eli5: Why are nautical miles used to measure distance in the sea and not just kilo meters or miles?
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The measurements came from different sources and people feel no reason to change once they have gotten used to something. That is why there are different units in different places.
Nautical miles came from measurements of the earth which simplified calculations with a sextant.
Land miles came from ancient Roman measurements.
Kilometres came from standardizing and decimalization of units and, fun fact, uses the same base measurement as the nautical mile. It is no coincidence that a nautical mile is 1.81 km. It comes from it being 180 degrees in a half planet, but measuring things slightly differently.
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