How Many Feet in a Mile?
The Romans decided upon the mile as being 1000 paces. Each pace (meaning each time the left Foot was planted) was about 5 feet long. So in those days, it was a round numbered 5,000 feet.
Over time, the length of feet and yards varied until in the 16th century, when England proclaimed that “A Mile shall contain eight Furlongs, every Furlong forty Poles, and every Pole shall contain sixteen Foot and a half.*”
As a result, the statute (aka Imperial) mile at that time was changed to being 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards - of the size we currently understand them.