History
Although the metre was formally defined in 1799, the term "kilometres per hour" did not come into immediate use - the myriametre (10,000 metres) and myriametre per hour were preferred to kilometres and kilmetres per hour. In 1802 the term "myriametrés par heure" had appeared in French literature and many French maps printed in the first half of the nineteenth century had scales in leagues and myriametres, but not in kilometres. The Dutch on the other hand adopted the kilometre in 1817 but gave it the local name of the mijl.
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