-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        French lieues
Date:   Tue, 2 May 2006 11:56:13 +0300
From:   Brendan Whyte <[log in to unmask]>
To:     Maps, Air Photo & Geospatial Systems Forum <[log in to unmask]>



Russ Rowlett's measurment site gives prety much the same info but may be a step forward.
http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/dictL.html

---------------
Dr Brendan Whyte
Geography Department
Faculty of Social Sciences
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Mt Scopus
Jerusalem 91905
ISRAEL

> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject:        French "Lieue"
> Date:   Sun, 30 Apr 2006 15:08:20 -0400
> From:   [log in to unmask]
> To:     [log in to unmask]
>
> I am requesting help in determining
>
> 1) what "lieue" was being used by French explorers in North America in
> the late 1600s;
>
> 2) when the change occurred from using the "Old Lieue" (=1666 toises)
> to using the "Lieue de Poste" (=2000 toises), common in the 1700s.
>
> The following may or may not be of any help:
>
> "Lieue
> An old french unit of length (English translation = league). There were
> a number of
> different definitions of a lieue, ranging from the 17th century lieue
> equal to 1666 toise
> [7], the 18th century "lieue de poste" or "Lieue de Ponts et Chaussées"
> equal to 2000
> toise (2.422 miles) [6,7] to a "lieu" equal to 10 km (6.24 miles). [3]
> In modern metric
> France, the Lieue is now considered to equal exactly 4 km (2.486 miles)."
>
> http://www.rootsweb.com/~qcchatea/factors.htm
>
> Thank you very much for any help you can provide,
>
> Michael McCafferty