle coincident with the meridian of longitude passing through Paris), the circumference of the Earth is about 40,000 km or about 200,000 furlongs.
The name furlong derives from the Old English words furh (furrow) and lang (long). Dating back at least to the ninth century, it originally referred to the length of the furrow in one acre of a plowed open field (a medieval communal field which was divided into strips). The system of long furrows arose because turning a team of oxen pulling a heavy plow was difficult. This offset the drainage advantages of short furrows and meant furrows were made as long as possible. An acre...
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