Furlong in most applications. Five furlongs are about 1.0 kilometre ( is the exact value, according to the international conversion). The name "furlong" derives from the Old English words ' (furrow) and ' (long). Dating back at least to early Anglo-Saxon times, it originally referred to the length of the furrow in one acre of a ploughed open field (a medieval communal field which was divided into strips). The furlong (meaning furrow length) was the distance a team of oxen could plough without resting. This was standardised to be exactly 40 rods or 10 chains. The system of long furrows arose
Furlong leading to serious complications in trade, taxation, etc. Around the year 1300, by royal decree England standardized a long list of measures. Among the important units of distance and length at the time were the foot, yard, rod (or pole), furlong, and the mile. The rod was defined as yards or feet, and the mile was eight furlongs, so the definition of the furlong became 40 rods and that of the mile became 5,280 feet (eight furlongs/mile times 40 rods/furlong times feet/rod). A description from 1675 states, "Dimensurator or Measuring Instrument whereof the mosts usual has been the Chain, and