• Octavio@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      Oh, what’s interesting about a nautical mile is that it wasn’t originally even based on a number of feet or meters or whatever. It represented one minute of latitude (60 minutes in a degree type of minutes). Since the earth is an oblate spheroid instead of a perfect sphere, that meant that traditional nautical miles varied based on your position until they were standardized it in 1929.

      I think it’s about 1.85 kilometers, but I wouldn’t have occasion to do the conversion because I’m a landlubber.