Interestingly, a mile was originally the less surprising 5000 feet. But in the 1500s the English changed the mile to be 8 furlongs, as that made for much easier

Interestingly, a mile was originally the less surprising 5000 feet. But in the 1500s the English changed the mile to be 8 furlongs, as that made for much easier math around the agricultural measurements of the time. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furlong https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furlong