Mil

A mil in Norway and Sweden is a distance of 10 kilometres.

The term originates from a pre-metric mil (in earlier times rast) of slightly over 10 km, denoting a suitable distance between rests when walking.

For geograpihcal distances the term is used probably more than the kilometre. It is also used commonly for measuring vehicle fuel consumption, liters per mile means liters consumed per 10 km.

In Denmark and most of Germany the mile in the 19th century was an approx. 7.5 km geographical mile specified by Ole Rømer. In parts of Germany there also existed an exact 7.5 km metric mile variant, but it mostly went out of use at the beginning of the 20th century. The Ole Rømer mile was for a long time used as a sea mile in Scandinavia, but was in the middle of the 20th century replaced by the international nautical mile. The international nautical mile is still often referred to by traditionalist Scandinavians as a quarter mile.

See also: Historical weights and measures

In angular measure, a mil is 1/6,400 of a full circle; thus, there are 160 mils in 9 degrees, 17.8 mils in one degree. This mil is usually used in artillery discussion.