From what I have read the original Roman mile is 5000 feet (mille passus) and a Roman foot is slightly shorter than our modern foot. I also read the in ~1500 the definition of a mile was 8 furlongs at 625 German/northern feet per furlong (therefore 5000 feet) and a German foot was longer than our modern feet and then during her reign Queen Elizabeth I shortened the foot but kept the length if a furlong and mile increasing the length if a furlong to 660 and increasing a mile by 280. Why did Elizabeth shorten the length of a foot to something more like the Roman foot?
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Taxes. Taxes back in the middle age on property were calculated by the acre. If the foot is shorter the mile is shorter. The shorter the mile, the more acreage a plot of land has. Shorten the foot, the landowners pay more taxes.
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