Earth's circumference mile in the seventeenth century and the metre in the eighteenth. Earth's polar circumference is almost exactly 40,000 km because the metre was originally calibrated on this measurement (1/10-millionth of the distance between the poles and the equator), which is almost exactly 21,600 nautical miles (being defined as one minute of a degree – i.e. 360 multiplied by 60). It has been described as "the single most important measurement" of the Earth, assuming the Earth to be a sphere (the Earth is an technically an ellipsoid, albeit with just 0.3% flattening). Earth's circumference lines are the foundation of the coordinate
Kos (unit) Kos (unit) The kos (Sanskrit: कोस), also spelled Kosh, Krosh, krosha and Koss, is an ancient Indian subcontinental "Arthashastra standard unit" of distance, since at least 4 BCE. A kos is about 3.00 km or 1.91 miles. The ""Arthashastra: Chapter XX. Measurement of space and time"", authored in 4th century BCE by Chanakya (Vishnugupta Kauṭilya), sets this standard breakup of Indian units of length: Kos may also refer to roughly 1.8 km (1 mile) or 3.2 km (2 miles). "Arthashastra Standard unit" of Kos or krosh is equal to 3075 metres in SI units and 1.91 miles in Imperial units.